{"id":585962,"date":"2026-08-26T17:13:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=585962"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:13:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:13:27","slug":"belt-mother-of-god-kato-xenia-moinesti-pilgrimage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/belt-mother-of-god-kato-xenia-moinesti-pilgrimage\/","title":{"rendered":"Belt of the Mother of God from Greece to be brought to Romania for Moine\u0219ti pilgrimage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Belt of the Mother of God from Kato Xenia Monastery in Greece will be brought on pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Moine\u0219ti, Bac\u0103u County, from 4 to 7 September.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reliquary containing the sacred relic will be welcomed on Friday, 4 September, at 4:30 p.m. The programme will continue with the \u201cWay of the Saints\u201d procession and the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God.<\/p>\n

Recognition for pupils and families<\/h2>\n

The first day of the pilgrimage in Moine\u0219ti will include a blessing service for young people ahead of the new school year, as well as an awards ceremony for pupils who achieved outstanding academic results.<\/p>\n

More than 300 children from the Moine\u0219ti Deanery who completed the school year with the highest possible grade average of 10 will receive certificates and medals of excellence, as well as a gift from the hierarch.<\/p>\n

During the same ceremony, three large families and three other families whose members have celebrated more than 60 years of marriage will also be honoured.<\/p>\n

Over the following days, the reliquary will be taken for veneration to other communities within the Moine\u0219ti Deanery, including Frumoasa Skete, Cernu, Zeme\u0219 and Com\u0103ne\u0219ti.<\/p>\n

The Belt of the Mother of God, which is being brought to Moine\u0219ti for the second time<\/a>, is part of the series of annual cultural and spiritual events organised by the deanery.<\/p>\n

The Belt of the Mother of God<\/h2>\n

The Belt of the Mother of God is one of Eastern Christianity’s best-known sacred relics. According to tradition, the Mother of God wove it from camel hair and gave it to the Holy Apostle Thomas at her Dormition.<\/p>\n

Two women in Jerusalem initially kept it, and later took it to Constantinople during the reign of Emperor Arcadius (395\u2013408). On 31 August, they placed it in a reliquary and kept it first in the Church of the Holy Apostles, then in the Church of Blachernae.<\/p>\n

One of the best-known episodes associated with the sacred relic is the healing of Empress Zoe, wife of Emperor Leo the Wise. After dreaming of the Mother of God, the empress asked for the reliquary to be opened, and she was healed after the Belt was placed upon her. In gratitude, Zoe adorned it with gold thread.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the 12th century, the Belt was divided into several fragments, which subsequently reached different parts of the Christian world. Significant portions are preserved at Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos and at Kato Xenia Monastery.<\/p>\n

Over the centuries, the Holy Belt has been carried in processions, particularly during epidemics and other times of hardship, as the faithful venerate the relic and pray for the Mother of God’s intercession. In 1813, the fragment preserved at Vatopedi was brought to Wallachia during a plague outbreak.<\/p>\n

Photo: Doxologia \/ Fr. Silviu Cluci<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Belt of the Mother of God from Kato Xenia Monastery in Greece will be brought on pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Moine\u0219ti, Bac\u0103u County, from 4 to 7 September. The reliquary containing the sacred relic will be welcomed on Friday, 4 September, at 4:30 p.m. The programme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":585925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21192],"tags":[38128,19573,19575,38127],"class_list":["post-585962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-en","tag-belt-of-the-mother-of-god","tag-holy-cincture","tag-kato-xenia-monastery","tag-mother-of-god-relic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}