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The pilgrimage of thousands of faithful to the feast of Iasi shows how great is the missionary work of the saints who, by the example of their lives and their prayers, bring people close to God and gather them together in prayer, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, says in his message on the feast of St. Paraskeva.
''Beloved pilgrims, our spiritual life can be likened to a journey or an unceasing pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God, according to the exhortation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who says: 'Seek first the Kingdom of God' (Matthew 6:33). Our guides in this journey are the saints of the Church, who by their pure life, dedicated to the service of God and men, have followed the words of the Gospel of Christ, and are thus for us perfect models of Christian life,'' the Patriarch says, according to agerpres.ro.
According to the Patriarch, the pilgrimage of thousands of faithful to the feast of Saint Paraskeva in Iasi shows how great is the missionary work of the saints who, by the example of their lives and their prayers, bring people close to God and gather them together in prayer.
''This year, 2023, dedicated to the commemoration of hymnographers and church singers, the spiritual joy of the feast of the Virgin Paraskeva is enhanced by the reception at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iasi of the relics of one of the great saints of the creators of church songs, St. Andrew the Cretan, brought from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Arkalochori (Crete, Greece). Saint Andrew the Cretan lived between the years 700 and 740, was a missionary bishop and a great teacher of the Church. He built churches, established monasteries, helped Christians who suffered from the Ottoman invasions, was a good preacher and composed many liturgical songs. He is regarded as the first author of liturgical canons, among which the most famous is, of course, the Great Canon, a dialogue of the sinful man with his own conscience before God,'' says the patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Saint Paraskeva was born in the 11th century in Epivata in Thrace on the outskirts of Constantinople and lived only 27 years. She is the most popular of all the saints whose relics are in Romania. Hundreds of churches in Romania and in the Romanian diaspora are dedicated to her, and in northern Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, the Orthodox faithful also venerate her with great devotion, the patriarch's message added.
He also says that "the great devotion of the faithful right-wing people to St. Paraskeva is explained by the conviction and the observation that she is 'much useful', as she is called in her Altarpiece; Saint Paraskeva offers help, through her prayers, to the young and the old, to virgins and mothers, to mothers and families, to the sick and the poor, gathering in prayer and common confession clergy and people, from Romania and other countries. Its strength comes from its holiness and goodness, that is, from its love for God and for people.
''On this joyful day of the feast of the Holy Virgin Paraskeva, patroness of Moldavia and of all the pilgrims present in Iasi, we pray to the Most Merciful God for the intercessions of the Holy Virgin Paraskeva and of Saint Hierarch Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, to bless all those present in Iasi, hierarchs, clerics, monks and faithful, together with local and central authorities, and to bless all with faith, piety and hard work, granting them health and salvation, peace and joy, for many blessed years!," Patriarch Daniel also conveyed.
