More than 166,000 people from the country and abroad have worshipped in recent days at the reliquaries with the relics of the Holy Venerable Paraskeva and the relics of Saint Gregory Palamas.

According to the organizers, 19,000 people are now standing in a line several kilometres long to worship at the reliquary with the relics of the Holy Venerable Paraskeva, which in the Orthodox Christian calendar is celebrated on October 14.

The reliquary is placed in a specially arranged canopy in the Metropolitan Court of the Cathedral of Iasi. It will remain there until October 15, when the pilgrimage ends.

The pilgrimage to the reliquary of the Holy Venerable Paraskeva, especially when we’re talking about October 14, has been continuous since the 17th century, since the time of Prince Vasile Lupu.

Also known as Saint Friday, Saint Paraskeva was born in Epivat, today Cape Kaliacra, in Thrace, on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, in the first half of the 11th century. The relics of the Saint were kept for almost 200 years in a church in Epivat, then in Tarnovo, and in the 16th century they were taken to Constantinople.

In 1641, on June 13, voivode Vasile Lupu brought the relics of Saint Paraskeva to Iasi, placing them in the church of the „Holy Three Hierarchs” Monastery. Since then, Saint Paraskeva has been considered the protector of Moldova and the persecuted. In recent years, the pilgrimage begins around October 8 and ends on October 15.

The pilgrims who came these days to the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bucovina also had the opportunity to worship Saint Gregory Palamas, whose relics were brought, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, by a delegation from Greece, led by His Eminence Philotheos, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki. AGERPRES