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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and Patriarch Daniel of Romania consecrated on Sunday the mosaic iconography of the National Cathedral in Bucharest.
The ceremony was one of the events marking the centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate and the 140th anniversary of the Romanian Church’s autocephaly.
The service was concelebrated by hierarchs of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, along with 67 priests and 12 deacons. The consecration service was preceded by the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishops Varlaam of Ploiești and Paisie of Sinait, together with Bishop Timotei of Prahova, Vicar Bishop of the Archdiocese of Bucharest.
The liturgical responses were chanted by the Tronos Byzantine Choir of the Patriarchal Cathedral, under the direction of Archdeacon Mihail Bucă.
The Consecration Service
In the narthex of the National Cathedral, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarch Daniel, and Metropolitan Teofan of Moldavia and Bukovina read three passages from the Holy Gospel to the faithful.
The mosaic icons at the entrance — depicting the Holy Apostles Andrew and Philip, who evangelized the territories of present-day Romania — were then blessed with holy water by Patriarch Daniel and anointed with Holy Chrism by the Ecumenical Patriarch. Meanwhile, the exterior walls of the cathedral were consecrated by Romanian hierarchs.
The mosaic in the altar was blessed with holy water by Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Archbishop Nifon of Târgoviște, and was then anointed with chrism by the two Patriarchs. In parallel, Romanian hierarchs consecrated the mosaics in the northern and southern apses.
The Ecumenical Patriarch and Patriarch Daniel also blessed two silver reliquaries adorned with gilded figures, intended for the relics of St. Dionysius of Vatopedi from Colciu and St. Petronius of Prodromu.
The reliquaries were presented to the abbots of the respective Athonite sketes, who, along with six disciples of the two saints, were part of the Athonite delegation invited to the service.
Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop and Secretary of the Holy Synod, read the official Act of Consecration of the National Cathedral’s Iconography.
Words of the Ecumenical Patriarch
“The fraternal invitation of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, as well as the long-standing love and mutual respect that bind us, have brought us once again from the God-illumined Phanar to this blessed Romanian land and to the divinely protected city of Bucharest, bearing the blessing and love of our common spiritual Mother — the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch.
“We rejoice to celebrate together the consecration of the beautiful mosaics and the entire iconography of this majestic National Cathedral, dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord and Saint Andrew the First-Called, which, seven years ago, we had the honor to consecrate together — though, as you surely remember, in bitter cold!”
“We also rejoice over the recent canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of four Romanian Athonite monks, and we celebrate two historic anniversaries for the Romanian Orthodox Church: the 140th anniversary of its canonical independence, granted by the Mother Church through the Tomos of Autocephaly issued by Patriarch Joachim IV in 1885, and the 100th anniversary of its elevation to patriarchal dignity by Patriarch Basil III in 1925.”
At the end of his address, the Ecumenical Patriarch presented Patriarch Daniel with a pastoral staff.
Words of the Patriarch of Romania
“We thank God for helping us continue, since the consecration of 2018, the extensive exterior works and the interior mosaic iconography,” said Patriarch Daniel.
“We thank His All-Holiness for honoring us once again with his presence and for concelebrating the consecration of the National Cathedral.”
“The presence of His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, both at the consecration of the altar in 2018 and today, in 2025, for the consecration of the iconography, stands as a testimony of unity within Orthodoxy and of the constant support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the administrative freedom and dignity of the local Churches.”
“His love for the saints brings the Orthodox sister Churches closer together. Through the four newly canonized Romanian Athonite saints — St. Dionysius of Colciu and Sts. Petronius, Niphon, and Nectarios the Protopsalt of Prodromu — included this year (2025) in the synaxarion of the Church by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we receive tangible models of communion and cooperation in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Patriarch Daniel presented the Ecumenical Patriarch with an icon of St. Bartholomew the Apostle.
Photo credit: Basilica.ro / Mircea Florescu, Nikos Papachristou / Ecumenical Patriarchate
