The consecration of the People’s Salvation Cathedral, whose construction began in 2010 and is still ongoing, is scheduled for this Sunday, November 25. The Romanian Patriarchy has several events planned for this weekend, the consecration bringing 2,000 official guests to Bucharest.

The first guests arrived on Friday, November 23. His Holiness Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch, accompanied by a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as the delegation of the Orthodox Church of Greece, led by His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patra, arrived on Friday, being welcomed by Patriarch Daniel, according to Basilica.ro.

On Saturday, the reliquary containing the Honourable Hand of Saint Andrew, brought to Bucharest by the Greek Orthodox delegation, and a second reliquary with a fragment of the holy relics of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine will be placed outside the People’s Cathedral, where they will remain until Sunday afternoon. Two religious services are to take place at the Cathedral later the same day.

Sunday will begin with a religious service at 08:00, followed at 09:00 by the consecration service of the Cathedral’s Holy Altar. The Act of Consecration will also be read. The Divine Liturgy will begin at 10:30 and will be celebrated inside the People’s Cathedral.

The believers who want to attend the consecration ceremony will be able to watch the Divine Liturgy on the screens installed in the Cathedral’s Square. Only the 2,000 official guests will have access inside the Cathedral during the Divine Liturgy.

Those who want to pray at the Holy Altar will be allowed inside the Cathedral after the Divine Liturgy, and in the following days (November 26-29).

On Sunday evening, the Tronos Byzantine Choir, the Representative Orchestra of the Romanian Army, and the Chisinau National Folk Orchestra ‘The Fiddlers’ will hold an extraordinary concert at Sala Palatului in Bucharest, according to the official program.

Local Recorder.ro reported that the Romanian Patriarchy would also organize a festive Agape meal at the Marriot Hotel on Sunday afternoon, with the list of guests also including people who offered generous sponsorships for the Cathedral.

Round-the-clock preparations for consecration of People’s Cathedral in Bucharest

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com