On 28 February 1950, whilst Stalin was still alive, during a historical period rightly termed the ‘Terror’, Patriarch Justinian and the Synod of our Church, reduced to the maximum number of members (12), decided, during their winter session, to canonise the first seven Romanians, led by Saint Calinic of Cernica, followed by the Holy Hierarchs and Confessors, Metropolitans Ilie Iorest and Sava Brancovici, Saint Joseph the New of Partoș, Metropolitan of Banat, the Venerable Confessors Visarion Sarai and Sofronie of Cioara, and the Martyr Oprea Miclăuș.
In October 1955, in a favourable context and over a period of more than three weeks, the liturgical (or solemn) canonisations of six of the aforementioned saints took place, whilst the canonisation of Saint Joseph the New of Partoș was celebrated in Timișoara a year later, on 6–7 October 1956, marking the third centenary of his birth.
Alongside the first canonisations of Romanian saints, our Church was celebrating both 70 years of autocephaly and the widespread veneration of saints—seven in number—whose relics are housed in our country: Saint Dimitrie the New of Basarabov, the Venerable Parascheva, Saint Filofteia of Argeș, Saint Gregory the Decapolite, Saint Nicodim of Tismana, Saint John the New of Suceava, to whom was added Saint John the Wallachian, a Romanian by birth, unlike the other saints, but whose relics lay beyond the country’s borders. This decision by the Synod also made it possible to resume pilgrimages to monasteries housing the relics of saints, which had been restricted or limited by the communist regime.
Initially, the three major church events had been scheduled for August 1955, but at the Synod meeting on 12 August of the same year, the date was revised, one of the reasons being so that foreign participants ‘might visit church educational institutions at all levels’. (Apart from the two theological institutes and the theological seminaries, there were monastic seminaries at several monasteries across the country.)
Almost the entire month of October 1955 was devoted to the celebration of these three events, which were attended by envoys from three national Orthodox Churches (Bulgaria, Russia, Greece) and from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The then Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras, wished to come to Bucharest, but was prevented from doing so by the tragic political events which, in September 1955, unleashed the fury of the Turks upon the Greek faithful, culminating in the devastation of several churches. Consequently, the Ecumenical Patriarchate was represented at the first canonisations of Romanian saints by two prominent metropolitans, Athenagoras of Thyatira and Jacob of Malta. The Greek and Russian Churches sent high-ranking ecclesiastical delegates to Bucharest, whilst from across the Danube came a delegation led by Patriarch Cyril of Bulgaria, who had studied in Romania and spoke flawless Romanian.
The major ecclesiastical celebrations of 1955 culminated in the liturgical canonisation of Saint Calinic at Cernica Monastery on Sunday, 23 October. This was the high point of a series of canonisations that lasted four consecutive days: from Friday, 21 October, to Monday, 24 October.
Devoted exclusively to the three major ecclesiastical events of autumn 1955, the double issue, 11–12/1955, of the journal The Romanian Orthodox Church constitutes a precious, meticulously compiled chronicle and a first-hand historical document, not least due to the numerous photographs reproduced therein.
Appearing on pages 1137 to 1172 of the magazine, and written by the church historian, the Reverend Professor Niculae Șerbănescu, the report on the canonisation of Saint Calinic stands out as the culmination of the three magnificent church celebrations. The return to Bucharest was expected, on 21 and 22 October 1955, of the delegations that had set out on visits within our ecclesiastical territory, so that they might arrive in Cernica on Sunday, 23 October, to take part in the canonisation of Saint Calinic.
The first part of his canonisation coincided with the vigil on the evening of Friday, 21 October, officiated by the retired Metropolitan Efrem Enăcescu, the Bishop of the Lower Danube, Chesarie Păunescu, and other hierarchs. This was followed on Saturday by the Divine Liturgy and the memorial service – the final memorial service for the saint – led by a concelebrating group headed by the Pro-Metropolitans Efrem Enăcescu and Tit Simedrea. The reliquary was then consecrated, after which the exhumation of the remains took place, carried out by a group of clergy, concluding with ‘His Grace Archdeacon Bartolomeu Anania of the Holy Patriarchate’.
In the presence of a large number of the faithful, some moving moments took place:
And once the relics had been placed in the consecrated reliquary, the monastery bells began to ring and the wooden clappers were struck. Six monks wearing epitrachelions lifted the saint’s reliquary and carried it in procession into the church. Meanwhile, the ministers and the monks’ choir sang ‘Glory to You, Christ our God, the praise of the apostles and the joy of the martyrs…’. The bearers of the reliquary carry it into the sanctuary through the royal doors, circle the Holy Table and then bring it to the centre of the church, beneath the great chandelier, placing it on the table and setting lit candlesticks beside it. Then the lid was lifted and the service for the blessing of the ‘small water’ began.
On the evening of the same day, 22 October 1955, at 7.30 pm, the Vigil began, celebrated by a metropolitan and two bishops, and concluded after 11 pm. Here is another noteworthy fact: ‘That night, a large number of the faithful kept vigil in front of St George’s Church, by the light of candles burning on two altars on either side of the porch’.
The high point of the canonisation of Saint Calinic took place on Sunday, 23 October 1955, the day on which, as Father Anania told me, there was an unbroken chain of worshippers stretching from the Patriarchate all the way to the village of Pantelimon. The chronicler of the church magazine notes in his account:
At dawn on 23 October 1955, the number of worshippers swelled as people continued to arrive at the monastery. Soon after sunrise, they had filled the courtyard of St George’s Church and had then begun to line up along the road towards the monastery entrance and to take their places in the open space in front of the bell tower. Groups of monks and nuns, priests from the capital and the surrounding area, theology students, lecturers from the Theological Institute, archpriests, patriarchal advisers and metropolitans also arrived.
Such a large gathering of clergy and the faithful, in 1955, at the height of the communist regime, is proof of the continuity of our country’s national Church and goes a long way towards explaining its flourishing during the nearly three post-communist decades.
The entrance of the Romanian hierarchs, followed by that of the bishops from the Sister Orthodox Churches, preceded the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Patriarch Justinian together with a synod of ten Romanian and foreign bishops, with some troparia sung in both Romanian and Greek. Another moving moment takes place: “The officiating hierarchs step forward before the altar. The reliquary is opened and His Beatitude Patriarch Justinian, kneeling, reads the solemn prayer to Saint Calinic”. Then, Metropolitan Firmilian of Oltenia delivers a sermon containing a statement that must have been hard for the government representatives to hear: “The Church believes that humanity always strives towards an order and a purpose that cannot exist apart from God”. Two weeks earlier, at the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church on 10 October 1955, attended by foreign hierarchs and the Minister for Religious Affairs, Petre Constantinescu-Iași, present, Patriarch Justinian had stated verbatim that “the value of holiness is the greatest value that human beings can produce”.
Next to speak, on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, was Metropolitan Athenagoras of Thyatira, the author of both theological and literary works, who made a point of noting “the Romanian people’s profound religious sentiment”.
Bishop Palladie of Volhynia also addressed the congregation at Cernica Monastery, explaining that Metropolitan Gregory of Leningrad had been unable to take part in the liturgical canonisation of Saint Calinic as he had fallen ill (and was to die two days after his return to his own country). Patriarch Cyril of Bulgaria then spoke in Romanian, his opening words being: “Your country is beautiful!”, with the final address given by Metropolitan Jacob of Attica and Megara, delivered on behalf of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece.
In the evening, at 6.30 pm, the Vigil began, and the following morning, on 24 October 1955, after the Akathist to Saint Calinic had been read and the Divine Liturgy had been celebrated by four hierarchs and a congregation of priests and deacons, Father Dumitru Stăniloae delivered a sermon that subsequently became a landmark in contemporary Romanian theology.
