Wednesday, November 06, 2019

(73) {Romania and Serbia} ~ Friday October 25th




Upon waking from a long sleep, having gotten very little sleep the night before,
I saw the beautiful grounds of the Patriarch's Garden that our AirBnB looked out upon.
And we heard the most beautiful church bells from the Patriarchal Cathedral. 


I went out while Mr Husband was sleeping and talked to various Romanians to find
the small grocery store nearby called "Mega Image" the word "Image" pronounced
"IM-AHG-ch" .. most of them did not speak fluent English and I felt the distinct
impression of what it is like to talk to others in a foreign (to them) language. 
Because I already knew how to say "Mega Image" as they pronounce it,
they were able to help me.
Everyone was so helpful, I was delighted.  And determined to buy
food as we had none and I knew that the first thing I needed, after sleep, was a good breakfast.
I found yogurt, eggs, a delicious cherry jam, Peanut butter, sliced bread, 
milk, Orange Juice and a jar of lovely honey.  I had brought my own tea from home.  
I used their more"Turkish" stovetop coffee pot as a teapot 
and saved the small teapot for Mr Husband's tea.
Soon I had the breakfast I needed and it gave me strength to deal with the jet lag. 
I felt so well that I later we went back and I bought 2 cans of Italian tomatoes 
with basil and spices, an onion, garlic (which somehow did not come home with us), 
fusilli pasta, and a bag of frozen spinach.
Later Mr Husband went out for more supplies - canned mushrooms
(having no idea that the Romanian can opener would be so hard to use), garlic, 
more pasta, a bottle of Rose wine, and I made a pasta sauce, 
first sauteing the onion and garlic in olive oil (that was already in the apartment),
then added the 2 cans of tomatoes (that had a pop-top lid easy to open),
and then spinach, the mushrooms, and simmered it. 
I boiled the box of fusilli pasta.
Mr Husband bought tea lights and a lighter and I had already called my friend A. who
agreed to come for dinner before the vigil for St Demetrios... 
while Mr Husband was out shopping for the above mentioned food,
I quickly cleaned up our apartment and set the table....
it was like old times,  A. over for dinner, icons already up in our apartment,
tea lights (since I had no long tapers or candlestick holders) lit...
we enjoyed a nice meal together... A.'s husband AR was working later and met us 
at the Patriarchal church later on... I dreamed of making another meal and having them 
all over, but that was not to be, but we did have every meal possible together at
various restaurants and every meal was a real gift to us all... 
I remember texting some friends back home with pictures of this meal...











Before Mr Husband and I flew to Romania we exchanged many emails
with our friends A and AR to plan everything and AR told us
how our visit coincided with one of the biggest feast days of the year for
Bucharest:  the feast of St. Demetrios on Saturday October 26th and 
St. Demetrios the New, patron Saint of Bucharest on Sunday October 27th.
The schedule for these feasts in Romania can be seen here.
THOUSANDS of people came from all over Romania.
I looked up more information when we returned home and did not even realize
that some new Romanian Saints were canonized during this weekend.
More pictures of this event are seen here.
Our friends said they had never seen so many people as this year.
We were sure the fact that the feast days landed on the weekend and
that it was fairly warm and sunny helped.  But we also prayed
that it was a sign of further religious conversion to Christ that is so needed
around the world today...








The above pictures are all of the outside of the Patriarchal Cathedral.
Unfortunately for me and perhaps you my readers, pictures were not allowed inside.
It was so beautiful. And there was a beautiful large fresco icon of St Katrina / Katherine that I 
would have loved to show my friends who have her name....  
We prayed in the church, being in the line for seeing 
and venerating various icons and Saints there...
It was my first time entering an older Orthodox church in an Orthodox country,
yet it felt so familiar as if I had been there before... 
Inside on a table was many large bottles of holy oil with many papers of people's names on 
the table and we realized that the service of Holy Unction was going to begin later that night,
at 10:30 PM... we were too tired to attend, but I put our Ottawa's Priest name for prayers
there as he had been unwell and by Sunday I learned that he had made a full recovery...
after this, we stood outside and listened to many prayers of vigil... with thousands of others...




This is the outdoor pavilion that was set up to have an altar and a place for
all the Bishops, priests and clergy with the Patriarch (the head of all the
Bishops of the country) presiding... 


This picture above is of the Bell Tower that we could hear so beautifully
from our apartment (that was about a 10 minute walk away)....





That afternoon, before making the meal and having A. over, we had
submitted the needed claim for my Chromebook to the TSA lost and found
and during this service we got an email saying that my Chromebook was found
and safe at the lost and found of the TSA near the EWR airport.
What I had sensed of God's peace and my Guardian Angel taking care of this
(even I think in a way taking it from me and putting it away as it would be
un-necessary for me to have while on Pilgrimage to Romania and Serbia) 
was clearly confirmed and we were happy and at peace....




In the above panoramic pictures I tried to capture how many people were there
and what it was like...





The huge blue containers with an icon of the Mother of God,
were full of Holy Water for Pilgrims to take...
I got some ourselves, that we have now at home with us as a blessing! 
We went to the bookstore and looked around,
there were various monastics around, including a nun who was there...
already when I had gone that morning to the Mega Image, I passed by nuns and priests... 
We did not buy anything then, but did later on...
After this, being tired and a bit cold I think, from being outside,
we walked back to our apartment...





We had packed light on clothes and did laundry every day
until Wednesday as once we flew on Friday, we would not 
have access to laundry... 
It was a wonderful first full day in Romania and one that will
remain with us for, I pray, many days and even years to come... 

7 comments:

Elizabethd said...

Elizabeth, I am so enjoying hearing all about your trip. I find it hard to imagine Romania but you make it all so interesting.

Granny Marigold said...

The outside of that church is so beautifully decorated. Too bad no pictures were allowed inside.

Mary said...

Elizabeth thank you so much for this beautiful post and pictures. What an incredible blessing to see and experience the oneness of our faith. This is such a long shot but a precious Orthodox friend of mine from my parish here in West Virginia just returned to her home in Romania, near Bucharest, I think. Gabriella Ion. ? Any chance that rings a bell? God bless you and Mr. Husband. What a beautiful family we all have in Christ.

elizabeth said...

Mary, No I'm sorry that I don't know your friend and I'm sure she is a very wonderful person! She certainly has a wonderful name! It was such a wonderful trip that we went on and I'm so excited, God willing, to share more on my blog about our trip! I have so many more churches and monasteries to show you!

Mary said...

Thank you Elizabeth. The foundress( Mo.Alexandra of blessed memory) of 'my' monastery where I make retreat, Holy Transfiguration in Ellwood City, PA., was a Romanian princess and lived, I believe in Bran Castle there in Romania. They were forced to flee Communist oppression during WW II. The sisters at the monastery are like my family and most especially Mo. Elizabeth, who was Mo. Alexandra's attendant when they first started. Their roots are Romanian. God bless you and Mr. Husband.

Paula said...

Wow, what a wonderful trip. That's the OUTSIDE of the church! I can imagine what it looks like on the inside.

GretchenJoanna said...

That is a lot of holy water!! The frescoes are just amazing, I would be quite overwhelmed.

The story about your missing device that is now in safekeeping means extra to me today, where in my parish we are commemorating the Synaxis of St. Michael and all angels. Your angel is blessed that you actually notice what he does for you!