His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Church, surrounded by 32 bishops, 18 priests and 13 deacons, has celebrated the Holy Liturgy today, October 27, 2009, on the feast day of St. Demetrios the New of Basarabi, Protector of Bucharest. Among the hierarchs there were also the two guests, Most Rev. Mihail, Metropolitan of Austria, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Most Rev. Vasilios, the delegate of the Greek Orthodox Church.

After the reading from the Holy Gospel, His Beatitude Daniel has invited the two distinguished guests to address the faithful. Most Rev. Mihail, Metropolitan of Austria, offered to the Romanian Orthodox Church a fragment of the holy relics of St. Basil the Great. His Excellency also reminded that the first metropolitan bishop of Wallachia, Iachint of Vicina, received 650 years ago from Patriarch Calist I of Constantinople an episcopal staff, and offered His Beatitude Daniel a patriarchal staff from the current Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His Holiness Bartholomew I. In return, the Romanian Patriarch offered an enkolpion and the icons of St. Demetrios the New and of St. Iachint of Vicina.

Subsequently, Most Rev. Vasilios of Elassona, the delegate of the Greek Orthodox Church, has shared the blessing of His Beatitude Ieronimos, Archbishop of Athens and of all Greece, receiving from His Beatitude Daniel an enkolpion and an episcopal cross, as well as the icons of St. Demetrios the New, St. Basil the Great and of St. Iachint of Vicina.

At the end of the Holy Liturgy, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has addressed a sermon which evoked the most important virtues of St. Demetrios the New of Basarabi, humbleness and unceasing prayer. His Beatitude Daniel explained to the faithful that prayer is the measure of man's love for God and that the righteous faith of the Orthodox Church is the only basis for developing holiness. The Romanian Patriarch also reminded that the saints of the Church have intertwined love for God with the defense of human dignity, the image of God in man, through the intertwining of philokalia with philanthropy. The holy relics do not possess a magical power, but rather the power which works through them is the power of Christ which manifests itself in the bodies of the saints, who became part of the Body of Christ, the His Beatitude explained.