Iasi, A Holy City! The First Visit Of A Pope Here.

[bluemoon]

I'm starting now! As I promised in this introductory blog: Beginning Of Summer In My Town

There will be a series of posts about this beautiful city called Iasi. Located in northeastern Romania, it is a city that most of you will never visit. I, who live in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, had this chance to live in Iasi since the beginning of the year, I had the chance to visit it, step by step and see many of it's beauties. The beauty I want to share with you, those who will never travel to these places!

As I said, Iasi can be considered a holy city, over a hundred of the churches are here. Here, at the Orthodox cathedral there is the body of a holy one most beloved by the Orthodox, Saint Paraschiva. In every autumn there is a petition involving hundreds of thousands of believers. Now I do not want to talk about it, it will happen later. now I want to talk about Pope Francis' visit to this city, the first. This proves that Iasi is not a certain city, the honor of visiting the head of the Catholic church is incredible and conveys something about the importance of this city.

I want to show you how the city looks like waiting for the Holy Father, while and after! I hope to succeed.

I have to start with what I did, my wife and me. Like every morning in the weekend I drank coffee in town. This time, not in our favorite café but close to the path the Pope will do.

Café that is just a dream of the Orthodox church we like most, the church and the Three Hierarchs Monastery!

Less than fifty meters away is the Catholic Cathedral where the Pope will come. It's a modern cathedral, I was amazed to see what it looks like. In contrast, Orthodox churches want to keep their image hundreds of years old and resist the modern aspect. Less than fifty meters away is the Catholic Cathedral where the Pope will come. It's a modern cathedral, I was amazed to see what it looks like. In contrast, Orthodox churches want to keep their image hundreds of years old and resist the modern aspect.

Catholic Cathedral in Iasi!

The cathedral "Holy Virgin Mary, Queen" in Iasi is a Roman Catholic church built between 1992-2005 in Iasi, with the role of serving as an episcopal cathedral. It is situated on Ştefan cel Mare Boulevard no. 26.

On the occasion of Pope Francis' visit there will be a statue of Jesus reminding of this moment. Here is the statue before the show to the inhabitants of the city.

The Pope, who is one of the most important people of this planet, needs special protection measures. Normal! So the main streets of the city were specially prepared for this event.

Preparations for a colossal visit ...

Streets that were usually crowded now are deserted. Protective fences delimit the space where the city's inhabitants that will want to see the pope will be able to stand.

The boulevards, too ... usually full of cars, are now empty. Everyone is waiting for the Pope.

After a while people began to gather for a unique event in their lives. I can say that it will be unique in the Pope's life that will certainly not visit this place again.

Before arriving in Iasi, the Pope visited a mountainous place and procession of Catholic Pentecostals, the largest in Eastern Europe, at Şumleu Ciuc!

Thousands and thousands of pilgrims, from the country or abroad, head for foot to Sumuleu-Ciuc, the place where the great procession of Catholic Pentecostals, considered the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, will take place on Saturday.
Groups of people go slowly so that the elderly, but also the children can keep up, and carry religious flags in their hands. The luggage is carried by several carts drawn by horses, and from time to time they all stop resting and restoring their forces. Throughout the journey, they interpret religious hymns and say prayers that ask the Virgin Mary to bless them, to protect them from evil and to support them in what they do.
A young man from New Zealand was invited by his friends to take part in the procession and was excited about this experience.
"It's incredible, it's amazing. Being part of a 450-year tradition is really amazing. People are nice, friendly, I like it, "he said.
Pilgrims moving on foot are housed by locals, glad to help those who travel tens or even hundreds of miles.
The opening ceremony of the pilgrimage will take place on Friday evening at 19.00, followed by a night of waking and praying. The Holy Liturgy of Catholic Pentecostals will begin at 12.30 on Saturday at the Shumuleu Mic Shrine, on the outskirts of Miercurea Ciuc.
The pilgrimage on Sumuleu has a centuries-old tradition and is considered the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. In 1567, the prince of Transylvania, John Sigismund, tried to impose the unitarian religion on the Catholics in the Szekler churches of Ciuc, Gheorgheni and Casin.
Under the leadership of Istvan priest in Joseni, the Catholic faithful defeated the prince's army and returned to Sumuleu Ciuc to thank Virgin Mary. They worshiped the miraculous statues of the Virgin Mary, which is in the Franciscan monastery and which was made in 1515 in linden wood. Since then Catholic believers have participated each year at the Pentecost pilgrimage from Sumuleu Ciuc.
The local and county authorities, as well as the Order of the Transylvanian Franciscans, have started, for a long time, the steps to include this pilgrimage on the list of UNESCO's universal immaterial patrimony (EM)
Source

Waiting for the arrival of the Pope, the inhabitants of Iasi saw the procession in Sumuleu Ciuc on large screens located on the streets of the city. I probably forgot to say, the Pope came to Iasi directly from the procession in Sumuleu Ciuc.

Finally the Pope arrived in Iasi, over a hundred thousand people waited for hours to see him. Like most of the inhabitants, I've seen the smartest part of the processions on the big screens on the streets.

Finally, it turned out that the place that we chose to wait for the Pope was well-chosen. The pope passed very close to me!

This is how I happened to be close to two visits of a Pope in Romania ... Pope John Paul II, twenty years ago in Bucharest and now, Pope Franscisc, in Iasi. I'm not of Catholic religion but I have a great respect for this two Catholic rulers of the world, there have been and are people with great influence in the evolution of civilization in our world.

This was a brief presentation of the Catholic dimension of the city of Iasi in Romania. I believe that if a Pope considered it necessary to visit this city, then anyone who visits Romania should also visit Iasi.

@bluemoon	Thank you!	Disclaimer
	I made this post with passion, effort and respect for you. I hope the result proves it.	Since English is not my first language, please forgive any grammatical errors.

Comments

[steemitboard]

Congratulations @bluemoon! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You received more than 35000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 40000 upvotes.

_{You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP}

You can upvote this notification to help all Steem users. Learn how here!

[bluemoon]

Thank you! I'm proud of this.

[travelfeed]

100% upvote and a resteem. Your work really stands out! Your article now has a chance to get featured under the appropriate daily topic on our TravelFeed blog.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!

Learn more about our travel project by clicking on the banner above and join our community on DiscordCongratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @smeralda and earned you a reward, in form of a

[bluemoon]

Thank you very much. It's a honor for me.

[c-squared]

This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community
community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.@c-squared runs a

[bluemoon]

Thank you very much! It is an honor and an encouragement for me.

[steemitworldmap]

Daily Travel Digest #541.



Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @steemitworldmap team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting and supporting us.

[bluemoon]

Thank you!

[steemitworldmap]

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!

_{Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=bluemoonPost link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=iasi-a-holy-city-the-first-visit-of-a-pope-here}

Want to have your post on the map too?

• Go to Steemitworldmap
• Click the code slider at the bottom
• Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
• Copy and paste the generated code in your post
• Congrats, your post is now on the map!

[bluemoon]

Thank you!

[esteemapp]

Thanks for using eSteem!
Your post has been voted as a part of eSteem encouragement program. Keep up the good work! Install Android, iOS Mobile app or Windows, Mac, Linux Surfer app, if you haven't already!

Learn more: https://esteem.app Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq

[melinda010100]

Definitely an experience that many of us will never have! Thanks for showing what it was like to be there!

[bluemoon]

With pleasure! It was a chance ...

[esslmb]

I like it

[bluemoon]

Thank you!

[steem-plus]

Hi, @bluemoon!

You just got a 0.05% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.

[bluemoon]

Thank you!

[iturahasia]

I've never been there, but I can see that it's such a holy city. Thanks for sharing! :)

Posted using Partiko Android

[bluemoon]

With pleasure to all who are interested.

[steem-ua]

Hi @bluemoon!

Your UA account score is currently 4.596 which ranks you at #1771 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 6 places in the last three days (old rank 1777).Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 200 contributions, your post is ranked at #46.

Evaluation of your UA score:

• Some people are already following you, keep going!
• The readers appreciate your great work!
• Good user engagement!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

[bluemoon]

Thank you!