World’s Largest Orthodox Church Opens in Bucharest

Credit: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople / Nikos Papachristou

In a glorious ceremony, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and Patriarch Daniel of Romania connected Sunday, October 26, consacrated the iconography of the National Cathedral successful Bucharest, the world’s largest Christian Orthodox church.

Dedicated to the Ascension of Christ and to Saint Andrew the Apostle, patron saint of Romania, the majestic cathedral was consecrated by the 2 Church leaders successful 2018 and is besides known arsenic the People’s Salvation Cathedral.

Sunday’s solemnisation besides marked the authoritative opening of the cathedral, arsenic good arsenic the centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate and 140 years of Autocephaly of the Church of Romania.

Romania’s grandiose National Cathedral breaks each records

At 134 metres tall, the cathedral occupies a ascendant presumption successful Bucharest’s cityscape, being disposable from each approaches to the city.

Besides being the tallest and largest Eastern Orthodox religion gathering by measurement and country successful the world, the People’s Salvation Cathedral is the 3rd tallest domed religion gathering successful the satellite aft Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (158 m) successful Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, and (137 m) successful Vatican City.

Credit: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople / Nikos Papachristou

The cathedral’s iconography consacrated connected Sunday consists the largest postulation of religion mosaics successful the world, covering astir 25,000 quadrate meters of surface, and the world’s largest Orthodox iconostasis astatine 23.8 meters agelong and 17.1 meters high.

“The beatified Icons, some the portable ones and those depicted connected the walls of the Churches, are carriers of divine grace, which is wherefore we person specified galore miraculous icons,” the Ecumenical Patriarch said successful his speech. “They link the contiguous with eternity, they rise america from the mundane of mundane beingness to the precocious and holy, they bring God adjacent to man,” his All-Holiness added.

Credit: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople / Nikos Papachristou

A task that took 150 years to materialize

The thought of a nationalist cathedral archetypal emerged pursuing the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878), fought betwixt the Russian and Ottoman Empires, but a deficiency of statement connected the project’s details, followed by 2 satellite wars and decades of communist rule, each hampered the materialisation of the project.

Discussions were restarted successful 1999, and the cornerstone for the operation of the People’s Salvation Cathedral was yet sanctified connected November 29, 2007, officiated by Patriarch Daniel, the sixth Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. 

Construction works were officially started connected December 15, 2010.

A reported 200 cardinal euros ($216 million) person been spent connected the project, with astir of the wealth coming from nationalist funds and astir a 4th from donations.