More than 30,000 churchgoers and 2,000 official guests attend consecration of the National Salvation Cathedral

Patriarch Daniel: Cathedral has a capacity of 5,000 churchgoers. It will always be cramped*Service for the consecration of the altar, officiated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and His Beatitude Daniel   The National Salvation Cathedral was consecrated on Sunday by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Daniel, joined by several Romanian and foreign hierarchs, but also by thousands of pilgrims from Bucharest and from around the country. Premier Viorica Dancila, Constitutional Court President Valer Dorneanu, as well as members of the Government were among the officials present. President Klaus Iohannis was invited at the event, but he announced he will be unable to attend because he will be at the extraordinary summit of the European Council in Brussels. In line with the interior space available, the 2,000 official guests had access inside the Cathedral during the Holy Mass. The more than 30,000 churchgoers who came from all over the country to take part in the consecration of the altar of the National Salvation Cathedral waited for hours outside the Cathedral, watching the ceremony on the special screens. Many of them were dressed in folk costumes and carried tricolour flags. “The National Salvation Cathedral has a capacity of 5,000 standing persons, the religious building being cramped for the mass of people who have come for the consecration,” Patriarch Daniel announced. “Until Thursday, all Orthodox believers, men and women, will be able to enter the Holy Altar, kissing the Holy Bible, the Holy Cross and the Holy Table and asking for God’s help in strengthening their good wishes. We congratulate you, those who have come, and we are happy we can measure more realistically now how many persons can fit in the Cathedral sitting on chairs. So, we have room for 3,000 chairs in the Cathedral. When all faithful stand then the Cathedral has a capacity for 5,000. It is still small in relation to the mass of faithful outside. It will always be cramped. When the weather is nicer, we will be able to hold the Holy Mass outside too,” Patriarch Daniel stated at the start of the service. Only official guests had access inside the Cathedral, the thousands of churchgoers who attended the event standing outside the Cathedral where they were able to watch the Holy Mass on special screens. At the end of Holy Mass, all Orthodox pilgrims were given access inside the Cathedral. The Cathedral will remain open to them in the following days too (November 26-29, “days of consecration”), and they will be able to enter the newly consecrated Holy Altar. The events that mark the consecration of the National Cathedral started on Friday. His Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch, arrived at the Patriarchal Cathedral on Friday, at 12.45 p.m., being welcomed by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. Bartholomew was accompanied by a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchy, and a delegation of the Orthodox Church of Greece, led by His Holiness Father Hrisostom, Metropolitan Bishop of Patra. The Orthodox Church of Greece delegation brought with it the chest containing the hand of the Holy Apostle Andrew, Protector of Romania. The chest stayed inside the Patriarchal Cathedral on the Metropolitan Hill until Saturday, at 4 p.m., when it was placed on the porch of the chapel of the National Salvation Cathedral, where it stayed until 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 25. This moment was followed at 5 p.m. by the commemoration service for Romanian heroes, officiated by the Romanian Patriarch and other hierarchs inside the National Cathedral.   ISU fined the constructor of the Cathedral for violating the fire safety rules   The People’s Salvation Cathedral does not have a fire safety certification because the structure is not complete yet, the Bucharest-Ilfov Emergency Inspectorate (ISU) said on Saturday. “Organiser of the event is the Romanian Patriarchate, who has invited the public to participate in the consecration service of the church. At the moment, the structure is not completed, meaning that there is no question of a fire safety certification, which is the administrative document issued by emergency inspectorates at the completion of the construction before actual commissioning, according to the destination declared by the beneficiary,” according to an ISU press statement. ISU Bucharest-Ilfov mentioned that it has fined the constructor of the cathedral 10,000 lei for violating the fire safety rules, adding that it informed the Metropolitan Bishopric of Muntenia and Dobrogea – the Archdiocese of Bucharest that, under the given conditions, it will be fully responsible for the safety of the attendees. “We also want to mention that on November 23, 2018 ISU Bucharest-Ilfov fined the constructor 10,000 lei for violation of fire safety rules applicable to the construction of a site for this purpose. The penalty was enforced in accordance with the provisions of Article 19(q) of Law 307/2006 on fire prevention, as subsequently amended and supplemented, corroborated with the provisions of Article 6.6.5 of the Fire Prevention and Fire-fighting Technique C300 / 1994 during the execution of construction works and ISU Bucharest-Ilfov also informed the Metropolitan Bishopric of Muntenia and Dobrogea – the Archdiocese of Bucharest that, under the given conditions, it bears full responsibility for the safety of the participants,’ according to the ISU statement The same source announced that the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) will ensure through its structures the safe conduct of the consecration of the People’s Salvation Cathedral “to mitigate any risk to the population.” “Since the structure is not technically completed and there is a site nearby that cannot provide 100 percent safety conditions for a large number of participants, the Ministry of Interior has ordered the mobilisation of a large number of firemen , first responders, gendarmerie and police officers to act in the area to mitigate any risk to the population,” the statement said. ISU Bucharest recommended  those who want to attend the event to carefully handle sources of fire, to dress appropriately for the low temperatures during this period, especially at night time, not to stand for extended periods of time in the open where temperatures are low, not to...

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