Tuesday, 17 September 2019, St. George Monastery in Suruceni, Ialoveni district, hosted the Divine Liturgy in the memory of St. Dionisie (Erhan), Bishop of Cetatea Alba – Ismail, who was liturgically celebrated for the first time after canonisation.
Early morning, Reverend Mother Epistimia, Nun Superior of St. George Monastery in Suruceni, Ialoveni, together with the nuns of the monastic community, greeted His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and all Moldova, to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.
Concelebrating to Metropolitan Vladimir were His Eminence Sava, Archbishop of Tiraspol and Dubasari, His Grace Siluan, Bishop of Orhei and Metropolitan Vicar. The arch-pastors were assisted at the Divine Service by archpriest Vadim Cheibas, Metropolitan Secretary, elder monks and district deans of the Moldovan Church, and about one hundred priests and deacons from Chisinau Diocese.
The liturgical responses were provided by the nuns’ choir of the Monastery of Suruceni.
After the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Vladimir conducted Te-Deum service, giving thanks to God and glorifying St. Dionisie, a worthy and venerable hierarch of Christ’s Church.
Participating in the service were guest priests from Suceava, historical capital of Moldova, nowadays in Romania.
Liturgical prayers were shared by numerous spiritual sons and daughters, and ctitors of Suruceni monastic community, who brought homage to the great hierarch at about one year after his canonisation by the Romanian Orthodox Church on 25th October 2018.
After dismissal prayers, Metropolitan Vladimir addressed a message of congratulation and arch-pastoral guidance, speaking about the life of St. Dionisie as of a hierarch and prominent figure who marked the history of Basarabia, once part of the historical Moldova.
Hegumeness Epistimia, the Nun-Superior of St. George Monastery, thanked the arch-pastor for prayers, guidance, and care, underlining the ascetic living and sacrificial pastoral service of the Holy Hierarch Dionisie.
Synodal Sector of Institutional Communication and Mass-Media Relations