The relics of the Three Holy Hierarchs – Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom – and of Martyrs Bonifatie and Haralambie were brought to “Saint Pious Parascheva” Monastery in Hancu, IPN reports. The relics are in Moldova for the first time and were conveyed from Odessa, Ukraine.
Contacted by IPN, Archimandrite Pavel Tabacari, of the Hancu Monastery, said that the faithful can come to see the relics every day until May 14.
The three hierarchs are venerated as saints. They were highly influential bishops of the early church who played pivotal roles in shaping Christian theology. In Eastern Christianity they are also known as the Three Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers.
The Eastern Churches teach that the three hierarchs appeared together in a vision to St. John Mauropous, bishop of Euchaita, in the year 1084, and said that they were equal before God. As a result, a January 30 feast day commemorating all three in common was instituted around 1100 under the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
