St Paraskeva of Iași (St Petka)
14 October 2026 — May every candle bring peace and hope to the pilgrims.
On 14 October the Romanian Orthodox Church, like the Bulgarian one, honours St Paraskevi, also known as Paraskevi the New or St Petka of Tarnovo. According to her life story, she was born in the 11th century in Epivates, near Constantinople, and lived an ascetic life of prayer. Her relics travelled over the centuries, resting in medieval Bulgaria, then in Serbia and in Constantinople. In 1641 they were brought to Iași, where they now lie in the Metropolitan Cathedral. Every year, around the feast day, tens of thousands of pilgrims come there from Romania and beyond. They queue for hours to venerate the relics, light candles and pray for health. The saint is also venerated in Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece. The feast falls on a fixed calendar date and does not depend on the phases of the Moon. On this day a symbol crosses the sky: a long chain of candles, like a constellation, echoing the pilgrims’ procession.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver chain of luminous points and fine lines, like a constellation, forming a long procession of small candle flames that glides slowly across the night sky
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