On Sunday, October 26, 2025, in Bucharest, Romania, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania consecrated the stunning new mosaic iconography of Romania’s National Cathedral.

His All-Holiness was in Romania to commemorate the centenary of the Romanian Patriarchate, as well as the 140th anniversary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s granting of autocephaly to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Ecumenical Patriarch anointed with Holy Chrism the mosaic icons at the entrance of the Cathedral. These icons depict the Holy Apostles Andrew and Philip, who evangelized the territories of present-day Romania. Patriarch Daniel blessed the icons with holy water, and Romanian hierarchs consecrated the exterior walls of the cathedral.

His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and His Eminence Archbishop Nifon of Târgoviște blessed the mosaic in the altar with holy water; then the Ecumenical Patriarch and Patriarch Daniel anointed it with chrism. Romanian hierarchs consecrated the mosaics in the northern and southern apses.

His All-Holiness stated: “The fraternal invitation of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, as well as the long-standing love and mutual respect that bind us, have brought us once again from the God-illumined Phanar to this blessed Romanian land and to the divinely protected city of Bucharest, bearing the blessing and love of our common spiritual Mother — the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople.”

He added: “We rejoice to celebrate together the consecration of the beautiful mosaics and the entire iconography of this majestic National Cathedral, dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord and Saint Andrew the First-Called, which, seven years ago, we had the honor to consecrate together — though, as you surely remember, in bitter cold!”

The Ecumenical Patriarch also noted four newly canonized Romanian saints: “We also rejoice over the recent canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of four Romanian Athonite monks, and we celebrate two historic anniversaries for the Romanian Orthodox Church: the 140th anniversary of its canonical independence, granted by the Mother Church through the Tomos of Autocephaly issued by Patriarch Joachim IV in 1885, and the 100th anniversary of its elevation to patriarchal dignity by Patriarch Basil III in 1925.”

At the end of his address, the Ecumenical Patriarch presented Patriarch Daniel with a pastoral staff.