By Sunday at noon, more than 300,000 people passed by the reliquary with the relics of Saint Pious Paraskeva from the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iasi. Another 50,000 people are still standing in a queue several kilometers long, and the waiting time is 12 hours, writes News.ro.

Believers stand in line to get to the relics of Saint Paraskeva Photo: Inquam Photos / Casian Mitu

Although the reliquary was due to be returned to the cathedral on Sunday, it was not done as thousands of people were still queuing.

“The box will be brought to the Metropolitan Cathedral when the number of pilgrims decreases. Maybe it will happen at night or tomorrow morning (not on Monday morning),” priest Lukian Apopei, director of communications of the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bucovina, told News.ro.

During the eight days of the pilgrimage, 591 people needed medical assistance, 47 of them were taken to the hospital.

According to the gendarmes, 35,000 people took part in the Holy Liturgy, which took place on Saturday on the pedestrian street in front of the cathedral in Iasi, which is a record number for religious holidays in Iasi in recent years.

After the Holy Liturgy, the Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina IPS Teofan awarded ten people, including five young people who showed outstanding results at the international Olympiad, as well as five elderly people who sang in the church all their lives, writes the previously quoted source .