How to Imitate a Saint
by Alexandru Radulescu, Religious Education Committee

On October 14, we celebrate the feast of St. Parascheva of Iași.  So, I was wondering how many among us are going to take the time to review her life.  Many of these saints have similar lives, and they are so many!  But some of them stand out.  St. Parascheva is well known in Romania, especially at Iași, the capital of the Province of Moldova.  Thousands of pilgrims crowd to her relics days in advance.  Why?  She is a great miracle worker, even after her death.  People come and pray to her for all kind of needs and many are healed.

You might be in the dorm right now or in the library checking your e-mail.  You ask yourself: “is it worth my time reading about this particular saint?  How do I imitate this saint?  She lived long time ago, in the 11th century.  How can her life relate to me, in the 21st century?”  Well, one key word will be sufficient to remember her: dedication.

St. Parascheva came from a very rich family in the city of Epibata in Thrace.  She received a Christian education from her family since early age.  As she grew up, she became aware of her call and desire for monastic life and dedication to the Lord.  As she heard one time the Gospel reading of Mark 8:34: “whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”, she decided to act upon it right away.  She started to exchange her expensive clothes with the poor.  Many times she was reproached by her parents for this, sometimes receiving beatings.  She eventually decided to give her share of her family inheritance to the poor and join a monastery.  She spent years in prayer and fasting.  Two years before her death, an angel of the Lord called her back to her native town.  She was buried unknown until God revealed her identity through a miracle.  The Church buried her in the local Church of Sts. Peter & Paul.  Many people were healed by her relics and, thus, they eventually realized her great importance.  Her earthly remains were transferred many times until Vasile, one of the rulers of Moldova, paid the Turks 300 bags of gold so that they could be returned to the Church, and they were placed in the Church of the Three Hierarchs in Iași.  Following a fire in the Three Hierarchs Church on the night of December 26, 1888, the relics were transferred in 1889 to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iași where they have remained enshrined to this day.

St. Parascheva was moved by the Lord’s call in Mark 8:34 and dedicated her whole life to do this.  The saint did everything she could and she made it.  Can I do what she did?  Of course I can.  Maybe one of these days someone asked me to lend them a book or get some help in the lab.  She gave all her inheritance.  She did not ask for anything in return.  Can I match some of that?

Dedicate to Christ, as she dedicated her whole life to Him!