Ukraine may give relics of St Theodora of Sihla to Romania

Ukrainian and Romanian politicians. Photo: kmu.gov.ua

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu have agreed on a possible exchange of the relics of St Theodora of Sihla for the bodies of two Ukrainian hetmans.

The Cabinet of Ministers website says that during a meeting in Kyiv on 18 October 2023, the parties noted "the importance of work related to the organization of the search for the relics of St. Theodora in Ukraine and the graves of Hetmans Pylyp Orlyk and Ivan Mazepa in Romania".

The website of the Romanian Patriarchate says that "a joint statement issued following a joint meeting of the governments of Ukraine and Romania shows that the relics of St Theodora of Sihla may end up in Romanian possession."

It also states that the relics of St Theodora of Sihla "were transferred to the monastery complex of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra during the Russian occupation of the Romanian principalities."

"Attempts to obtain these honest relics were also made in 1992 at the canonisation of Saint Theodora, but without success," says the Romanian Church's website.

Indeed, the relics of the saint after 1830 were transferred to the newly built church in the village of Micleuseni near Iasi, and in 1856 - to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where the saint became known as Theodora the Carpathian. However, the last location of the relics is questionable.

As earlier reported, former Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko called the relics of the reverends "exhibits" and promised their revision.

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