St. Dimitrie (Demetrius) Basarabov the New, the patron saint of Bucharest, is one of the most memorable representatives of Christian life, and his relics are kept in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. St. Dimitrie was born and lived in the 13th century on the bank of the Lom River, in Bulgaria. He spent a long time of his life in a cave close to the place where he was born, in harsh fasting, abstinence, and prayer, completely isolated from the world. After his death, his relics were found by locals in the river waters and were laid in the church of the Basarab village. During the Russo-Turkish War, Russian General Peter Salnikov took St. Dimitrie's relics to prevent the Turkish soldiers from desecrating them; he planned to take them to Russia. When the cortege passed through Bucharest in June 1774, upon the beseeching of Hagi Dimitrie, a rich merchant, and Metropolitan Bishop Grigorie II of Wallachia, the relics were handed over as a gift to the Romanian Orthodox believers to comfort them for their suffering and losses incurred during the war. Only the right hand of the saint ended up in Russia. As of that date, St. Dimitrie the New became the protector of Bucharest. In 1955, the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to spread his worship over the entire country. (from the official site of Bucharest City Hall) Translated by Monica Voiculescu
by Bucharest City Hall website
