VIDEO REPORT Discussions about Artificial Intelligence with the people queuing to visit the National Cathedral: Computer Science students, ASE students, parents and grandparents. “I also stood in line at the Vatican”
“It's good to see the world, but it's even better to know that you also have something to show”, says one of the thousands of people who continue, these days, to come to see the National Cathedral in Bucharest. The number of those who visited the Cathedral is approaching 200,000 people.
At the Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation in Bucharest, opened to the public with the consecration of the mosaic painting, thousands of people wait daily to enter the altar of the great place.
“We kiss and advance,” repeat the volunteers, asking people to advance, not to linger long in front of the coffins. Pilgrims move slowly, silently, among the golden mosaics and lit phone screens, to spend a few seconds in front of the holy relics.
Metal fences guide the lines, and the gendarmes, already used to the flow, ask people from time to time to leave space, on Calea 13 Septembrie. Fragments of conversations, children's voices and the rustling of bags can be heard all around.
The Cojanu family: You come from Hârșova
The Cojanu family has been standing in line for three hours, in the middle of the line surrounding the National Cathedral. The four, the parents and the two adult children, one of whom shyly hides from the reporter, seem reconciled to the expectation.
The father, a 56-year-old man, an economist, speaks in a calm tone, like a man who has seen the world and has patience: he came from Hârșova especially for the Cathedral, he says, because all the great cities of Europe have their point, and spiritual. “It was about time we had one,” he adds, looking at the dome glistening in the sun. “It is the largest Orthodox cathedral in Europe and we should be proud of it.”
Beside him, Corina, his wife, also an economist, adds with a smile: They were everywhere, in France, Germany, Greece, Spain, even in Lourdes, “where there is a different energy”.
“The cathedral is not for us. Nor for them. It is for eternity”
She always prays for health, she says. “If you have health, you can work, you can live beautifully, you can do it all.” Then, with a seriousness that changes his tone, he adds: “The cathedral is not for us. Nor for them. It is for eternity.”
The son, Costin, is 21 years old and studies Computer Science in Constanța. He sits with his hands in his pockets and has a relaxed air, like an ordinary young man with expectations. “It's really OK here,” he says, smiling slightly. “And at the Vatican I stood in line.”
“What a junior is doing now, AI is already doing. You have to be over”
When we talk about college, his voice changes, he becomes more careful: it's hard to find a job, he explains. Experience is required everywhere, but he is “just learning”. College is easy “only if you put in the time.”
He wants to go on cybersecuritybut he knows he has to work hard. “What a junior is doing now, AI is already doing. You have to be over it.”
The parents look at him with pride mixed with care. “At work or at church, you must be patient.” Costin laughs and we change the subject.
He tells about their travels: he liked Rome the most: they got rained out at the Colosseum, it was closed, but he thought it was beautiful even from the outside. “Rome is for when you start to understand,” says the young man.
Corina smiles: “When he was little, Disneyland excited him, now he likes Rome. It's a sign that he's grown up,” she jokes. The father adds: “I also stood in line in Paris. It's the same everywhere. It means that people still have patience and faith.”
The line advances a few meters. “I also went to Mount Athos,” the man continues to tell. “It's totally quiet there. You disconnect from everything mundane.” Moscow is next, next month, as a continuation of their pilgrimage, the father says. “Let's see their monasteries as well. And there is a world of faith.”
Instead, Costin looks up at the golden peaks glistening in the sun. “I'm curious to see what we've managed to do too,” and the father agrees with his eyes. “It's good to see the world,” he says, “but it's even better to know you have something to show.”
Anca: “I worked on the Cathedral mosaic, but I stand in line like everyone else”
Three other young women are standing in line, they have reached the entrance. I come from Râmnicu Vâlcea and I am a friend from college. One wears a black coat, the other two, autumn trench coats.
“I finished Theology, the Sacred Arts section, and I'm working on the mosaic of the Cathedral,” says Anca, 25 years old. “I've been working there for two and a half years and it's still not finished. About 70% of the painting has been covered. There's still the pronaos.”
He explains the process precisely: “We have the prints made by our coordinator, Daniel Codrescu. Each artist receives a fragment of a scene and we work several times on a composition. Then they are mounted in the Cathedral by the installation team. It is a very slow, patient process.”
He could enter the Cathedral at any time. He has an ID, he works there, he volunteers in youth projects. But he has been standing in line with the others for more than two hours. “I wanted to be in solidarity with the pilgrims and my friends. I was lucky to have priority, but now I said I should also feel what the people who come here feel,” explains the young woman.
Next to her, a friend just finished her master's degree at ASE, in computer systems, and works as a programmer. The other is a student of Letters.
“It's a unique moment,” says one of them. “As every country has its own monument, so I think we should be proud of the Cathedral. It's not an opportunity you catch twice.”
Viorica: “I want to live to be 100 years old”
Viorica Roșca is 73 years old and came to the National Cathedral because she “heard that it was very beautiful inside” and wanted to see it with her own eyes. The waiting time doesn't scare her. “For three hours I understood that it was sitting, but I resist. Yes, yes, yes,” he says decisively, smiling.
He worked all his life at Electrica in Bucharest, “in finance”. “Forty-two years. I've worked there a lifetime,” he repeats, with a mixture of pride and nostalgia. She was born in a village in Giurgiu. “I grew up in the countryside, my parents are there. At 14 I came to Bucharest and stayed. My parents stayed in the village, I came with my mother's sister and later I stayed with the service.”
He has four sons, four daughters-in-law and a handful of nephews and nieces. “My husband died when I was 50 and a son died when I was 53.” The eldest of the sons lives in England, the other two are in the country. “I'm staying with my daughter-in-law now,” says the woman.
He prays “for health, for children and for the whole family”. “Health is the most important thing. If it's health, it's everything. For the family, that's what matters most.”
About the Cathedral, she is convinced that “it's very good that it was done”. “We have to come here too. Some will, some won't, but I like to come.” He says he also often goes on trips or pilgrimages. “A week ago I went to Albota, to the monasteries. And on November 25th we are going to Craiova, to a fair, I think it's for Christmas.”
When you ask her how she thinks about the future, she smiles broadly, without hesitation: “I want to live to be 100. Yes, I don't even think about anything else. I want to live to be 100.”
“Maybe he can see us too, God-God, and help us get where we need to go”
Two other women, sisters, stand patiently in line. One, from Bucharest, brought a folding chair and gets up from time to time, when the queue advances a few steps. The other, her sister, came from Brăila. He made the journey just to enter together into the altar of the new cathedral, consecrated a few days ago.
“I've been here for an hour and ten minutes,” says Despa, smiling, in the calm voice of a man accustomed to waiting. “We brought our chairs, because we can't really stand that much.”
She is 79 years old and retired. He worked for fifteen years at the Rahova brewery, “until it was abolished”, then at a small neighborhood restaurant. “I couldn't stay at home,” says the woman. He has two children, “a boy and a girl, both here in Bucharest”, and a ten-year-old grandson.
Her sister fills her in from time to time. “I said: look, people are coming precisely from Botoșani, from Bacău, and we shouldn't come?! Especially since they are entering the altar. I have never been to the altar. At least let me start with this, which is a masterpiece after all.”
“It's a strengthening in faith”
From time to time, they stop and gaze admiringly at the huge construction: “It's gorgeous from the outside,” says Despa. “Let's see inside. But anyway, it's something special.”
When asked what the cathedral means to her, the woman from Brăila slightly shrugs her shoulders, looking for the right words: “It's a strengthening in faith. We say that God has not forgotten us and we are getting closer to Him. Through something like this we get closer to God.”
Despa then speaks of young people, with a warm sadness: “There are some here, but some are moving further and further away from the church. Maybe they say that too much money was spent, that hospitals and schools had to be built. I say that both could be done. There is money, but it depends on who governs us.”
“35 years have passed and a lot could be done. But the corruption is great, it seems to be getting worse,” intervenes her sister. “We should stop and say: come on, God, let's do something, a little beyond, a little from here, let's recover a little. It's like we're going lower and lower.”
At the end, the tone softens: “We, you know, have an age. But we hope for the children and the grandchildren that it will be better. Maybe he sees us too, God-God, and helps us get where we need to be.”
Open until November 5th
The huge queues that formed in the last days are for visiting the Cathedral of the Salvation of the Nation, opened to the public with the consecration of the mosaic painting, on Sunday, October 26.
The main reason for the wait is the very altar, where the relics of Saint Demetrius the New, the Protector of Bucharest, were placed for worship, alongside the relics of Saint Andrew the Apostle, considered the protector of Romania.
The Patriarchate announced that the shrine will remain open permanently until November 5, after extending the initial schedule by one week. More than 170,000 people have already passed through the Cathedral since the opening of the huge place.
To manage the flow, the Archdiocese of Bucharest has created an online map where pilgrims can check in real time where the line ends and the estimated waiting time. A red dot shows, as in a game, how far the tail has stretched.
At 5pm on Saturday, the time I entered the Cathedral, the waiting time was about five hours. The queue stretched along the wall that surrounds the place, between metal fences, and was coordinated by gendarmes and volunteers, until close to Libertății Boulevard.
