“I don't go to Athos anymore” + Where he claims that “for me there is the holiest place on earth”
Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Thursday, 25 December 2025, 21:24 / Updated on Thursday, 25 December 2025 21:33
Gigi Becali (67 years old), the financier of the Romanian champion, made a series of revelations right on Christmas Day and announced that he had made the decision to stop going on pilgrimage to Mount Athos, preferring to pray only at churches in Bucharest.
Known for many years as Gigi Becali's favorite locationMount Athos is no longer an option for him, who claims that if he goes to pray in the province, he no longer has the feelings he feels in Bucharest.
Nowadays, the places he frequents connect him to different stages of his life, from his youthful memories to his mature years.
Gigi Becali no longer prays at Mount Athos
“I don't go to Athos anymore. I got used to Patriarchy, Cernica, Darvari and Plumbuita, I still go to these. I feel so good in the churches in Bucharest that I don't even go to the province. There are some experiences that you don't know and that many don't know. I thank God that he gave me a gift. If I go to the province, I don't experience them anymore.
I got used to certain places. When I go to Darvari, I remember from my youth, that's where I started. I am not referring to youth as an age, but to my spiritual youth, because my beginnings were at the Darvari Monastery.
That's where I started going day by day, day by day. Now I go once every two or three weeks, but the moment I go in there I burst into tears because I remember my beginnings. There are my beautiful memories from the beginning. Then I moved to Plumbuita. When I enter Plumbuita, I remember my places where I used to sit and pray.
And again I am crying because I remember my adolescence. And then I moved to Cernica. I remember my manhood, that's where I grew up. And after that, when I reach the Patriarchate, my wisdom and old age begin to be felt. The Romanian Patriarchate is for me the holiest place on the face of the earth”said Gigi Becali, quoted by fanatik.ro.
