Romanian Orthodox Church

The Week in Pictures: March 9 – 15, 2020

Snapshots of Orthodox spiritual life seen through the lens of amateur and professional photographers on March 9-15, 2020. Commemorative events, anniversaries and ordinations were among last week’s events. Follow us on Twitter: @BasilicaNews Follow us on Instagram: @basilica.ro We would gladly include one of your photos depicting Orthodox life in our weekly selection. All you…

Mar 17, 2020Ștefana Totorcea

Patriarch Daniel: Transform the period of medical crisis in a time to strengthen our faith and increase our love!

On the Second Sunday of Great Lent, the Church opens before us the well-known page of the Holy Gospel about the cure of a paralytic man. This gospel passage shows us the healing power of our Saviour Jesus Christ and highlights the importance of caring for one’s health. Referring to the four friends who made…

Mar 16, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Newly consecrated Bishop Benedict celebrates first Divine Liturgy in home town

One week after his ordination to the episcopate, His Grace Bishop Benedict of Bistrița, Romania’s youngest Orthodox hierarch, celebrated his first Divine Liturgy in his home town Sartăş. Addressing those present, the assistant bishop to the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac, and Cluj, confessed that after his ordination the first thing that came to his mind…

Mar 5, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop of Huși: We live in an age of technology and another type of fasting is required, a media quarantine

His Grace Bishop Ignatie of Huși cautioned that in an age of technology we should extend our fasting rules to technology in order to gain spiritual peace during Lent. ‘We live in an age of technology and another type of fasting is required, a media quarantine,’ the Bishop of Huși stressed during Forgiveness Vespers marking…

Mar 5, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian Patriarch offers reflections on Great Lent: from pagan training school to Christian repentance school

The first part of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete was officiated in all Orthodox churches on Monday evening, March 2, 2020, marking the beginning of Great Lent. At the patriarchal cathedral in Bucharest, the Great Canon was read out by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania who spoke about repentance as the…

Mar 4, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel: No one can enter Lent without forgiveness

“No one can enter into fasting, as a spiritual struggle for the cleansing of sins and the lightening of the soul, without forgiveness,” His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania explained in his homily at the Chapel of St. Gregory the Enlightener in the Patriarchal residence in Bucharest on the Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam…

Mar 3, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel sends pastoral message to strengthen faith and Eucharistic communion

The Press office of the Romanian Patriarchate published a communiqué on February 27, 2020, in the context of excessive media coverage of the epidemic caused by Coronavirus (Covid – 19) and following requests from some state institutions that the Church should take measures to prevent the spread of the virus and to reduce the population’s…

Feb 28, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

After installation, New Romanian Bishop Benedict of Bistrița says he wants to be a friend of youth

A new Romanian bishop was ordained on Sunday, February 23, 2020, at the Orthodox Cathedral in Cluj and installed as an auxiliary bishop to the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj in the presence of thousands. Consecrated at the age of 36, Benedict of Bistrita became the youngest Romanian Orthodox Bishop. He said that he…

Feb 24, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Râmnic Archbishop Varsanufie commemorates Roma who died in concentration camps, deportations and captivity

His Eminence Archbishop Varsanufie of Râmnic Thursday, February 20, 2020, officiated a prayer service for remembrance of the Roma who died in concentration camps, deportations and captivity. The memorial service was officiated at the Ascension of the Lord Church in Râmnicu-Vâlcea to mark 164 years since the liberation of Roma in Romanian Principalities. The list…

Feb 21, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Romania Gazettes updated statute for organization of Romanian Orthodox Church

The Romanian Official Journal February 10 published the updated Statute for the Organization and Functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church that include all the amendments made by the Holy Synod between 2011 and 2019. Here are highlights from the most noteworthy modifications in the updated statute. Election of the Patriarch The changes brought to the…

Feb 20, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Funeral held of pioneering Irish Romanian Orthodox priest Fr Godfrey O’Donnell

The funeral Mass of Fr Godfrey O’Donnell (80) the only Irishman to be ordained a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Ireland, took place on Monday at St Columba’s Church, Blakestown Way, in West Dublin. A total of 28 Romanian Orthodox priests from Europe and Ireland took part in the Mass, The Iris Time reports. From Derry, Fr…

Feb 18, 2020Gheorghe Anghel