His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania received Bucharest’s Honorary Citizenship for his contribution to the spirituality and education of the Romanian people. The Patriarch of Romania received the award from Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea at the Patriarchal Residence on December 12. Mayor Firea was accompanied by a delegation of the Bucharest City Hall including the former Minister of Culture and National Identity George Ivascu who read out the Laudatio, stressing the academic and pastoral…

One year since the consecration of Romania’s National Cathedral we provide you with some figures to help you understand what this national project has meant until today: 110 million euros: Because the number of press materials increased with the cathedral’s building process, and most of the time the deep significance of this national project is overlooked, the amounts spent with the National Cathedral have been intensely discussed. Weiterlesen auf basilica.ro (26. November 2019)

The Church has joined the ‘Let’s do it, Romania!’ campaign and summoned teams of young students from the theological seminaries across Romania to help out with the clean-up day. Over 180‘000 Romanians, most of them students but also volunteers of all ages, have said yes to this year’s national environmental action. On Saturday, Sept. 21, several Orthodox high schools, parishes and other church institutions put into practice the advice of Patriarch Daniel to express a special care towards God’s…

A 100-year-old building in the city of Haugesund in southwestern Norway was given new life on Sunday, as it was consecrated as a parish church of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The new church, the first Romanian Orthodox parish in Norway, is dedicated to the “O All-Hymned Mother” Icon of the Theotokos, as well as Sts. Macarius the Great and Macarius of Alexandria, reports Doxologia. According to OrthodoxWiki, there are 16 other parishes operating in Norway, divided between the Russian Church, th…

His Eminence Metropolitan Pavlos of Drama consecrated a newly built church at the hut of the Annunciation at Lakkoskiti in honour of Saint Paisios of Mount Athos. This is the first church serving a Romanian community on the Holy Mount to be dedicated to St Paisios. The consecration ceremony took place on July 25, the feast day of St Paisios according to the unrevised Julian calendar. The church was also offered a second Patron Saint, the holy and righteous King David. Weiterlesen auf basilica…

A group of tech-savvy Romanians are currently testing Sotiras, a new social platform that could be an Orthodox alternative to Facebook. Their initiative has the blessing of the Romanian monks from the Annunciation Kellia of the Romanian Lakkoskete on Mount Athos. The new social networking website ‘aims at promoting beauty, normality, and Christian values’, reads a statement of the founders published by Marturie Athonita. Weiterlesen auf basilica.ro (22. August 2019)

MP Daniel Gheorghe has submitted a draft law to parliament that declares August 16 an official Remembrance Day of the Holy Brancoveanu Martyrs and a National Day of Awareness of Violence against Christians. If the draft law will be approved by the Parliament, the following buildings will be illuminated in red on August 16, between 20:00 and 24:00: the Romanian Parliament, the Government of Romania, the central and local public authorities, the Arc de Triomphe and the Mogosoaia Palace. The bill…

Because sometimes the Romanian media refers to the glorification of the persons who suffered persecutions during the communist regime in our country or even died in the communist jails, we provide the following information: The canonization of Saints has the role to profess, to strengthen and to convey the true faith so as to guide the faithful on the path of salvation and of gaining saintliness. One of the essential conditions to glorify Saints is their undoubted faith kept until death (Revela…

The Romanian Patriarchate learned with deep indignation about the theatre play ‘Eu sunt. Si?’ (‘I am. So?’) performed in Cluj-Napoca during the ‘Pride Week’ of sexual minorities. The indecent content of this representation includes the mocking of Christian religious symbols, sending a deliberately blasphemous message. Such offensive attitudes towards the overwhelming majority of Romanians, the negative labeling of Christian believers, the repeated offending of religious feelings divide society…

Auf seiner dreitägigen Reise nach Rumänien hat Papst Franziskus immer wieder die ethnische, religiöse und kulturelle Vielfalt des Landes gerühmt und zu deren Bewahrung und Pflege aufgerufen. Zugleich warb er für Gemeinschaft und gute Beziehungen untereinander. Die Berücksichtigung der Vielfältigkeit Rumäniens äußerte sich auch in der Auswahl der Reiseziele und in den Treffen mit verschiedenen Gemeinschaften.

The largest mosaic depicting the More Spacious than the Heavens Icon of the Mother of God was applied on the half-dome that stands above the altar of the National Cathedral in Bucharest on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. The team of specialists was coordinated by iconographer Daniel Codrescu. The Panagia Platytera ton ouranon measures 16 meters high and was created by a team of artists coordinated by iconographer Daniel Codrescu. It is the first icon that decorates the walls of the Romanian People’s Salv…

St. Sava, the Enlightener of Serbia and first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, is the most beloved saint of the Serbian Orthodox faithful. He was declared the patron saint of schools and students by Prince Miloš Obrenović (1780-1860) and today many schools in Serbia and in the Serbian diaspora are named in his honor and his feast day is always festively celebrated. His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia has said of St. Sava: “From any point that we start from in the fields of cu…

Romania’s March for Life gathered thousands of people across the country on Saturday, March 23, 2019, to defend the life of unborn children and of mothers in a pregnancy crisis. This year’s demonstration was organized in over 600 cities throughout Romania and the Republic of Moldova under the title ‘Unique from the first second’. In Bucharest, the march was organized by the local Students for Life Association and started at Unirii Square. The final stop was Tineretului Park, where several pro-l…

Im Vorfeld des Papstbesuchs in Rumänien (31. Mai bis 2. Juni) hat der Vatikan am Dienstag bekanntgegeben, dass sieben Bischöfe der Verfolgungszeit 1948–1970 als Märtyrer selig geprochen werden. Die Dekrete betreffen Kardinal Iuliu Hossu und die griechisch-katholischen Bischöfe Valeriu Traian Frenţiu, Alexandru Rusu, Ioan Bălan, Ioan Suciu, Titu Liviu Chinezu und Vasile Aftenie. Ab 1949 wurden alle griechisch-katholischen Bischöfe für viele Jahre inhaftiert. Kardinal Iuliu Hossu (1885–1970) hat…

The members of the National Church Council met Tuesday, February 19, 2019, for the annual working session at the Patriarchal Residence in Bucharest. The meeting was chaired by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. The NCC members reviewed the most important activities carried out last year by the Romanian Orthodox Church and set project proposals for 2019. The Patriarch of Romania read out the synthesis report stressing that in 2018 the Romanian Patriarchate spent 24 million Euros for the entire soci…

On Monday, January 28, 2019, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church welcomed at his patriarchal residence the delegations of the Committee of Representatives of the Orthodox Churches to the European Union (CROCEU), the Commission of the Roman-Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), and the Conference of European Churches (CEC), who were visiting Bucharest following Romania’s taking over the EU presidency on January 1. His Beatitude presented the…

On February 4, 1925, the Holy Synod gathered in Bucharest and resolved the establishment of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate, following Romania’s Great Union achieved in 1918. The first person who advocated for the elevation of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the patriarchal rank was Fr. Gheorghe Ciuhandu who supported this idea during the Assembly of the clergy of Transylvania in 1919. After him, several other important figures of Romanian culture, historians like Nicolae Iorga and Ioan Lupa…

The unity of the Church is the gift of God and a co-responsibility of the clergy and the lay faithful. Message of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, at the International Theological Conference “Panorthodox Unity and Synodality“, Iaşi, 9-12 January 2019: In contemporary society, characterised by increased secularisation, i.e. through relativisation of religious and moral values, a renewal of present Orthodox theology is more and more necessary, through a presentatio…

In the Centenary year of the Great Union, Romfilatelia introduces into circulation the postage stamp issue entitled The consecration of Altar of the Salvation National Cathedral, dedicated to an important event for the Orthodox Christians. On the stamp of the issue, with the face value of Lei 5, is illustrated the icon of the Holy Apostle Andrew, the First-Called, the Protector of Romania, from the Iconostasis of the Cathedral, alongside with the layout of the edifice. The p…

Gemeinsam mit dem Ökumenischen Patriarchen Bartholomaios hat der rumänisch-orthodoxe Patriarch Daniel am 25. November die neue Kathedrale zur Erlösung der Nation in Bukarest geweiht. An den liturgischen Feiern nahmen mehrere zehntausend Gläubige teil. Das Gotteshaus zählt zu den größten orthodoxen Kirchen weltweit und verfügt über eine der größten frei schwingenden Glocken. Laut der Kirchenleitung soll die Kathedrale den „Opfer[n] der Vorfahren für den Glauben, die Würde und Einheit des Volkes…