Hundreds of Orthodox believers prayerfully welcomed the New Year 2019 together with His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest having ‘the joy of the sanctification of time.’
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel read the Akathist Hymn to Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ in front of the Saviour’s icon.
His Beatitude offered prayers of thanksgiving for the past year and addressed petitions for the New Year.
Addressing the faithful after the service, the Patriarch of Romania spoke about time and the way it can be sanctified.
Church Calendar: ‘the screen of lives sanctified in time’
‘The calendar of our Church is the screen of the lives that were sanctified in time and entered eternity,’ His Beatitude said Jan. 1, 2019.
The Patriarch insisted that man is called to live the time of his life ‘as a gift received from God, which must be cultivated through love of Him and of our neighbours.’
Patriarch Daniel noted that 2018 was an extremely prosperous year as regards the manifestations marking the 1918 Great Union Centennial, which culminated with the consecration of the National Cathedral, a 140-year old ideal of Romanians.
The Patriarch also announced the topic of 2019, which was declared a Solemn Year of the Romanian Village in the Romanian Patriarchate, paying homage to diligent priests, teachers, and mayors in rural Romania.
His Beatitude urged everyone ‘to look with trust and hope, but also with responsibility, at every moment of our present life.’
The Romanian Patriarch noted that we should cherish every moment ‘as a calling to our elevation from sins through repentance, and as a chance to make the gifts received from God more fruitful and valuable, by doing good deeds in the time of our earthly life in order to gain eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.’
Joy to sanctify time
‘May Christ the Lord, the King of ages, grant you all who came to church to pray with us, at the turn of the year, good health and peace, as well as the joy to sanctify time as a time of salvation, may He bless your families and activities unto the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and the profit of all humans.’
Photography courtesy of Mircea Florescu / Basilica.ro
