New priest ordained in Bucharest for Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate

The patriarchal auxiliary bishop Varlaam of Ploiesti performed the ordination to the priesthood of Deacon Gheorghe Chascear during the Divine Liturgy at St Anthimos Monastery in Bucharest on Sunday, October 11, 2020.

Father Gheorghe Chascear is of Ukrainian origin and will serve at Campulung la Tisa parish within the Romanian Patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate.

‘We hope that God will help him to fulfil with zeal and much joy this ministry, which he received today through the Mystery of Ordination,’ Bishop Varlaam said.

“We hope that he will have his wife as the most important assistant who will be present at the Divine Liturgies, to be an example for all the Christians in the parish entrusted to her husband’s pastorate,” His Grace said.

“We have all found that he is a pious young man, a young man with a fear of God, with a lot of common sense, and these are very important values for today’s young people who are unfortunately facing a lot of temptations, and trials,” the patriarchal auxiliary bishop said about the newly ordained priest.

Referring to the Parable of the Sower which was read on the 21^st Sunday after Pentecost, His Grace Bishop Varlaam of Ploieşti encouraged the faithful to permanently prove that they are the good soil.

“May God grant you health, patience, joy, and may you work in such a way as to prove, as you have proved today, that you are the good soil in which Christ sowed the seed of His gospel in the hope of fruitfulness.”

Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate

The Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate is an administrative-territorial unit canonically dependent on the Romanian Patriarchate, dedicated to Ukrainian Orthodox believers living in Romania. They participate in services held in their mother tongue by Ukrainian priests or Ukrainian speakers.

Currently, the Vicariate is based in the city of Sighetu Marmației (Maramureș County) and includes believers from the northern part of the country (Maramureș, Transylvania, Crișana, Banat).

In 1952, the Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate was transformed into a Ukrainian Orthodox Deanery, based in the commune of Poienile de sub Munte, Maramureş County, under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Diocese of Cluj, receiving financial support from the Romanian Patriarchate.

After 1989, by the Decision of the Holy Synod no. 1432/12 February 1990, the Ukrainian Orthodox Vicariate was re-established, being directly canonically dependent on the Romanian Patriarchate.

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