Saturday His Eminence Teofan, Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina, officiated a Doxology at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest to celebrate the 10th anniversary of patriarchal ministry of His Beatitude Daniel.
The event was attended by Their Beatitudes Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, Metropolitan Rastislav of Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as by hierarchs from Romania and abroad.
One of the common images that illustrates the Church and its work in the world is that of a ship at sea, Met. Teofan said at the end of the service.
The sea, he explained, is the world around, which sometimes is still and often agitated. Having Christ Himself as its Founder, Providence, Leader, the ship of the Church finally crosses the sea of history to the eternal Kingdom of God.
In this journey, the vessel of the Church encompasses all its faithful, preservers and confessors of the true faith, that is to say the lay Christians, those living in the holy monasteries, deacons, priests, and hierarchs. Each member of the Church, receiving “grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Ephesians 4:7), has a distinct role, unique in the journey of the ship.
Thus, the hierarch and, in particular, the Primate of a Church occupies a specific place, his work being, above all, that of coordination, leadership, under the guidance of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
His Eminence went on to refer to the main achievements of His Beatitude Daniel during his patriarchal ministry, while presenting him with an icon depicting the Mother of God, and with a flower basket.
Patriarch Daniel thanked His Eminence Teofan for the gifts and congratulations, expressing his gratitude to all those who have served the Church during the past ten years.
We thank God for all the bounties He poured out upon our Church during these past ten years. We thank the hierarchs of the Holy Synod, together with whom we made the most important pastoral and missionary decisions, and who contributed to the improvement of legislation of our Church, by drafting a new Statute and several church regulations.
We also want to thank our collaborators, the clergy, monastics, and faithful, the central and local state authorities, who supported us in our ten-year work. Particularly we want to thank all those who contributed to the construction of the new National Cathedral, the Romanian People’s Salvation Cathedral. By the help of God, we hope to see it completed next year and to perform the consecration of its altar.
Patriarch Kirill invited to consecrate the National Cathedral at the completion of its iconography
When the Cathedral’s iconography will be completed, Patriarch Daniel said, we will invite His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill to perform the consecration service, following the example of Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral, which was fully rebuilt in a few years on the place where the former cathedral was dynamited in the time of Stalin.
We also follow the example of the new and beauteous Cathedral in Tirana, built in a country where Orthodox faithful represent one third of the population. Albania is a mainly Muslim state, yet a beautiful, traditional and modern Cathedral was built.
In conclusion, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel expressed his wish that the activities of the Church may continue. In the years to come, by the help of God and of all those aforementioned, we wish for two major activities: continuity and intensity. To continue what we have started and intensify some activities.
The Patriarch wished for continuity and intensification in the liturgical, spiritual life, the pastoral, philanthropic mission in society, and in the strengthening of communion, cooperation and co-responsibility with the sister Orthodox Churches.
After this moment, Patriarch Daniel chaired the solemn session of the Romanian Orthodox Church Holy Synod in honour of Patriarch Justinian and the defenders of Orthodoxy during communism. The session was attended by Patriarch Kirill, Archbishop Anastasios, Metropolitan Rastislav and other hierarchs.
credit: Mihnea Păduraru / ZL
