His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania chaired Saturday, September 29, 2018, the constitutive session of the National Church Assembly at the Palace of the Patriarchate in Bucharest.
The National Church Assembly is comprised of all the hierarchs of the Holy Synod, the representatives of clergy and lay believers within the Romanian Patriarchate’s dioceses.
In his opening speech, the Patriarch of Romania said that ‘a new National Church Assembly is established in the Centennial Year,’ with a special responsibility in the life of the Church.
‘For four years you will be under the blessing, the light, the joy and the great privilege to be persons of the Centennial,’ Patriarch Daniel said addressing the new NCA members.
The Patriarch noted that new members were added to some already existing more experienced members.
‘There is a beautiful connection between tradition and renewal, between continuity and regeneration,’ the Romanian Patriarch said.
Following the election and validation of the mandates for the next period (2018-2022), the NCA members met to elect the Permanent Working Committees and the members of the National Church Council.
Appeal for marriage referendum
At the end of the session, the Patriarch of Romania read out the National Church Assembly’s appeal backing the participation in the referendum that will be held in Romania on October 6-7 to clarify marriage in the country’s Constitution as union of a man and a woman only.
‘Let us say YES to the family blessed by God,’ the message read.
The National Church Assembly urged all Romanian Orthodox citizens to attend the October 6-7 referendum on marriage definition and vote YES to affirm, defend and promote family as an institution blessed by God.
‘Let us honour the 1918 Great Union Centennial, through a great union of reason and national action in defending the Christian family and the future of the Romanian nation!’
Prior to the NCA constitutive meeting, His Grace Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania, the assistant bishop to the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Ss Constantine and Helen Patriarchal Cathedral.
The National Church Assembly is the central deliberative body of the Romanian Orthodox Church for administrative, social, cultural, economic and patrimonial issues.
The decisions of the National Church Assembly become enforceable after their ratification by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The NCA Chairman is the Patriarch of Romania.
Photography courtesy of Raluca Ene / Basilica.ro
