The Autumn Session of the Pastoral and Missionary Conference of the Priests of the Archdiocese of Bucharest

Under the title 2015 – Commemorative year of St John Chrysostom and of the Great Spiritual Shepherds within the Eparchies, the autumn session of the pastoral and missionary conference of the priests from Bucharest and Ilfov County took place in the Great Hall of the National Opera of Bucharest, on Monday, 23 November 2015.

The conference was presided by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Among those in attendance were His Grace Varlaam Ploieșteanul (of Ploiești), Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch; His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul (of Prahova), Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest; Rev. Fr Ionuț Corduneanu, patriarchal administrative vicar; and Rev. Fr Aurel Mihai, eparchial administrative vicar. To this conference also attended clergymen of the Archdiocese of Bucharest.

The Romanian Patriarch delivered an address entitled “2015 – Commemorative Year of St John Chrysostom and of the Great Spiritual Shepherds within the Eparchies”:

Today, the aging of the population at a European level, the accelerated decline of natality, the increase of the numbers of abortions and of the mono-parental families, the social and political crises, the recent social and demographical challenges, as well as the positioning of our society in the vicinity of terrible wars occurring in Middle East, all these generate profound changes of thought and action in the current society. In front of these changes, the Church must give particular importance to her missionary work dedicated to children and youth, but also to adults less catechized or less informed regarding the spiritual life and the multiple activities of the Church.

In order to intensify at a qualitative scale the pastoral and missionary activities carried out by the Church it is compulsory that every servant and missionary of the Church asks themselves the proper questions and find the proper answers and solutions for every person and situation, inspired answers from the Holy Gospel”.

Afterwards, three papers in connection to the Commemorative Year of Sf John Chrysostom were presented.

Thus, His Grace Bishop Timotei of Prahova presented the first paper entitled “Great Spiritual Shepherds”. His Grace showed that the list of the great spiritual shepherds from within the Romanian people is very consistent. God in the Book of Life has written the names and virtues of each of them. Let us learn from the great spiritual shepherds of our people how should we sanctify our life in our Lord Jesus Christ, teaching and fulfilling His commandments, permanently protecting the values and virtues of the authentic Christian life, in order to acquire peace and joy, without which our life cannot progress on the way of salvation.

The second paper entitled “St John Chrysostom, a teacher of the Christian family” was presented by Rev. Fr. Alexandru Barna, eparchial adviser at the Cultural and Media Communication Department of the Archdiocese of Bucharest. In his paper, Fr Alexandru Barna underlined some aspects regarding the Christian family, in a thematic selection from the works of St John Chrysostom, accentuating the real involvement of the Church, through her priests, in the life of the families in risk and of those who apparently do not require any help.

Rev. Fr Petru Moga, from St Nicholas Parish in Câmpina, Prahova County, presented the third paper entitled “The way the priest relates to the spiritual models”. According to Fr Petru Moga, it is insufficient to repeatedly think for a solution, based on the skills people have and on practice. Shepherding means the obligation to accept that every man, every human group, with their geographical, economic, social and cultural specificity, requires to be recognized as such, and claims a personalized approach.

After the presentation of the papers, followed a film produced by Trinitas TV that presented three models of spiritual shepherds: Fr Nicolae Steinhardt, Fr Dumitru Stăniloae and Fr Constantin Galeriu.

The works of the conference have been preceded by the Divine Liturgy and a Te Deum Service, officiated by His Grace Timotei of Prahova, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, at St Eleftherios Church in Bucharest, surrounded by an assembly of priests and deacons.

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