The Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate officially declared 2026 the Solemn Year of Christian Family Ministry and the Commemorative Year of Holy Women in the church calendar (Myrrh-bearers, Martyrs, Venerable Women, Wives, and Mothers). The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church ratified this decision on Friday, October 25.
Solemn Year of Christian Family Ministry
The emphasis on Christian family ministry returns to the forefront of the Romanian Orthodox Church’s priorities, especially in the face of increasing ideological challenges to the concept of family. Following 2020, which honoured the pastoral care of parents and children, the commemorative theme of 2026 focuses on the family unit.
The union of man and woman through marriage is recognized as the oldest divinely ordained institution. God blessed it in the Garden of Eden and later established it as a sacrament by Christ at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Today, the family remains in crisis, as noted by the Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church convened in Crete:
“The contemporary crisis in marriage and the family is a consequence of the crisis of freedom as responsibility, its decline into a self-centred self-realization, its identification with individual self-gratification, self-sufficiency and autonomy, and the loss of the sacramental character of the union between man and woman, resulting from forgetfulness of the sacrificial ethos of love.”
“The family crisis manifests itself in the abandonment of children by parents and of parents by children, in the high number of abortions and divorces, in an increase in domestic violence and juvenile delinquency, in the danger of drugs and various addictions, in the promotion of so-called “new models” of family, which are artificial ideological constructs,” noted Patriarch Daniel on Parents’ and Children’s Sunday.
“Life and happiness are God’s gifts, and today’s family crisis can be overcome with the help and the blessing of God the Creator, Who said: Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it! (Genesis 1:28),” emphasized the Patriarch.
Commemorative Year of Holy Women in the church calendar
Complementing the theme of Christian family ministry, the commemorative theme celebrates the holy women included in the Orthodox calendar: myrrh-bearers, martyrs, venerable women, wives, and mothers.
Among the myrrh-bearers, Saint Mary Magdalene, equal to the Apostles, is widely recognized, while Saint Thecla, the Church’s first female martyr, stands out among the martyrs.
Saints Paraskeva of Iași and Theodora of Sihla are especially honoured among venerable women, while Saints Nonna and Gorgonia are remembered among holy wives.
Following the supreme example of the Virgin Mary, several holy mothers deserve special mention, including Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, and Saint Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, as well as the mothers of the three holy hierarchs: Saints Emmelia, Nonna, and Anthousa.
Thus, the year 2026 highlights both the importance of family ministry and the inspiring models of sanctified women in Orthodox tradition.
Photo: Basilica.ro
