Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel meets Thessaloniki mayor, highlights Romanian-Greek spiritual ties

On Thursday, 24 September 2026, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church received Stelios Angeloudis, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece, at the Patriarchal Residence in Bucharest. The meeting was also attended by Her Excellency Evangelia Grammatika, Ambassador of Greece to Romania; Vasilis Gakis, Deputy Mayor of Thessaloniki for Culture, Tourism Development and Intermunicipal Cooperation;…

Sep 24, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel to mark 19th anniversary of enthronement on 30 September

On Wednesday, 30 September 2026, the Romanian Orthodox Church will mark 19 years since His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel’s enthronement. On this occasion, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Patriarchal Cathedral. Following the Divine Liturgy, at 11:00 a.m., a Te Deum service will be officiated at the Patriarchal Cathedral,…

Sep 23, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian-language class reopens in Ukraine after intervention by Romanian authorities

Romanian public broadcaster TVR reported from Cartal, in Ukraine’s Odesa region, where Romanian children were able to return to a Romanian-language school class that local Ukrainian authorities had closed just four days after the school year began. Following intervention by Romanian authorities at the highest level, the decision was reversed, and the children were able…

Sep 23, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Deacon and psychiatrist Rareș Ionașcu: Children need unconditional love, clear boundaries and present parents

Deacon Dr Rareș Ionașcu is a psychiatrist and serves the Romanian Orthodox Church in the diaspora. He practises psychiatry in France, in the Angoulême area, and serves as a deacon at the Romanian Orthodox Parish of St Joseph and St John of San Francisco in Bordeaux. Actively engaged in dialogue between medical science and Christian…

Sep 23, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Orthodox Religion to feature in Romania’s 2030 Baccalaureate under new syllabus

Romania’s Ministry of Education and Research has published the syllabus for Orthodox Christian Religion for the 2030 Baccalaureate examination. The document outlines the competencies and content students must prepare for the exam, Edupedu reports. The syllabus for Orthodox Christianity is structured around competencies aimed both at knowledge and expression of religious identity and at students’…

Sep 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Archbishop Calinic: Peace begins by recognising our own responsibility

Archbishop Calinic of Suceava and Rădăuți called for reconciliation with others on the International Day of Peace, saying: “Peace cannot bear fruit in a soul that cultivates its own righteousness, because a person who is at peace is not one who considers themselves faultless, but one who knows how to recognise their own share of…

Sep 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Orthodox psychotherapist and priest’s wife: Healthy families know how to repair relationships and reconnect

More and more people feel lonely, even within their families or communities. Relationships require attention, humility, responsibility, and effort to survive, while family unity can erode not only through major crises but also through a lack of dialogue, resentment, and unrepaired wounds. We spoke about loneliness, family life, the formation of adolescents and the role…

Sep 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

St Sophrony of Essex remembered 130 years after his birth

St Sophrony the Athonite was born in Moscow on 22 September 1896 and was baptised Sergei Semyonovich Sakharov. He studied Fine Arts in Moscow, searching for an ideal of beauty that transcended the purely aesthetic. During the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, he was arrested twice and imprisoned at the Lubyanka, but in 1921 he managed…

Sep 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

International team seeks to save 1,100-year-old Georgian church in Turkey from collapse

An international team from five countries, comprising architects, designers, filmmakers and conservation specialists, is seeking to save an approximately 1,100-year-old Georgian church in north-eastern Turkey that is at risk of collapse. According to a press release from Spanish architect and project coordinator Tassilo de la Torre Schönborn, Nuka Sakdari Church is in Artvin Province and…

Sep 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil to visit Jerusalem and Jordan, meet Patriarch Theophilos III

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria will visit Jerusalem and Jordan from 25 to 30 September, during which he will meet Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. Patriarch Daniil’s delegation will include Metropolitan Ioan of Varna and Veliki Preslav, Metropolitan Seraphim of Nevrokop and Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, Secretary-General of the Holy Synod. The Patriarchate of…

Sep 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Fragment of the Holy Cross brought to Romania by Greek Orthodox metropolitan

Metropolitan Varnavas of Neapolis and Stavroupolis of the Orthodox Church of Greece brought a fragment of the venerable wood of the Holy Cross to the Church of St. Paraskeva and the Life-Giving Spring (Union Cathedral) in Focșani, Romania, on Sunday. Archbishop Ciprian of Buzău and Vrancea celebrated the Divine Liturgy with the Greek hierarch. Archbishop…

Sep 21, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu