Aurelian Iftimiu

“Fasting is a struggle for each Christian. But this struggle will bring spiritual joy,” Metropolitan Nicolae says

In his meditation at the beginning of Great Lent, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas highlighted that the fasting season is a struggle for each Christian. “Today’s world and our responsibilities in it don’t encourage our fasting. During every fast, the struggle comes in trying to find a certain balance between our ascetical efforts and fulfilling…

Mar 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel officiates Great Canon at patriarchal residence: Strict fast supports humble prayer

On Monday, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel read the first portion of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete at the Patriarchal Residence’s historic chapel. On this occasion, His Beatitude emphasized that a strict fast supports humble and fervent prayer. “This practice of fasting means an abrupt beginning of the fight against sin,” the Patriarch…

Mar 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel: Forgiveness is the first condition to enter Lent

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said that forgiving the mistakes of others is “the first condition to enter this inner ascent towards Resurrection, which is Great Lent.” The Gospel on the Sunday of Adam’s Expulsion from Paradise shows us that forgiving others’ mistakes is “essential” for us to receive forgiveness from God. “Through forgiveness, we humble…

Mar 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop Ignatie recommends digital fasting: We will realize how “drugged” we are using technology

Bishop Ignatie spoke on Sunday evening, at the Diocesan Cathedral in Huși, about the need to practice giving up addictive habits, such as addiction to digital media: “The purpose of fasting is not exclusively to give up, but to change some habits that turn us into slaves.” “Digital media fasting will help us realize how…

Mar 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Benelux Orthodox Bishops postpone inter-Orthodox concelebration on Sunday of Orthodoxy

During an extraordinary coordination meeting held March 11, the Orthodox Episcopal Assembly of Benelux (CEOB-OBB) announced that the inter-Orthodox concelebration on the Sunday of Orthodoxy will not take place this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The hierarchs discussed the difficulties caused by the pandemic in officiating holy services and not allowing believers access to…

Mar 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

How to fast from our own selfishness: Bishop Ioan Casian

The Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Canada explains, at the beginning of Great Lent, how we can drive away personal selfishness through the act of fasting. Bishop Ioan Casian says that the main remedy lies in love for God and other people. “Through the love of God and of the neighbour one fasts of his own…

Mar 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: Great Lent is also a quarantine

‘Some of you may wonder why the Church, in the midst of the current pandemic, would add to the already existing health restrictions yet another “quarantine,” namely Great Lent.’ “Indeed, Great Lent is also a quarantine, a period that lasts forty days,” wrote Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his catechetical message at the beginning of Great…

Mar 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

We begin the Great Lent with hope and courage: #FearNot

#FearNot is the meditation-exhortation we propose to you for the Lenten season. Why? Because these are the first words that resounded after the Resurrection: the angel said these words to the myrrh-bearing women at the tomb, and the Saviour addressed them directly to His disciples. The encouragement Christ gave centuries ago is timelier than ever,…

Mar 15, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Archbishop Irineu at Aiud: The blood of those unjustly imprisoned cries out to us to stop looking for a comfortable life

“The sufferings and the blood of those unjustly imprisoned call upon us, today, to stop looking for a comfortable life and to begin to seek first the Kingdom of God, as Christ urges us. They did this standing steadfast in front of the storm and confessing the truth, like giants of Romanian spirituality, who arouse…

Mar 11, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Warsaw Metropolitan at beginning of Lent: Union with Christ through repentance is the path of the modern Orthodox in the fight against evil

“For Orthodox Christians in our complex, difficult times, full of spiritual disappointments, temptations and limitations of all kinds, Lent is of great spiritual importance,” His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Poland begins his Lenten epistle. Lent is a time for increased prayer and the struggle for purification, which give us renewed strength to struggle with the temptations…

Mar 11, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

A church will honour the memory of victims of Pitești Phenomenon: “the most terrible act of barbarism of the contemporary world”

Piteşti Prison of communist Romania was home to unspeakable horrors, where thousands suffered for their faith in Christ and political dissension. Now, the former penal facility is set to become the site of a future Orthodox church in honour of all who suffered there. The foundation stone for the future church was placed and consecrated…

Mar 11, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu