Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel’s message for new academic year 2019/20

At the start of the new academic year 2019/20, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel sent a message to all the students and professors stressing that ‘integral education promotes scientific knowledge and the cultivation of spiritual values.’ His Beatitude extended his blessings to all students and professors in universities and postgraduate institutions, and wished them success so…

Sep 25, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

First Romanian Orthodox Church in Norway consecrated

A 100-year-old building in the city of Haugesund in southwestern Norway was given new life on Sunday, as it was consecrated as a parish church of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The new church, the first Romanian Orthodox parish in Norway, is dedicated to the “O All-Hymned Mother” Icon of the Theotokos, as well as Sts.…

Sep 24, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

The presbytera is the guardian angel of the priest, bishop Ignatie says

During the first ever conference on the mission of presbyteras in the Diocese of Huși, His Grace Bishop Ignatie noted that a presbytera is the guardian angel of the priest and of their home. The conference titled “What does it mean to give yourself as offering? Reflections on the mission of a presbytera” was held…

Sep 24, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Photo report: Orthodox monastic tonsure

The person who enters the monastery and wishes to become a monastic must first go through two stages: the novitiate and the rasophoria. The novitiate is a trial period, in which the brother or sister spends time in the monastery to figure out if they have an authentic vocation for monasticism. Rasophoria is a stronger…

Sep 24, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Georgian Patriarch Ilia II receives new PM Giorgi Gakharia

One week after officially taking over as Georgia’s new Prime Minister, Giorgi Gakharia met with the Georgian Patriarch Ilia II at the Patriarchate in Tbilisi. His Beatitude Patriarch Ilia blessed the PM and wished him success in the new post, the administration of the government of Georgia wrote on Sunday, Sept. 15, as reported by…

Sep 22, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel re-consecrates Bucharest church where ‘village and city gather in joy of communion’

The Patriarch of Romania on Sunday officiated the re-consecration of a church in the Aparatorii Patriei neighbourhood in Bucharest, saying that in that place ‘the village and the city gather in the joy of communion.’ Romanian village, a blessed place In his sermon, Patriarch Daniel referred to the Romanian village as a ‘blessed place’ that…

Sep 22, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Metropolis of Cluj to open Orthodox school in Bistrita

The Metropolis of Cluj, Maramures, and Salaj has begun the renovation of an old music school in Bistrita. The building will be the home of a new social-educational centre in honour of Grigore Pletosu, the first dean of the area. The unit will first provide primary and secondary education, but is expected to function as…

Sep 20, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

90,000 Orthodox Catechisms distributed in Hunedoara. Bishop Gurie’s soul project to continue in 2020

Each Orthodox family from Hunedoara County has received a Catechism on the Orthodox Faith free of charge from the local Bishop Gurie as part of his ‘soul project’ titled ‘Let us know our faith.’ More than 90% of the 90,000 copies of the Catechism were distributed, said Fr. Gabriel Miricescu, spokesperson of the Diocese of…

Sep 20, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Firefighter-turned-priest Dorin Giurgiu: I have never felt my life endangered

He was a volunteer firefighter before being ordained to the priesthood and sees a very close connection between the two missions. He says he never feared the flames, being always protected and strengthened by God, and the hardest situation he went through was hearing that his grandmother’s house was on fire. In the context of…

Sep 20, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

The Week in Pictures: September 9-15, 2019

A collection of pictures in news, culture and spirituality taken around the Orthodox world.

Sep 19, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Basilica.ro Exhibition on Romanian Village to be launched in Sweden this October

The Basilica.ro photo exhibition titled ‘The Portrait of the Romanian Village’ will be opened at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm this October. The event is organised by the Basilica News Agency, in cooperation with the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Northern Europe and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm. The exhibition will be inaugurated by…

Sep 19, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu