Aurelian Iftimiu

Metropolitan Iosif offers condolences, prays for Swiss fire victims in hospitals

Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe on Friday conveyed condolences to the families of victims of the deadly fire at the Crans-Montana mountain resort in Switzerland, which broke out on New Year’s Eve and claimed dozens of lives. Swiss authorities have said the blaze killed at least 40 people and left 119…

Jan 5, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

76 years since discovery of relics of Saint Ephraim the New in Greece

Seventy-six years have passed since the discovery of the holy relics of Saint Ephraim the New at the monastery where he was martyred, near the town of Nea Makri, Greece. In 1945, the nun Makaria settled among the ruins of the former Monastery of the Annunciation, where she began rebuilding the monastic settlement in which…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Time is a life between ‘Passing’ and ‘Coming’: Banat Metropolitan reflects on youth in God’s Kingdom

Metropolitan Ioan of Banat told worshippers gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Timisoara on New Year’s Eve that time is like a life lived between two verbs: “to pass” — which denotes biological ageing and the sombre perception of years slipping away — and “to come”, a verb referring to the way a person responds…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop Ioan Casian hails man–woman complementarity as God-given path to human fulfilment

In his New Year message, Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada wrote about the idea of renewal and about the family as a place of spiritual and communal renewal. His message opens with a quotation from St Paul the Apostle: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop Siluan urges Romanians in Italy to cherish families as small churches at start of 2026

At the start of the new year 2026, Bishop Siluan of Italy delivered a pastoral message to Romanians living in Italy, urging them to value the family as “a small church” and to honour its role in preserving faith and identity in the diaspora. In his New Year message, the bishop called on the faithful…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel reflects on time and eternity in thought of St Dumitru Stăniloae at Year’s Turn

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel delivered a meditation at the Patriarchal Cathedral on New Year’s Eve, focusing on the relationship between time and eternity in the theological thought of Saint Dumitru Stăniloae. The first major teaching, he said, is that “time has been and remains humanity’s constant and principal concern, and this sense of time flowing…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

UK’s Romanian Orthodox Archbishop Atanasie calls for spiritual vigilance at start of New Year

“This passage between years is also a time of watchfulness. We are not called to judge our lives with harsh severity—which leads to discouragement—but to place them before God with sincerity,” noted Archbishop Atanasie of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a message marking the turn of the year. “The year now drawing to a…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel offers condolences after deadly Swiss ski resort fire

Following the devastating fire at the Crans-Montana ski resort in Switzerland on January 1, which claimed dozens of lives and left many more injured, Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church issued a message of condolences and prayers, expressing solidarity with the victims, their families, and all those affected by the tragedy. Swiss authorities have…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian Orthodox Bishop in Canada urges joy and renewed witness at Christmas

In his Christmas pastoral letter, Bishop Ioan Casian of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada has called on the faithful to live the season of the Nativity with joy, hope and renewed commitment. “Let us live this time of the Nativity of the Lord with joy and hope, with trust in God and with renewed…

Dec 25, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel says Christ came to sanctify the world from within in Christmas homily

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said on the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord that Christ came into the world to sanctify creation and to teach humanity, from within it, to give thanks to God for the very existence of the created universe and for human life itself. “Christ comes into the world to sanctify…

Dec 25, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Anti-Christian hate crimes remain high across Europe, rights groups say

European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) have published a new annual report showing that hate crimes and violence targeting Christians remain at persistently high levels across Europe. The report finds that ideological motivations are increasingly driving such incidents, alongside religiously motivated attacks…

Dec 24, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu