The visit of the Director of Basilica.ro in Poland at the invitation of OrthPhoto ended on Sunday, August 15, 2021. On Saturday, Mr Aurelian Nicolae Iftimiu had a meeting with His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland.
The director of the Basilica News Agency was welcomed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa at the Metropolitan Residence in Warsaw. He sent cordial greetings from His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania, and expressed his joy to visit for the first time the holy places in Poland, such as the monasteries of Supraśl, Zwierki, Garbarka, Zaleszany and the Odrynki hermitage.
Mr. Aurelian Iftimiu congratulated His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa for keeping Orthodoxy alive in Poland, especially by encouraging young people to actively participate in the mission of the Church.
“The Polish Orthodox youth highlights itself by the organizational, missionary and artistic qualities practiced in the development of pedestrian pilgrimages, in church singing and online communication,” Aurelian Iftimiu said.
The Basilica.ro Director participated on Monday in the 16 km pedestrian pilgrimage dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God from Supraśl Monastery, an event organized by the Fellowship of Polish Orthodox Youth.
A topic of discussion was the inclusion of over forty Romanian saints in the calendar of the Polish Orthodox Church, which was received with great joy by the Romanian Patriarchate.
Also, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa spoke about the new church of Hagia Sophia – the Wisdom of God in Warsaw and urged for visiting it.
The Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church referred to the Holy Hierarch Peter Mogila as a missionary and protective landmark of the relations of the two local Churches.
At the end of the meeting, the Metropolitan of Warsaw expressed his joy over the encounter and invited the director of the Basilica News Agency to visit Poland again.
“I was honoured by the invitation sent by His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland to meet at his metropolitan residence and I was happy to hear the appreciation expressed to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, with whom he is linked by a decades-long close relationship,” the Director of Basilica.ro noted.
“Metropolitan Sawa is a very hospitable, warm, firm and encouraging man. I consider im providential for the Polish Orthodox Church. It was a real joy to receive his blessing,” Mr Aurelian Iftimiu highlighted.
“After the experience I had in Poland, I am more and more convinced that the relations between our Churches will develop.”
The director of Basilica.ro thanked His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa for the support offered to the organizers of the OrthPhoto Awards contest, especially to Mr. Aleksandr Wasyluk and Mr. Jaroslaw Charkiewic, and for supporting their collaboration with the Basilica News Agency.
On Sunday, the last day of his visit to Poland, the Director of the Basilica News Agency attended the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Metropolitan Sawa at the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene in Warsaw.
Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro
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