Anniversaries and commemorations

Patriarch of Romania’s Name Day: Connecting his mission to the Prophet Daniel

The Holy Prophet Daniel, a shepherd to his people during the Babylonian exile, is the spiritual protector of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, who leads the Romanian Orthodox Church during a period when Romanians are most extensively spread across all meridians of the globe. Saint Daniel, honoured on December 17, lived for nearly 90 years and…

Dec 17, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

December 13: A day honouring printers and Metropolitan Saint Dositheus

December 13 is dedicated to printers, commemorating their peaceful protest in Bucharest for socio-economic rights and press freedom. Nearly 600 printing workers in Romania’s capital ceased their activities and marched to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, joined by other factory workers. Their peaceful demonstration in front of the National Theatre was met with violence…

Dec 13, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Polish Orthodox Church celebrates a century of autocephaly

The Polish Orthodox Church marked its centennial anniversary of autocephaly on Wednesday. Following World War I, Orthodox Christians in Poland worked diligently to gain independence for their Church from the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1922, a synod was convened to proclaim the Polish Orthodox Church’s autocephaly, an initiative officially recognized by Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory VII…

Nov 14, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Basilica Media Centre marks 17 years with on-scene coverage of St Demetrius the New Feast

This Sunday marked 17 years since the founding of the Basilica Media Centre, the press branch of the Romanian Patriarchate. Journalists from all five of its components were celebrating by bringing live coverage of the annual feast of St. Demetrius the New, the patron saint of Bucharest. Founded on October 27, 2007, Basilica Media Centre…

Oct 28, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

World Car-Free Day: What would your city look like without car traffic?

Sunday, September 22, marks World Car Free Day in cities around the world, an older initiative that gained popularity in the 1990s. Car-free days were established in some Western countries during an oil crisis in the 1970s. But it was not until October 1994, at the International Conference on Accessible Cities in Toledo, Spain, that…

Sep 22, 2024Ștefana Totorcea

The 35th Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Environment

Sunday marks the 35th anniversary of establishing the Day of Prayer for the Environment in the Orthodox Church. It was set at the beginning of the Church Year at the initiative of Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople. Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I invited the whole Christian world to give thanks for the creation and ask…

Sep 1, 2024Ștefana Totorcea

August 23: A day to honour the victims of totalitarian regimes and recognize modern Orthodox Saints

Since 2008, August 23rd has been observed as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism. In Romania, this day has also been designated as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Fascism and Communism by Law No. 198/2011. Many victims of totalitarian regimes suffered because they valued their faith more…

Aug 23, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Fr. Seraphim Rose’s 90th birth anniversary: He searched for Truth in Eastern philosophy and found it in an Orthodox Church

Father Seraphim Rose, a brilliant Californian mind, discovered Orthodoxy in adulthood after delving deeply into Eastern philosophy. Once he made this discovery, he devoted himself entirely to this path, becoming a monk and tirelessly working to promote the truth of Orthodoxy in the contemporary world. His birth name was Eugene, and he was born on…

Aug 13, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

A bishop’s inheritance is not the throne, but the Cross: 40 years since the repose of a holy healer – Saint Callinicus of Edessa

Thursday marks 40 years since the blessed repose of a contemporary saint: St. Callinicus, the Metropolitan of Edessa, Pella, and Almopia. The Ecumenical Patriarchate canonized him in 2020, and his feast day is August 8. Saint Callinicus was born in 1919 in Sitaralona of Thermo, in central Greece, and spent the first part of his…

Aug 8, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Remembering Patriarch Teoctist on the 17th anniversary of his blessed repose

Romania’s former Patriarch Teoctist Arapasu reposed in the Lord 17 years ago, on July 30, 2007. Patriarch Teoctist was born on February 7, 1915, in Tocileni, Botoșani county. He was named Teodor, being the tenth child of Dumitru and Marghioala Arăpașu. He went to Vorona Monastery as a novice in 1928 and continued to Neamț…

Jul 30, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

July 25: The day Saint Paisios of Mount Athos would have turned 100 years old

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos would have turned 100 today. The venerable monk was born on July 25, 1924, in Pharasa, Cappadocia (present-day Turkey). He was given the name Arsenios at his baptism. At the age of 20, he enlisted in the army, serving as a radio operator during the Greek Civil War. He entered…

Jul 25, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu