Diaspora

Romanian Physicist and Priest Iosif Bena: Conspiracies make us lazy and proud. Christians take responsibility

A Romanian priest from Paris, who is also an elite physicist, spoke in an interview with Press One about conspiracy, because, “when I see someone say something stupid, I can’t resist showing them that they’re wrong” but also for the fact that this hurts his congregation. “Conspiracy self-justifies laziness and lack of initiative. This way…

Feb 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

View the map: Where to find Romanian Orthodox parishes in Italy

The Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy provides an interactive map with contact details for each parish in its jurisdiction. The map is useful for Romanians, but not only, who need information about the Romanian communities or need support to navigate a region. Parishes operate in places rented or shared with Catholic parishes on the Peninsula.…

Feb 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Man sanctifies the place: How Romanians transformed a warehouse into a church in Italy

An Orthodox service was served for the first time in the Romanian Church in Montichiari, Italy, on Tuesday evening, February 9. Dean Rev. Gelu Porumb, the parish priest Gabriel Pandrea and several other clerics officiated the Lesser Sanctification of Waters and the Mystery of Unction, the Romanian Diocese of Italy reports. The story of the…

Feb 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Writer Paul Kingsnorth, baptized in the Romanian Orthodox Church, says he feels like arriving home

Paul Kingsnorth, one of the most important English writers alive, was baptized as a Christian Orthodox at the Romanian Monastery in Shannonbridge, Ireland. “As a Western newcomer to Orthodoxy, I have a lifetime’s learning journey ahead of me, but I already feel like I have arrived home,” said the writer. “I first discovered Christian Orthodoxy…

Feb 15, 2021Ștefana Totorcea

Italy’s Romanian Bishop offers his reflections in time of pandemic: We forgot that death is so close

In an interview published on the diocese’s website, Italy’s Romanian Bishop Siluan shares his thoughts on how the pandemic changed the life of the bishops, clergy and believers on the Peninsula. Adaptation, prayer, hope, eternal life are the keywords in the interview. Bishop Siluan referred to the loss of jobs and the pastoral methods that…

Feb 15, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop Ieronim of Sinaia ordains clergy at Romanian Athonite Skete of Honourable Forerunner

The patriarchal auxiliary bishop Ieronim of Sinaia visited the Romanian Skete of the Honourable Forerunner (Prodromos) on Mount Athos for the feast of the Nativity of the Lord according to the unrevised Julian calendar. During the festive Divine Liturgy on Christmas Day, His Grace Bishop Ieronim ordained hierodeacon Teofil Covaci to the priesthood and monk…

Jan 13, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Factbox: Church and Romanian Diaspora today

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church declared 2021 a Solemn Year of the pastoral care of Romanians outside Romania. Why is pastoral care of the diaspora so important and under what conditions does it take place? The term diaspora refers to members of an ethnic group who leave their place of origin and…

Jan 8, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

They are the Patron Saints of Romanians outside Romania

Whether they are part of the Romanian communities in the vicinity of the country’s borders, or whether they have gone to work, study or settled permanently in other places than their homeland, Romanian Orthodox believers are in the care of the Church on all meridians of the globe. “Romanians outside Romania” are generically named by…

Jan 8, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian Bishop of Canada’s advice for 2021: Let the foundation of all our words and deeds be the word of God

Inspired by the words of St Basil the Great, Romanian Bishop of Canada Ioan Casian invites us at the beginning of the year ‘to have the right compass and the true inspiration in decision-making as we confess through the word that we are Christians.’ “ Let the foundation of all our words and deeds be the…

Jan 6, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

2021, the year when we learn to forgive: Resolution from Hieromonk Serafim, Scotland

Hieromonk Serafim Aldea from the Monastery of All Celtic Saints in Kilninian, on Mull Island, published on Thursday a video urging the faithful to adopt the wisest New Year resolution: learning to forgive. “A blessed future cannot be built on a poisoned foundation,” affirms the only Orthodox monk in the Hebrides Archipelago. “A new beginning,…

Jan 4, 2021Ștefana Totorcea

Romanian children sing Christmas carols to President of Malta: PHOTOS

The children’s choir of the Romanian Orthodox parish of Valletta held on Monday, December 21, 2020, a small Christmas carol concert at the presidential palace in Malta. The children, dressed in folk costumes, and the parish priest George-Alexandru Popescu, were received by the President of the Republic of Malta, George Vella, and his wife, Miriam.…

Dec 24, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu