Spirituality

When does Great Lent 2022 start?

Great Lent begins on Monday, March 7, 2022. Also called Quadragesima or Tessaracoste, Great Lent is a 40-day season of spiritual preparation that comes before the Feast of Holy Pascha or the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which falls on April 24. Two of the three hesychast saints commemorated by the Romanian Patriarchate in…

Jan 27, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

Saint Diadochos of Photiki, the newest Saint in the Romanian Church’s calendar

During its working session last December, the Holy Synod decided to include Saint Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki, in the calendar of the Romanian Orthodox Church, with commemoration day on March 29. The Holy Synod also approved the Saint’s service, akathist, synaxarium, and icon. Saint Diadochos was born around 400 and served as the Bishop of…

Jan 12, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

Bessarabia Metropolitan Petru urges respect for all born and unborn children in his Christmas encyclical

“The Church defends the unborn life because it looks with love to every woman who must give birth to children,” Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia notes in his Christmas encyclical. “God’s sign is the child,” His Eminence explains referring to the sign promised by God to the Prophet Isiah and by the angels to the shepherds.…

Jan 7, 2022Aurelian Iftimiu

After 15 years of preparation, French octogenarian Françoise Détouche becomes Sister Radegund at Văratic Monastery

Converted to Orthodoxy in 1990, a French octogenarian received the monastic tonsure at Văratic Monastery after fifteen years of preparation. Under the mantle of the Abbess Iosefina Giosanu, Françoise Détouche received the name of Saint Radegund (+587), a Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, who founded a monastery at Poitiers, who is revered as a Saint…

Dec 14, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Let us bring the sighs of the publican as an offering to God: On fasting with the abbess of Bistrița – Vâlcea Monastery

Stavrophore Anastasia Honcioiu, Abbess of Bistrița – Vâlcea Monastery, urges everyone “to bring to God the sighs of the publican” and to avoid despair by putting our trust in God. The abbess agreed to answer a few questions about fasting and preparing for the feast of the Lord’s Nativity. Basilica.ro: How should we fast? Stavrophore…

Dec 3, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Elder Victorin, who tonsured Patriarch Daniel a monk, prayerfully remembered at Sihastria Monastery

His Grace Nichifor of Botoșani officiated last Saturday, at Sihăstria (Neamț) Monastery, the seven-year commemoration service for Archimandrite Victorin Oanele, the abbot who tonsured Patriarch Daniel a monk. “God has always had a variety of works throughout history,” said the Auxiliary Bishop of the Iași Archdiocese after the service. “Every human person has a calling…

Nov 2, 2021Ștefana Totorcea

US Orthodox priest documents Bucharest Orthodoxy in a short film

Father Panayiotis Papageorgiou, a Cyprus-born American Christian Orthodox priest, visited the Capital city of Romania this summer. Together with his son, Efstratios Papageorgiou, he is making a documentary series about Eastern European Orthodoxy. The short film series is entitled “Neither Here Nor in Jerusalem” and the episode dedicated to Bucharest is the sixth. In Bucharest,…

Oct 12, 2021Ștefana Totorcea

Never say “I will do it tomorrow”: Elder Dionisie of Colciu’s 112th birth anniversary

September 22, 2021, marks 112 years since the birth of Elder Dionisie Ignat of Colciu Skete on the Holy Mount Athos, the one who said: “Never say ‘I will do it tomorrow’ because only the second we live is ours.” Father Dionisie Ignat was born on September 22, 1909, in Vorniceni commune, Botoşani county. At…

Sep 22, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanians offered Bulgarians a second vestment of St. Paraskeva and 30 tons of food

Over 30 tons of non-perishable foods and a vestment which covered for a while St. Paraskeva’s relics in Iași were delivered on Friday to Bulgarians in Ruse by representatives and volunteers of  Romanian organizations. The donation document for the saint’s vestment was signed by Metropolitan Teofan of Moldavia and Bukovina. The gift was received by…

Sep 21, 2021Ștefana Totorcea

Jerusalem: The icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God carried in procession to her Tomb in Ghethsemane

Archbishop Dorotheos of Avela, Hegumen of the “Gethsemane” Metochion at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, carried in procession on Wednesday morning the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The traditional procession unfolded from the Holy Sepulchre to the Tomb of the Mother of God in the Ghetsemane Garden. Hagiotaphite hieromonks, monks,…

Aug 27, 2021Ștefana Totorcea

Banat Metropolitan asks believers to pray for the sick and medical staff for Dormition Fast

His Eminence Metropolitan Ioan of Banat has urged clergy and believers to offer prayers for the sick and the medical staff during the Dormition Fast. He recalled that fasting consists of “estrangement from sin, self-control of the tongue, the checking of anger.” “Established by our Holy Church, since the fifth century, in honour of the…

Aug 3, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu