Spirituality

9 holy healers celebrated in March

We continue to feature each month’s holy healers, with nine saints celebrated in March. The lives of some of them are less known to believers in Romania, so this month is a good opportunity to learn about saints who enjoy special reverence in other countries such as the United Kingdom or Greece. Saint David of…

Mar 12, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

8 holy healers celebrated in February

This year is an excellent opportunity to dwell on the lives of saints who received the gift of healing from God. If we got acquainted with eight holy healers in January, February concentrates many of them from its very first days. We have chosen to present 8 of the most evident healers with saintly lives…

Feb 14, 2024Raluca-Emanuela Ene

Take a virtual tour of Ukraine’s oldest monastery: Kyiv Pechersk Lavra

Online visits are now possible to the Monastery of the Caves (Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra), the oldest Orthodox monastery in Ukraine. The initiative, under the supervision of the city of Kyiv, seeks to publicise the expansive 26-hectare monastery complex. The virtual tour encompasses several notable landmarks, including the Great Belfry, the “Ascension of the Lord” Cathedral, the “Saints Anthony and…

Jan 18, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

8 holy healers celebrated in January

All the saints in the calendar of the Orthodox Church are models and intercessors to God for Christians and help them find solutions to the problems they encounter. Certain saints stand out for their help in healing physical and spiritual illnesses. In 2024, a year designated by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church…

Jan 11, 2024basilica.ro

2024 Solemn Year Icon: Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, the Physician of our souls and bodies

The representative icon of the Solemn Year of the pastoral care of the sick in the Romanian Patriarchate depicts our Lord Jesus Christ carrying a lamb on His shoulders. The icon includes the inscription “IC XC (Jesus Christ), the Good Shepherd, the Physician of our souls and bodies” and was exhibited for veneration inside the…

Jan 8, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Transylvania Metropolitan urges frequent participation in Divine Liturgy, in Nativity Fast message

During the initial days of the Nativity Fast, His Eminence Metropolitan Laurențiu of Transylvania issued a pastoral message suggesting that forty Divine Liturgies be reenjoined, as was the customary practise among the earliest Christian communities. “The Christians of the first centuries knew that every Divine Liturgy is the eternal Last Supper in the Kingdom of…

Nov 17, 2023Aurelian Iftimiu

Gifts of the Three Magi arrive in Romania for first time this December

This Christmas season will be memorable at Pantocrator Monastery in Dragănești-Vlașca, in Romania’s southern county of Teleorman. The gifts presented to Baby Jesus by the three wise men from the East will be brought to Romania for the first time on December 22 and remain until December 28. “The three magi who came to worship…

Nov 16, 2023Aurelian Iftimiu

Suceava Archbishop urges rich people to be merciful in decalogue for businessmen

In a Decalogue for Businessmen, His Eminence Archbishop Calinic of Suceava and Rădăuți urged entrepreneurs to practise benevolence and strive to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. During the Divine Liturgy on the 22nd Sunday following Pentecost, the parable involving the avaricious wealthy man and Lazarus was proclaimed. A Decalogue was composed by His Eminence Archbishop…

Nov 7, 2023Aurelian Iftimiu

Who was Protos. Iraclie Flocea: Survivor of the Stalinist Gulag proposed for canonization

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church approved, in its working session from October 25, 2023, the proposal of the Diocese of Southern Bessarabia for the canonization of Protosyncellus Iraclie Flocea (May 11, 1893 – August 16, 1964). The proposal had previously been approved by the Metropolitan Synod of the Metropolis of Bessarabia. The…

Nov 1, 2023Ștefana Totorcea

From the Synaxaria: Saints who fought against human trafficking

At the European level, October 18 is dedicated to the fight against human trafficking. On this occasion, we remember that harming human dignity, exploitation, or abuse were not absent even from the lives of the saints, people whom we currently honour as role models. The best-known example is that of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra…

Oct 18, 2023Aurelian Iftimiu

Fr Dumitru Staniloae’s last words

Father Dumitru Stăniloae of blessed memory reposed in the Lord on the evening of October 4-5, 1993. His daughter, Lidia Stăniloae, recounted the last words spoken by the great Romanian theologian before his death. “… Let us get out of here, let us get out of here, let us get out of here, let us…

Oct 6, 2023Aurelian Iftimiu