Tuesday, 5 January 2015, the servant priests of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest announced the Baptism of the Lord to His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and sprinkled the rooms of the Patriarchal Residence with Great Holy Water. After celebrating the Great Blessing of Waters at the Patriarchal Cathedral, the group of servant priests and singers of the Patriarchal Cathedral went to the Patriarchal Residence.
They were met by the Patriarch of Romania who blessed them and spoke about the significance of the blessing of the people’s houses by sprinkling them with holy water.
“Coming with holy water on the Eve of the Baptism and on the day of the Baptism of the Lord to the people’s houses means a special blessing, as well as a remembrance of the fact that we are baptised. The water blessed at the baptism, called the great blessing of the water, is a special blessing because it relates to the Baptism of the Lord, as well as to the baptism of every Christian. We especially bless the space where we live and work. It is very important to point out here the fact that an Orthodox Christian does not limit God to the church and meets Him only when he goes to the church, but he feels Christ, the presence of the entire Holy Trinity in all his life and in his house and so he connects itself both with the church and with all the space of his activity”, His Beatitude said.
According to the tradition of the Orthodox Church on this day the priests go to the houses of the faithful to announce the Baptism of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and to bless their houses and them by sprinkling with Great Holy Water.
