The annual report summarising the activities of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2022 presents figures regarding the support offered to Ukrainian refugees: its value is equivalent to 8.7 million euros. “It was an exemplary humanitarian aid,” declared the Patriarch of Romania during the meeting of the National Church Assembly this week.
“Of course, it would have been good not to have had such painful occasions, but because they still happened, it proved that the Romanian people, deeply Christianized, are also merciful,” His Beatitude added.
“And this mercy, this sensitivity towards the person in suffering was also expressed in generosity, kindness, and special sensitivity to help our neighbours in a very dramatic situation.”
This week, the report was presented by the National Church Council members and forwarded for approval by the National Church Assembly.
The report only quantified the support provided by the dioceses of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Filantropia Federation, made up of Church organizations. The initiatives of parishes and monasteries were not included.
The report shows that 7,600 church staff and volunteers participated in refugee support activities: “At border points with a large flow of Ukrainian refugees, assistance was provided around the clock by teams of the Romanian Orthodox Church who worked in shifts for 8 hours each.”
“The number of accommodation places identified was 18,509, of which 75% with meal services included, the number of those accommodated being 13,231 people,” the report shows.
“We highlight, in particular, the openness and speed with which the monasteries, parishes, social centres, as well as the Romanian Christian Orthodox believers, organised themselves to host the refugees, in many cases, refugee families with small children.”
Another measure was the organization of humanitarian transports: 446 on the territory of Romania, worth 1.36 million euros; 142 in Ukraine, worth 2.17 million euros and 38 in the Republic of Moldova, worth over 400,000 euros.
275,000 additional euros came from fundraising campaigns organized within the Romanian Patriarchate for the dioceses in the border area.
The diocesan charitable organizations, grouped in Filantropia Federation of the Romanian Patriarchate, through various ongoing projects, and in partnership with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), provided humanitarian support to refugees from Ukraine in the amount of 5.3 million lei.
Blood donation campaigns were organised to support the people wounded in Ukraine, in which 3,198 people participated.
“In the context of the current crises, generated by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we are called to unite even more the liturgical service with social, cultural and pastoral activity and to multiply the prayer to God so that the war ends and there is peace,” the report approved on Wednesday by the National Church Assembly notes.
An estimated 8 million Ukrainians left Ukraine and 5.5 million moved within Ukraine. Most of the refugees who arrived on the territory of Romania were in transit to the West.
Photography courtesy of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuți / Irina Ursachi
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