The frescoes of the Church of “The Exaltation of the Holy Cross and Saint Macarius the Great” in Leeds, United Kingdom, were consecrated on Saturday, marking the Romanian parish’s 20th anniversary.
Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe officiated the blessing service, along with Bishops Ignatie of Huși and Macarie of Northern Europe.
Bishop Macarie was the first parish priest of the Leeds community (2004), and Bishop Ignatie oversaw the Romanian community here, coordinating all activities between 2014 and 2015.
Among the attendees were Romania’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Laura Popescu, the Romanian Consul General in Manchester, Nicoleta Loredana Teodorovici, Honorary Consul in Leeds, Annemarie Vișoianu Kanatas, Secretary of State Gheorghe Cârciu from the Department for Romanians Abroad, and Mark Sewards, a Member of the UK Parliament.
In a post on X.com, Ambassador Laura Popescu conveyed “heartfelt congrats to all dedicated to building a wonderful community!”
The sermon at the Divine Liturgy was delivered by Bishop Ignatie of Huși, who highlighted: “Through His crucifixion, Christ reveals to us what God’s love truly means. Unfortunately, as humans, we have an unjust understanding of love. We think someone deserves to be loved only if that person loves us in return. In a way, we condition the love we want to share with those around us on the love they can give us.”
“If we think in this logic, we will turn love into something very transactional—like the Latin saying: ‘I give so you will give me.’ I am convinced we all think this way regarding love,” warned the bishop.
The parish in Leeds has become the first Romanian Orthodox community in the United Kingdom to have its own painted church.
Photo: Husi Diocese
