His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel together with the members of the Holy Synod officiated the sanctification of the Holy Chrism at the Patriarchal Cathedral on Maundy Thursday, marking the 134th anniversary of autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
On April 25, 1885, Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim IV issued the patriarchal tomos by which the Romanian Orthodox Church was recognized as autocephalous and self-governing Church.
The Holy Chrism was sanctified during the Divine Liturgy celebrated on Great and Holy Thursday, after being prepared at the All Romanian Saints Monastery in Bucharest during the first days of the Holy Week.
This is the 22nd time when Holy Chrism was sanctified since the bestowal of autocephaly to the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1885.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarch spoke about the significance and the use of Holy Chrism in the Orthodox Church.
His Beatitude said that Holy Chrism is ‘the foundation and the source of the sanctification of Church life’, noting that Chrism is used to anoint the newly-baptized, to consecrate churches and to consecrate the antimins.
Every diocese of the Romanian Orthodox Church will receive five liters of Holy Chrism
Photography courtesy of: Basilica.ro/Mircea Florescu
