During its working session on December 16, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church declared 2023 a Solemn Year of the pastoral care of the elderly and a Commemorative Year of hymnographers and church chanters in the Romanian Patriarchate.

“These grandparents who have worked all their lives must also be remembered in the Church’s concern,” His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said at the beginning of the synodal meeting.

His Beatitude added that, at the same time, “we must remember the great hymnographers of the Church and the church chanters, as well as the choir conductors.”

“Of course, this is a commemoration of those important persons of the past. There are also some valuable persons today, but we give priority to the predecessors,” the Patriarch noted.

See the other decisions taken by the Holy Synod at its meeting on December 16, 2021.

The Church’s ministry for the elderly

The Romanian Orthodox Church is working hard to help the elderly. More than conducting pastoral care through various social centres and philanthropic actions or programs, the Church offers concrete support to the elderly.

In Bucharest, at the Palliative Care Centre of Saint Nectarius annually, over 500 patients, mainly older people, receive accommodation, medical care and spiritual and psychological counselling. A similar centre, dedicated to the same saint, is located in Cluj-Napoca.

Another example is the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău, which has13 socialization centres for the elderly, only in the Deanery of Bacău.

The European Union as a whole is facing an ageing population. According to a demographic study published in 2015 by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), by 2080, almost 30% of European Union citizens will be 65 years of age or older.

According to the same study, the segment of the elderly population will register an accelerated growth trend in Romania. If in 1990, people aged 60 and over accounted for 10.3% of the total population, by 2080, a percentage of around 21.8% is expected.