“Today is a call to deepen our awareness that the Church does not belong only to those present, but also to those who lived in the right faith, who struggled and were sanctified on the land of this nation,” said Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia on Sunday.
“We owe to all the Romanian saints the inheritance of the Gospel in our language, the grace of Orthodoxy, and the freedom to worship with joy,” the Metropolitan added.
“We bless you all and urge you to strengthen yourselves in the faith, because holiness is not only our past, but also our calling.”
His Eminence Metropolitan Petru celebrated the Divine Liturgy with an assembly of clergy at the “Saint John the Theologian” Chapel of the Metropolitan Residence in Chișinău.
During the appointed moment of the service, he ordained theologian Alexandru Colța as a deacon. Colța is a graduate of the “Dumitru Stăniloae” Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Iași.
Romanian Saints, Humble Reflections of the Living Gospel
Father Andrei Bucliș, the diocesan secretary, delivered the sermon, emphasising that “The Romanian Saints are heaven’s response to the sacrifice, faith, and spiritual struggle of our people.”
“They are not merely names in a Synaxarion, but humble reflections of the Gospel lived in our Romanian language and nature.”
“From the martyrs of the ages of persecution to our monastic and confessor saints of the communist era, they are the unseen pillars of our unity, hope, and prayer,” the secretary added.
“Let us honor them not only with words, but above all through a pure life, one that, in God’s appointed time, may bear the fruit of holiness in us and in our descendants.”
Photo: Metropolis of Bessarabia
