The Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate informs us:
On 28 February 2013, the working session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church was held at the Patriarchal Residence under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
The hierarchs of the Holy Synod estimated the results of the collect organised in all the Orthodox churches and monasteries in the country and abroad in December 2012, as a result of the Holy Synod’s Pastoral letter issued at the end of the Solemn year of the Sacrament of the Holy Unction and taking care of the sick in the Romanian Patriarchate.
The collect consisted in over 3.300.000 lei, about 625.000 kg of alimentary products, cca 50.000 kg of agricultural products, 150.000 kg of clothes, about 15.000 boxes of medicines, sanitary hygienic products, wood for fire, etc, having been helped almost 70.000 poor families with sick members or many children from all over the country.
The Holy Synod appreciated the results of the social programme of Dinner of Joy in the year 2012 unfolded by the Romanian Patriarchate in partnership with in Selgros Cash&Carry S.R.L. The value of the alimentary products and of the sanitary-hygienic products that the Romanian Patriarchate donated in partnership with Selgros Cash&Carry S.R.L. amounted to over 3.320.000 lei, of which almost 18.300 persons living in the social institutions of the Romanian Orthodox Church benefited.
We mention some of the other decisions taken:
– Celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism and of the Sacrament of the Matrimony only in the parish church observing the liturgical regulations for keeping the sacred and solemn character of these Holy Sacraments;
– Support granted by the parishes to the disadvantaged families, with low income, with many children, sick persons, or aged persons with low income, by exempting them from the pecuniary contributions for the funeral services;
– Celebration of the Day of the Romanian Culture (15 January) at the Romanian Patriarchate and in all eparchies in order to emphasise the relationship between the cult and culture, between Church and society in the life of the Romanian people;
– Setting up the National Association of the Pilgrimage Centres in the Romanian Orthodox Church for the better organisation of the pilgrimages in order to protect and promote the pastoral and missionary activity of the Church.
