On the 1st Sunday of the Lent, also named the Orthodoxy Sunday, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, assisted by a group of priests and deacons. Today the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great was celebrated in all the Orthodox churches.
The Patriarch of Romania urged the faithful in the sermon delivered to defend the right faith against the many confusions of our time, to live Orthodoxy more intense and to know it better.
“All Orthodox faithful should live the right faith more intensely, defend it against the many confusions of our time and know it better. This is why besides the Holy Scriptures, Book of Hours and Psalms book the Orthodox Teaching Book must be in every house by all means. This is a book of over 300 pages of questions and answers. It explains both the right faith and the right Christian Orthodox living and rite. Thus, we have a period when we should be strengthened in Orthodoxy, to strengthen the Orthodox faith, the Orthodox piety and cultivate prayer in front of the icons in our houses, to venerate the holy icons so that we should feel together with Saint Paul the Apostle that those who love Christ feel a glorious joy”, His Beatitude said, as Trinitas Radio station informs us.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has also spoken about the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the Church, seeing by means of faith, as well as about the right faith.
“The right faith is not an intellectual conviction that God exists. It is not only an intellectual conviction, but a communion, a vivid relationship with the Unseen God but whom we spiritually see through the help given by the enlightenment of the mind, through the heart warmed, and especially through the glorious joy that those who pray feel, most of all the saints who pray all the time. The right faith is the confession of the divinity of Christ; the light not seen with physical yes, but spiritually felt is the light of the right faith”.
As for the rite of the holy icons, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church said that they are not only ornaments in the church, but also means of confessing the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth.
“First, the icon is a right confession of the truth of the incarnation of the Son of the Unseen God, Jesus Christ, and of the purpose of His incarnation or becoming human. Secondly, the icon is a call to prayer and a help for prayer. Thirdly, the icon is a blessing for the joy of life”.
The Primate of our Church explained the meaning of the “heaven opened”, a syntagma mentioned in the Gospel according to John read this Sunday.
“Seeing the heaven opened. This is Orthodoxy. We see through the right faith the Heaven which opens to us and it opens so that we should pray together with the angels of God who are ascending and descending. He did not say who are descending and ascending, but ascending and descending over the Son of man, namely the angels of God are ascending taking the prayers of the Church, which is the mysterious Body of the Lord, to Heaven, and bring the blessing of God from Heaven to the Church, for the faithful who pray for the blessing of God. The heaven opened means seeing the relationship between the Church of Heaven of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Saints and the Church on the earth, the praying, fighting Church. This sight of the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the Church, this sight of this relationship is the right faith. Faith is seeing beyond the physical sight, it is spiritual seeing”, the Patriarch of Romania also explained, as Trinitas TV informs.
To end with the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarch of Romania was congratulated on the occasion of the anniversary of 23 years since his ordination as hierarch, an event that took place on the Orthodoxy Sunday. On this occasion, His Beatitude thanked all the hierarchs, collaborators and faithful who pray for his good health and salvation every day.
“23 years have really passed quickly, and we look behind only to thank God and those through whom He worked helping us answer His call. When we look and see how much we still have to do it seems a short time because there are many new needs of the Church today in all fields of activity, but we must thank those through whom God worked for our formation and work as a support and inspiration. We think of our biological parents, spiritual parents and members of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church who answered the proposal of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae of Banat when he called them to hierarchy”.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel was ordained bishop on the Orthodoxy Sunday, on 4 March 1990, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Timisoara by His Eminence Nestor, Metropolitan of Oltenia, His Eminence Nicolae, Metropolitan of Banat, and by His Eminence Timotei, Archbishop of Arad.
After the Divine Liturgy, the book by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel entitled “Signs of hope in time of sufferance. The work of the Church in society in 2012″published by Basilica publishing house was presented in the Patriarchal Cathedral. The book was presented by the coordinator editor Rev. Sorin Vasile Tancau.
“The rich content of this work needs special attention of the reader because of the depth of its ideas. There are 565 pages of colour photographs from the major events of the Romanian Orthodox Church. There are three ideas easily noticed when reading this book. First of all it is the pastoral care of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel reflected in the consecration activity, in the pastoral and irenical writings presented in this book. His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has consecrated lots of churches both in the Archdiocese of Bucharest and in the country, on the occasion of his canonical and pastoral visits. The second idea of the book is the missionary cultural activity of the Primate of our Church. When saying that I refer to the chapters of messages, speeches or condolences presented. The third idea that I would like to mention is the relationship of friendship and brotherly love of the Romanian Orthodox Church with the other sister Orthodox Churches”.
The book entitled “Signs of hope in time of sufferance” is the 5th of the series named “The work of the Church in society”.
Today too, the collect for the Central Missionary Fund was organised in all the churches of the Romanian Patriarchate. The pastoral letter of the Holy Synod for the Orthodoxy Sunday read in all the places of worship urged the faithful to contribute to the help granted to their fellow beings.
Hundreds of faithful attended the religious service.
The cult of the Holy Icons, of the Holy Cross and of the Holy Relics was re-established by the Ecumenical Synod VII of Nicene, in 787. The Synod held in Constantinople in 843 decided that the victory of Orthodoxy over all the heresies or deviations from the right faith should be celebrated on the first Sunday of the Lent.
Photograph: “Lumina” newspaper
