His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church issued a message for the opening of the 2025–2026 school year, calling Christian education both an academic and spiritual responsibility and a witness to Christ as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
He thanked parents, grandparents, and teachers for their role in nurturing Christian values in families and schools and urged students to value their educators’ efforts while cultivating faith in their lives.
The Romanian Patriarch stressed that education is most effective when teachers embody the values they teach and when students recognise their talents as gifts from God to be placed in the service of others. He emphasised the role of religious education in helping young people discover the deeper meaning of life and build both personal and communal responsibility.
Linking his message to the Centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate and the Commemorative Year of Romanian Spiritual Fathers and Confessors of the 20th Century, Patriarch Daniel highlighted the witness of Romanian martyrs and educators under communism as examples of fidelity and sacrificial love for Christ.
He concluded by praying that students, teachers, and families be enlightened by Christ, “the Teacher and the Light of the world,” to multiply their gifts and bear witness to their faith in society.
Please find below the full text of Patriarch Daniel’s message at the start of the new school year 2025-2026.
Christian Education Is Also Confession of Christ – “The Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6)
At the beginning of the 2025–2026 school year, we address parents, grandparents, teachers, and professors with a word of gratitude and appreciation for promoting Christian education in the family and in schools with patience, wisdom, and love. At the same time, we bless the students, encouraging them with fatherly love to value the effort of all their educators and to cultivate the values of faith in their lives.
Through His work as Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ emphasised the essential role of the Christian educator in both the intellectual and spiritual progress of the student, as well as the importance of complete consistency between the teaching offered and the living of that teaching: “Whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).
The student actively participates in the educational process to the extent that he finds in his teacher an authentic model of life, a guide willing to accept him in love, to support him in his efforts, and to help him understand and overcome temporary failures. According to the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30), it is necessary for both teacher and student to recognise and be grateful for the gifts received from God, the “Father of lights” (cf. James 1:17), to increase them through continuous effort, and to place them in the service of others.
For the integral education of the student, it is essential to value the formative role of religious education within the family, school, and Church. Through the presence of Religion class in schools and through parish catechesis, the Church bears witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). It reveals to children and young people the deep Christian meaning of life, provides essential landmarks for personal and community development, cultivates love for people and for all of God’s creation, and promotes communion between generations.
The year 2025, declared by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the Solemn Year of the Centennial of the Romanian Patriarchate and the Commemorative Year of Romanian Spiritual Fathers and Confessors of the 20th Century, is an occasion to deepen our knowledge of the history of our Church, which has always been closely tied to the destiny of the Romanian people and its aspirations for unity and freedom.
In Romanian society, the Church has had and continues to have an essential role in shaping character, cultivating Christian education, and preserving national identity. Likewise, the Romanian Orthodox spiritual fathers and confessors of the 20th century were true Christian educators, examples of living faith and defenders of Orthodoxy in times of trial and persecution. As the Holy Hieromartyr Hilarion Felea testified: “They overcame two worlds at once: the pagan world that persecuted them and the world of evil within their hearts, which tempted them to betray the purpose of life and the goal of the Gospel.”
These holy confessors are living icons of our Church, teaching us that sacrificial love for Christ is the highest calling of every Christian. Their spiritual legacy inspires us today to preserve the Orthodox faith, to promote the virtues and values of Christian life, and to live them out in a society undergoing continuous change.
We pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, the “Teacher” (Matthew 23:10) and the “Light of the world” (John 8:12), to enlighten the souls of students, parents, grandparents, teachers, and professors, that they may multiply the gifts received from God and bear witness to the Orthodox faith in family and in society.
With deep appreciation and fatherly blessing,
† Daniel
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Photo: Basilica.ro
