His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has called on graduates of the Patriarch Justinian Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the University of Bucharest to combine theological scholarship with prayer, missionary witness and pastoral service, saying Orthodox theology must remain rooted in the life of the Church.
In an official message addressed to the Class of 2026 for the graduates’ Oath of Fidelity ceremony on Tuesday, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church described theological faculties as institutions with a vital missionary vocation, preparing clergy and lay missionaries to serve both Romania and Romanian Orthodox communities across the diaspora.
Patriarch Daniel urged the new graduates to translate the commitment expressed in their oath into concrete pastoral, educational and charitable work, stressing that authentic theology is nourished by the Church’s worship and spiritual life and should bring hope, joy and faithful witness to contemporary society.
Please find below Patriarch Daniel’s message.
The Teaching and Missionary Vocation of Theology
The ceremony at which the 2026 graduating class of the Patriarch Justinian Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the University of Bucharest takes the Oath of Fidelity is being held during the year designated by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church as the Solemn Year of the Pastoral Care of the Christian Family and the Commemorative Year of the Holy Women in the Church Calendar (Myrrh-bearing Women, Martyrs, Monastics, Wives and Mothers).
This occasion marks a blessed stage in the graduates’ continuing spiritual formation, reflecting both maturity and responsibility. Having completed their theological studies, today’s graduates give thanks to God for their academic journey and have been prepared by their teachers to place the knowledge they have acquired at the service of the Church and her faithful.
Schools of theology in general, and faculties of Orthodox theology in particular, fulfil an essential missionary vocation within the life and ministry of the Romanian Orthodox Church. They prepare clergy and lay missionaries to serve Orthodox Romanians both at home and throughout the Romanian diaspora.
In carrying out this vital mission, lecturers and students alike strive to become faithful interpreters of the Orthodox faith while remaining attentive to the concrete realities of Church life, responding to both pastoral needs and the challenges facing contemporary society.
The Orthodox missionary, whether ordained or lay, is therefore called to be both a living witness and a confessor of the faith—in the parish, in educational and cultural institutions, in charitable ministries, in the media, and in positions of administrative and social responsibility.
The spirituality of an Orthodox Christian should never be confined to a separate compartment of life. Rather, it is the light that gives meaning, courage and joy to every aspect of Christian living within the family, the Church and society.
Graduating from a faculty of theology provides a firm yet dynamic foundation for continued growth. The graduates’ Oath of Fidelity calls them to liturgical, missionary and charitable service, so that the fidelity professed today may be translated into diligent and fruitful ministry through new spiritual, pastoral and social initiatives capable of bringing hope and joy to children, young people and adults who love the Church and her work.
In harmony with the Fathers of the Church, the Holy Priest-Confessor Dumitru Stăniloae taught that:
“The theologian must participate in the prayer and life of the Church, because theology seeks to know God through the experience of His saving work among humanity. Yet this knowledge cannot be attained without entering into a personal relationship of love with God and with the faithful through prayer. A person is even more truly a theologian when praying together with the other members of the Church, for in their shared love for God His saving and perfecting work is revealed more fully. In the prayers and worship of the Church, her unified spirit breathes, her eschatological horizon becomes transparent, and her goal of perfection in Christ is made manifest. A theology nourished by the prayer and spiritual life of the Church is one that faithfully expresses and deepens her spiritual experience, sanctifying work and ministry.”
We are all called to advance in this pattern of holy thinking and living—teachers and students alike throughout every theological school—as the Holy Apostle Peter exhorts us: “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct; for it is written: ‘Be holy, for I am holy'” (1 Peter 1:15–16).
Today’s ceremony is therefore both the solemn culmination of the studies of this graduating class of undergraduate and postgraduate students and the beginning of their pastoral, missionary and charitable ministry in the Church and in society.
We warmly congratulate the graduates of the Patriarch Justinian Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Bucharest, Class of 2026, together with their professors, on their excellent achievements.
We pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Teacher and Saviour, to grant you all the joy of serving our Church faithfully and worthily for many blessed years.
With profound esteem and paternal blessings,
† DANIEL
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Photo: Basilica.ro
