His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, sent an irenic letter to His Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch, wishing him good health, peace, and joy on the occasion of the Nativity of the Lord and New Year.
Full text:
Bucharest, Nativity of the Lord, 2025
His Holiness BARTHOLOMAIOS,
Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome,
Ecumenical Patriarch
Your Holiness,
The mystery of the Son of God, who became man out of endless love for humanity, is the foundation and the very heart of the Christian faith. This holy and great mystery was the purpose for which God created the world. It was foretold and foreshadowed by God’s prophets, inspired by the Holy Spirit; it was then lived and confessed by the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Romans 1, 1-2), defended and dogmatically defined by the Fathers of the Church when confronted with the heresies, and glorified and sung by all faithful and God-loving Christians.
Receiving the good news of the Nativity of the Infant Jesus from the angels, the shepherds of Bethlehem became the first witnesses of this holy event. They were the first people who “glorified and praised God for all that they had heard and seen”, and they then proclaimed to the inhabitants of the city of David that “today a Savior has been born, who is Christ the Lord” (cf. Luke 2, 11).
In the contemporary society, marked by secularization or spiritual indifference, there is an ever-greater need for a renewed calling of every Christian, clergy and laity alike, to be, like the angels and the shepherds of Bethlehem, messengers and apostles of Christ’s merciful love in the world. Therefore, the Church exhorts us all to become carolers, witnesses and heralds of Christ the Messiah, who came into the world to grant us peace and joy, salvation, eternal life and blessing.
On the occasion of the Holy Feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, the New Year 2026 and the Baptism of the Lord, we wish you good health and peace, joy and much help from God, together with the traditional greeting “Many Years to Come!”.
With high esteem and fraternal embrace in Christ,
† DANIEL
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Photo credit: Basilica.ro / Raluca Ene (archive)
