Today, 16 June 2013, thousands of faithful attended the consecration of the painting restored during the last few years at the Princely Church of Saint Anton – Old Court. The works recently done inside and outside the place of worship were also blessed.
The consecration service was celebrated by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel together with His Grace Bishop Varsanufie Prahoveanul, assisted by a group of priests and deacons. The consecration and blessing of the works done were preceded by the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on a podium specially arranged in the yard of the church by His Grace Varsanufie Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest.
Confession of the divinity of Christ is the first condition of our ascension to Heaven
The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church spoke in the sermon delivered after the consecration and blessing service about the need of confessing the true faith: “The confession of the divinity of Christ is the first condition for our ascension to Heaven, with the soul in prayer, and then at the second coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord, together with Him after the resurrection of the bodies. Therefore, nobody can ascend in the glory of the love of the Most Holy Trinity unless he or she confesses the faith in the Holy Trinity shown to us by the One of the Holy Trinity who was made man so that Jesus Christ, the Son of God should save us, the humans. That is only if we confess the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He came down on the earth in order to raise us, the humans, to the heavenly life, that He was made man in order to make us, the humans, gods according to the grace, namely to deify us. Only if we confess the Orthodox faith included in the Creed we can ascend to God through the prayer now, on the earth, and then with all our being when Christ comes in glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have not end”.
The Orthodox icon represents the reality of history transfigured in the Kingdom of God
The Patriarch of Romanian has also shown the importance of the painting in a place of worship: “The church painting is not a simple decoration as some people wrongly think. Only fourthly it is a decoration for the Church. The church painting is first of all a work by which the right faith is confessed, namely that the unseen God was made seen. God took a human image in Jesus Christ and we meet His divinity through His human image. The Orthodox icon represents the reality of history transfigured in the Kingdom of God. The icons are a permanent confession of the Orthodox faith that God took a human image so that we should have eternal brilliant image in the glory of God. Secondly, the Orthodox icons or paintings are a call to prayer and not to curiosity to ask in what year the painting was done or who executed it. Our first encounter with the Saint of the icon is the prayer in front of the icon, kissing in front of the icon, praying in front of it and kissing it just as when we meet a beloved being to whom we show respect and whom we embrace. So shall we do with the holy icons to which we show respect and kiss because they call us to communion, to an eternal relationship of faith and love with the saints of God”.
To end with, the Patriarch of the Church awarded ranks and distinctions to those who helped with the work done to the holy place of worship. Thus, parish priest Gheorghe Zaharia was awarded the Order of Saints Emperors Constantine and Helen, Rev. Ciprian-Florin Apetrei was awarded the Order of Sanctus Stephanus Magnus, and the honorary rank of iconom stavrofor was awarded to Rev. Viorel-Robert Barbu and to Rev. Iulian-Florin Scuturoiu. The Diploma of Honour of Saints Emperors Constantine and Helen was awarded to the following persons: Mr. Geortge Dinca, Mr. Petru Calistru, Univ. Prof. Dr. Bogdan Voiculescu, Unov. Prof. Stefan Birica, Mrs Marinela Caramida, Mrs. Nicoleta Stroe.
