On the Sunday of the tax collector and of the Pharisee, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Eminence Nicolae, Romanian Orthodox Archbishop for the Americas. The celebrant group made up priests and deacons also included Rev. Prof. Dr. John Behr, dean of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of “Saint Vladimir” from New York, United States of America.
Special litanies were celebrated during the Divine Liturgy for remembering Archbishop Adrian Hrițcu, former primate of the Romanian Orthodox faithful of France and Western Europe, who passed away on 23 February 2013, 21.00 hours.
To end with the Divine Liturgy, His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae explained that Rev. Prof. Dr. John Behr came to our country to conclude a cooperation agreement between “Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary” of New York and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of “Patriarch Justinian” of Bucharest: “Rev. John Behr is coming from England, from a family of priests, his great grandfather and his father were priests, and now his brother and brother in law are priests too. He has been living in the USA since 1993, when he was called to New York, to the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of “Saint Vladimir”, where he is a Dean now”.
The Dean of the Orthodox Theological institution of New York said he was glad to be in Romania, to visit the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of Bucharest and know the faith that the Romanian people have been living for many centuries: “In the USA, the Orthodox faith is two centuries old, and the Orthodox faithful come from all over the world, from Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Middle East, so that we all live together. We are a few million Orthodox faithful and every year we receive new faithful in the Orthodox Church, through their conversion from other confessions. Living together with various nations, traditions and cultures, our place is a very special one which encourages the experience of the Orthodox faith. We are all pilgrims in this world, as one of the fathers of the 2nd century used to say, who sent a letter to Diogenet in which he wrote: “any foreign country is their homeland and any homeland is a foreign country for them. I am in a foreign country, but I feel just like at home, like in my own country”.
The two guests were received by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel in the Patriarchal Residence. The Patriarch of Romania offered Rev. John Behr a pectoral cross and a few books, while Rev. John Behr offered His Beatitude an icon of Saint Vladimir and a few books, thanking him for having blessed the project of partnership between the two schools of theology of New York and of Bucharest.
On 25 February 2013, Rev. Prof. Dr. John Behr will deliver a conference at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of “Patriarch Justinian” of Bucharest and sign the agreement of collaboration between the two Orthodox Theological institutions.
The conference entitled “Becoming human” will be held at 10.00 hours, in “Dumitru Staniloae” amphitheatre, as Ioan Bușagă, editor for news of “Lumina” newspaper, informed us.
