At its meeting on Thursday, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church designated 2028 as the Solemn Year of the Use of Biblical Texts in the Liturgical Life of the Church and the Commemorative Year of Translators and Printers of Biblical and Liturgical Books throughout the Romanian Patriarchate.
The year 2028 will mark the 340th anniversary of the publication of the Bucharest Bible, the first complete translation of Holy Scripture into Romanian.
The book contributed to the unification of the language, worship and culture of Romanians across all the historical Romanian provinces.
Historian Alexandru D. Xenopol described it as “the most significant monument of Romanian religious literature, both for its scope and for its wonderful language”.
This is not the first time that the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has dedicated a commemorative year to translators and printers of church books.
In 2019, the Church observed the Commemorative Year of Patriarchs Nicodim Munteanu and Iustin Moisescu and Translators of Church Books.
The year 2016 was designated the Commemorative Year of St Anthimos the Iberian and Church Printers, while 2008 was the Jubilee Year of Holy Scripture and the Divine Liturgy.
In fact, 2008 was the first such thematic year in the Romanian Patriarchate. The year 2028 will therefore mark two decades since the Romanian Orthodox Church introduced annual solemn and commemorative years at the initiative of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
The year 2027 will be the Solemn Year of Cooperation Between Clergy and Laity in the Life and Mission of the Church and the Commemorative Year of Patriarchs Justinian Marina (1948–1977) and Teoctist Arăpașu (1986–2007) throughout the Romanian Patriarchate.
