Romanian Orthodox Church's Holy Synod meets for first time this year: decisions

On Thursday, February 9, 2023, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church met for a working session at “Patriarch Teoctist” Aula Magna of the Patriarchal Palace under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.

The Holy Synod elected by secret ballot the Very Reverend Archimandrite Gherontie Ciupe as assistant bishop to the Diocese of Deva and Hunedoara. The new hierarch will bear the title of His Grace Assistant Bishop Gherontie of Hunedoara. His ordination to the episcopacy will take place in Deva on Sunday, February 19, 2023.

During the same working session, the Holy Synod resolved the following:

To declare 2024 as a Solemn Year of the pastoral care of the sick and a Commemorative Year of All Holy Unmercenary Healers in the Romanian Patriarchate;
To approve the program of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO 2023), which will take place in Timisoara between August 31 and September 3, 2023;
To approve the text of the Akathist to Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia (December 2) and to include it in all liturgical books of the Romanian Orthodox Church;
To approve the text of the service of Saints Barsanuphius and John of Gaza (February 6) and to include it in the liturgical books of the Romanian Orthodox Church;
To approve the recognition of the autocephaly granted to the Church in the Republic of North Macedonia under the name of “Archdiocese of Ohrid and North Macedonia, with headquarters in Skopje” by the Patriarchate of Serbia by its Synodal Tomos issued on June 5, 2022. Its Primate will be commemorated with the title “His Beatitude Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid, Skopje and North Macedonia”;
To organise at the level of the Romanian Patriarchate a fundraising campaign for the victims affected by the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Concerning the situation of the Romanian Orthodox parishes in the Northern Bukovina area, under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church firmly maintains its stance in favour of respecting the rights and freedoms of Romanian communities throughout Ukraine, just as Ukrainians are respected throughout Romania.

The Holy Synod took note of the results of the social-philanthropic activity of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the year 2022, which indicate a sum of 339,925,775 RON (approximately 69 million euros), including the amount of 42,904,050 RON (approximately 8,7 million euros) offered to support refugees from Ukraine.

Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Mircea Florescu