Great Lent 2021

Patriarch Daniel: Christ overturns the logic of worldly thinking / Honour derives not from personal ambition

Patriarch Daniel recalled on Sunday the lesson that Christ taught His disciples when He received the request of the apostles James and John to hold worldly positions and pointed out that the Saviour had overturned the selfish logic of worldly thinking; a type of logic encountered even today in contemporary society. Christ showed them that…

Apr 20, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel: Saint Callinicus of Cernica was a prayerful, merciful wonderworker during his lifetime

“He was a prayerful and merciful Saint and a wonderworker during his lifetime, as he healed many sick people,” Patriarch Daniel said about Saint Callinicus on his feast day at Cernica Monastery. Saint Callinicus is one of the patron saints of the monastic settlement near Bucharest. Saint Callinicus of Cernica In his speech on Sunday,…

Apr 12, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

#FearNot, put on the armour of St Stephen: the Cross and the fast

The Church has set a feast of the Holy Cross in the middle of Lent so that, looking to the sign of our Lord Jesus Christ’s victory over death, Christians may have courage in the face of any challenge. #FearNot is also the message that Basilica.ro insists on during this Lent. Looking at the Romanian…

Apr 7, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Pan-Orthodox Vespers in Chicago. Saints look at us from the icons and call us to have a pure vision, Metropolitan Nicolae says

Although organized at the last minute by the Chicago Orthodox Clergy Association, the Vespers service on the Sunday of Orthodoxy was a moment of Orthodox communion that seemed lost in the last year due to coronavirus restrictions, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of the Americas reports. Clergy and believers from the Chicago area met at St.…

Mar 23, 2021Sorin Ioniţe

Basilica Photos: Sunday of Orthodoxy at Bucharest Patriarchal Cathedral 2021

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, to mark the Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 21, 2021. Concelebrants included Their Graces the patriarchal auxiliary bishop Varlaam of Ploiești and Assistant Bishop Timotei of Prahova. In his sermon, the Patriarch of Romania spoke of the three roles of holy…

Mar 23, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel: The icon is a call to pray with the Saints and foresight of the Kingdom of Heaven

Patriarch Daniel presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral on the Sunday of Orthodoxy. In his sermon, His Beatitude highlighted the three roles of an icon: to profess the truth of the Incarnation of the Son of God; to call Christians to prayer discreetly but insistently, and to offer a “prophetic, anticipated view,…

Mar 23, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

A tear from the bottom of the heart could blot out many of our sins: Assistant Bishop Timotei of Prahova

“The Great Canon is a treasure to which we must reflect for hours and days in a row,” His Grace Assistant Bishop Timotei of Prahova said on the first evening of Lent at the Patriarchal Cathedral. “Tears” is one of the themes of this treasure that the bishop spoke about in his sermon. The Assistant…

Mar 18, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Timisoara Archdiocese urges believers to help feed migrants during Lent

In recent months, Romania has become the main transit gateway for migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, who are trying to reach the countries of Western Europe in search of a better life. More than two-thirds of migrants crossing Romania are registered in the western city of Timisoara, many returning there after being accommodated in…

Mar 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

“Fasting is a struggle for each Christian. But this struggle will bring spiritual joy,” Metropolitan Nicolae says

In his meditation at the beginning of Great Lent, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas highlighted that the fasting season is a struggle for each Christian. “Today’s world and our responsibilities in it don’t encourage our fasting. During every fast, the struggle comes in trying to find a certain balance between our ascetical efforts and fulfilling…

Mar 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel officiates Great Canon at patriarchal residence: Strict fast supports humble prayer

On Monday, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel read the first portion of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete at the Patriarchal Residence’s historic chapel. On this occasion, His Beatitude emphasized that a strict fast supports humble and fervent prayer. “This practice of fasting means an abrupt beginning of the fight against sin,” the Patriarch…

Mar 17, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop Ignatie recommends digital fasting: We will realize how “drugged” we are using technology

Bishop Ignatie spoke on Sunday evening, at the Diocesan Cathedral in Huși, about the need to practice giving up addictive habits, such as addiction to digital media: “The purpose of fasting is not exclusively to give up, but to change some habits that turn us into slaves.” “Digital media fasting will help us realize how…

Mar 16, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu