Orthodox news

Divine Liturgy, Hymns on Lazarus Saturday chanted by Tronos Choir available on Spotify

Selected hymns from the Divine Liturgy and Lazarus Saturday chanted by the famous Tronos Choir of the Romanian Patriarchate are now available on Spotify. The Lazarus Saturday album includes two hymns in Arabic: ‘Having secretly received the command’ (Akathist to the Theotokos), and ‘My soul, my soul’ (kondakion in the Great Canon). The hymns chanted…

Mar 5, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Fr Prof. Ioan Sauca appointed acting WCC general secretary

Fr Prof. Ioan Sauca has been appointed acting World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary beginning 1 April. Sauca, who currently serves as deputy general secretary for the WCC programme on Ecumenical Formation and Bossey Ecumenical Institute, will hold the general secretary post until the WCC Executive Committee meets in June. The leadership of the…

Mar 4, 2020Ștefana Totorcea

Message by Patriarch John X of Antioch at the beginning of Great Lent 2020

The Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East published Patriarch John X’s message to the faithful at the beginning of Holy and Great Lent 2020. His Beatitude highlighted fasting as a self-transformative journey which can only be accomplished into Christ: “a person is their own master as long as they lean on God”. The essence…

Mar 4, 2020Ștefana Totorcea

Metropolis of Bessarabia urges calm and discernment over coronavirus fears

The Metropolis of Bessarabia urged believers to remain calm and to strictly follow the recommendations transmitted by the health authorities to avoid infections with the new coronavirus (Covid-19). In a press release, the Orthodox Metropolis of Bessarabia listed the main recommendations of authorities to prevent the spread of coronavirus: wash hands and face vigorously with…

Mar 4, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian Patriarch offers reflections on Great Lent: from pagan training school to Christian repentance school

The first part of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete was officiated in all Orthodox churches on Monday evening, March 2, 2020, marking the beginning of Great Lent. At the patriarchal cathedral in Bucharest, the Great Canon was read out by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania who spoke about repentance as the…

Mar 4, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

30 years since the Episcopal consecration of HB Romanian Patriarch Daniel

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel celebrates on 4 March 2020 his 30th anniversary of episcopal consecration. Patriarch Daniel, the sixth leader of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was born on 22 July 1951, in Dobreşti village, Bara commune, Timiş County, as the third child of teacher Alexie and his wife Stela Ciobotea. Between 1974 and 1976 he attended…

Mar 4, 2020Sorin Ioniţe

Patriarch Daniel: No one can enter Lent without forgiveness

“No one can enter into fasting, as a spiritual struggle for the cleansing of sins and the lightening of the soul, without forgiveness,” His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania explained in his homily at the Chapel of St. Gregory the Enlightener in the Patriarchal residence in Bucharest on the Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam…

Mar 3, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel sends pastoral message to strengthen faith and Eucharistic communion

The Press office of the Romanian Patriarchate published a communiqué on February 27, 2020, in the context of excessive media coverage of the epidemic caused by Coronavirus (Covid – 19) and following requests from some state institutions that the Church should take measures to prevent the spread of the virus and to reduce the population’s…

Feb 28, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu

Memorial to Elder Cleopa Ilie to be set up in his childhood home

According to a recent statement from the Metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina of the Romanian Orthodox Church, there are plans to build a memorial to one of the greatest Orthodox elders of the 20th century in his hometown. On Sunday, February 16, His Eminence Metropolitan Teofan continued a series of visits he has been undertaking…

Feb 28, 2020Gheorghe Anghel

Church of Albania’s revival: Over 60 churches restored in 28 years

Despite the financial crisis, the Albanian Orthodox Church spares no expense in restoring its churches that have been in ruins since the persecution of the faith under the communist government last century. According to a report from the Albanian Church, 63 churches and monasteries were fully restored between 1991 and 2019, in addition to the…

Feb 28, 2020Gheorghe Anghel

Catechetical Homily of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the beginning of Holy and Great Lent, 2020

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has published Patriarch Bartholomew’s Catechetical Homily at the opening of Holy and Great Lent (2020). + BARTHOLOMEW BY GOD’S MERCY ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE – NEW ROME AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH, MAY THE GRACE AND PEACE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, TOGETHER WITH OUR PRAYER, BLESSING…

Feb 27, 2020Aurelian Iftimiu