According to tradition, the Holy Light from Jerusalem was brought this year too, at Easter time, to our country, for the joy of the Orthodox faithful. On Saturday night, 11 April 2015, a delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate headed by His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, brought the Holy Light from the church of the Holy Sepulchre by a special plane, with the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
The delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate headed by His Grace Bishop Timotei Prahoveanul, which included archimandrite Dionisie Constantin, patriarchal counsellor and coordinator of the Workshops of the Bible and Orthodox Missionary Institute, and archimandrite Veniamin Goreanu, eparchial counsellor within the Church Administrative Department of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, arrived at “Henri Coanda” International Airport of Bucharest, about 19.45 hours. Delegates of the deaneries of the Archdiocese of Bucharest and representatives of the eparchies of the Romanian Patriarchate were present in the official room of the airport to receive the Holy Light and take it to the priests and faithful from all parts of the country. “These days, a delegation of our Church was at Jerusalem, on behalf of and with the blessing of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, to bring the Holy Light from the church of the Resurrection of the Saviour, just like the previous years. Today, the Holy Light came down into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 14.15 hours and it was offered to those present by Patriarch Teofilos III of Jerusalem and All Palestine. The delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church was received at the seat of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem by His Beatitude Teofilos III, who remembered in his speech the presence of our Church in the Holy Land, together with some other sister Orthodox Churches. We were very glad to meet, in Jerusalem, besides the Romanians from the country, the Romanians who have come from far away, from America, Germany, Italy and Holland, who prayed together with us and who said together with us, with much joy “Christ is Risen!” We pray God for this blessing and pray Him to illuminate the life and work of the Romanian people with His Holy Light”, His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul said.
From “Henri Coanda” International Airport, the Holy Light from Jerusalem was taken by small planes to Bacau, Iasi, Suceava, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca, Baia Mare, Satu-Mare and Timisoara for the communities of Orthodox faithful from these parts of the country.
The Holy Light, taken by His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul, was met at the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Grace Ieronim Sinaitul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, the delegate of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
After singing the “Holy Light” chant and celebrating the thanksgiving service, His Grace delivered a sermon. “God is the source of the uncreated light as well as the source which gave to our world one of the essential conditions of life, the created, sensitive light. Today we received from Jerusalem, just like Saint Andrew the Apostle long time ago, the Light of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Light which stems from His Holy Life Giving Sepulchre. It is a great joy that this Holy Light arrived to us this year too. The Holy Light, which is a wonder which takes place at the Resurrection of the Lord, is the symbolic light of our unity, the light of the unity of all Eastern Christians, the light of the unity of the Church”, His Grace Bishop Ieronim Sinaitul underlined.
