Yesterday, 2 October 2013, feast of the “Protection of the Mother of God”, the church of “Saint John the Russian” of Brancusi district of Bucharest celebrated its second dedication day. On this occasion, the Patriarch of Romania delivered a sermon and blessed the Daily Centre for children of “Saints Emperors Constantine and Helen”, situated close to the church. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by a large number of priests and deacons in the semi-basement of the church, because the place of worship is still being constructed – informs “Lumina” newspaper.
This parish was set up on 25 January 2008, and a daily centre for 50 children aged from 3 – 7 years old was also built here in partnership with the City Hall District 6, through the General Department of Social Assistance and Protection of Child District 6. The settlement was blessed yesterday by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
“We blessed this daily centre for children within the parish dedicated to “Saint John the Russian” and “Protection of the Mother of God” of Brancusi ANL district of Bucharest and we thank God for the help given. We also thank all those who worked here by the grace of God: the parish priest, concelebrating priest, faithful, and especially the authorities of District 6 who helped with the construction of this daily centre for children, and given the fact that it is dedicated to “Saints Emperors Constantine and Helen” we offer an icon of this feat with blessing and convey our best wishes for the help of God as a sign of appreciation and blessing”, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church said.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel offered liturgical and spiritual books to the parish, diplomas and distinctions to parish priest Costel Burlacu, concelebrating priest Costin Dinu, as well as to the persons who contributed to the construction of the church and of the centre for children. The servant priests offered His Beatitude an icon of Saint John the Russian and a basket of flowers as a sign of gratitude.
A feast of the visible sacrament of the Church in prayer
His Beatitude showed in the sermon delivered in the end of the Divine Liturgy that the wonderful shining protection of the Mother of God that egumen Andrew and disciple Epifanie saw in Vlaherne church (Constantinople) was not a piece of canvas, but a “protection of the light of the grace of God bestowed over the Church through her, as a result of the her prayers with much merciful love for those who call Christ to help them and who glorify God”.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has also emphasised the fact that this feast shows us the mystery of the Church, because when man is praying, the Mother of God, saints and angels pray with him to the Most Holy Trinity too.
“This feast is a feast of the visible mystery of the Church in prayer. The Oranta Mother of God or Prayerful represents the Church while praying and, as a result of her prayers to her Son, she receives the grace that protects the world, so that the shining of her protection is so great, that the two Fathers could hardly look at it. This feast of the Mother of God was spread to many parts of the Orthodox world, especially during the last 20 years, so that many new churches, even cathedrals are dedicated to this feast, because the world needs the help of the Mother of God. Communion, merciful love and disinterested love are badly needed at a time of loneliness, individualism, coldness in faith, as a result of secularisation, which means the alienation of man from God. Or, the source of this motherly merciful love is in the Mother of God, who receives the grace from Christ, from the Most Holy Trinity and bestows it over the Church of Christ”, the Primate of our Church has also shown.
Two pious fathers from Neamt region were also celebrated yesterday on the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God: Saint Pious Iosif from Bisericani, who lived in the 15th century, and Saint Pious Chiriac, who lived in the 17th century. In this context, His Beatitude emphasised the relationship between these saints of Neamt region and the Fathers from Vlaherne Monastery of Constantinople, to whom the Mother of God appeared as a result of their vigil and prayers. Although the century old oak tree where the Mother of God appeared to the saint of Neamt was felled down during the communist regime, following God’s wish, a brick church dedicated to the “Protection of the Mother of God” was raised on the place of that century old oak tree.
