Priests and deacons of four Romanian missionary deaneries in Great Britain met on Saturday, March 26, with His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe and with Her Excellency Laura Popescu, Romanian Ambassador to London.

A delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate also attended the event held at the Romanian Cultural Institute in London.

During the meeting, Ambassador Laura Popescu briefed on the Embassy’s activity, especially in the last two years marked by the pandemic.

In this context, Her Excellency underlined the support offered by the Romanian parishes in solving the social problems that the Romanian community in Great Britain faced during this period.

“Very happy to meet Romanian Orthodox priests in the UK in the presence of His Eminence Iosif, Romanian Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe. I praised their dedication and highlighted the important social role of their work. We can cooperate closer for the benefit of the community,” Ambassador Laura Popescu wrote on Twitter.

The Romanian Embassy in London and parishes in Great Britain identified ways to cooperate to better inform the Romanian citizens regarding their right to work, social protection, consular services, etc.

After the meeting with the ambassador, Father Dragoș Herescu, parish priest at the Romanian community in Cambridge and head of the Institute for Christian-Orthodox Studies (IOCS) in Cambridge, hold a lecture on prayer and hesychasm.

Father Herescu’s presentation was followed by a series of free talks on the topic, with interventions from His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif and the other participating clerics.

The discussions continued with various pastoral and administrative issues, Priest Constantin Popescu, missionary dean of London, told Basilica.ro.

Distinctions from the Patriarch of Romania

At the end of the meeting, a delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate joined the participants.

Discussions focused on the support offered by the Church to refugees from Ukraine arriving in Romania, given that the Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe sent funds to Romanian dioceses to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

The Romanian Patriarchate delegation included Fr. Michael Tița, Coordinating Patriarchal Counsellor of the Department for Ecclesiastical, Inter-religious Relations and External Church Communities, Fr. Ciprian Ion Ioniță, Coordinating Patriarchal Counsellor at the Social-Philanthropic Department of the Patriarchal Administration, and Mr Vasile Bănescu, spokesman of the Romanian Patriarchate.

On behalf of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, Father Michael Tița presented the Order of Saint Anthimos the Iberian to Fr Dragoș Herescu. The same distinction was bestowed to Mr Răzvan Porumb, Deputy Director of IOCS Cambridge. The orders were bestowed for the outstanding work in the British Institute of Christian Orthodox Studies.

Principal of IOCS, Fr Dragos Herescu and Vice-Principal Dr Razvan Porumb were awarded the Order of Saint Anthim the Iverian by Patriarch Daniel of Romania – presented on 26 March by HE Iosif, Metropolitan of Western Europe, and Revd Dr Michael Tita of the Romanian Patriarchate. pic.twitter.com/xSIFcsaX2n

— IOCS – Cambridge (@IOCS_Cambridge) March 29, 2022