{"id":531747,"date":"2025-06-26T14:36:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T11:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=531747"},"modified":"2025-06-26T14:36:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T11:36:41","slug":"romanian-orthodox-church-dublin-royal-visit-community-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/romanian-orthodox-church-dublin-royal-visit-community-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Orthodox parish in Dublin grows after acquiring own church, draws royal visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Romanian community in Dublin, Ireland, has seen notable growth since the Saints George & Columba Parish acquired its own place of worship, noted the Custodian of the Romanian Crown, Agerpres<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The parish was founded in 2009 after it became clear that many Romanians lived there. Ten years later, the Romanian community in Dublin succeeded in purchasing its own church building, where services are now held every Sunday, explained parish priest Raul Simion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis parish in Dublin was established in 2009 with the blessing and encouragement of His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif. In our area, most Romanians settled here, and seeing their numbers, His Eminence decided to found a parish. We first served not far from here,\u201d said Fr. Simion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough patience, God placed this church in our path, which we purchased in 2019 from the Catholic Church in Dublin, and we began services here in 2020. Every Sunday, we have around 400\u2013500 attendees. The community purchased the church\u2014we didn\u2019t find it on a listing site. It cost \u20ac350,000, well below market value, and we took out a bank loan with the help of the faithful,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Romanian Language and Cultural Classes<\/h2>\n

In addition to liturgical services, the parish hosts Romanian language, literature, history, and geography classes for children of Romanian families living far from their homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides the services, we have other activities. Every Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00, we run our parish school where parents bring their children to learn exclusively in Romanian. They study Romanian language and literature, religion, art, music, and Romanian history and geography\u2014all in Romanian, taught by teachers who were trained either in Romania or locally. We have around 70 children, split into two groups,\u201d added Fr. Simion.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: Romanian Royal Family \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAn Impressive Achievement\u201d \u2014 Royal Visit to the Parish<\/h2>\n

On Wednesday, the parish was visited by Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and Prince Radu. His Grace Bishop Nectarie of Ireland and Iceland thanked the royal guests for their visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe joyfully welcome you to Dublin and the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Ireland and Iceland<\/a>. It is an honour for our diocese (\u2026). Historically, imperial authority supported the Church since the time of Saint Constantine the Great. The Romanian community here in Ireland enjoys the fruit of their labour and their love for their homeland and faith. Thank you for the honour of visiting one of the representative churches of Romanian Orthodox communities here in Dublin,\u201d said Bishop Nectarie.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a deeply spiritual experience, and I felt incredible human warmth here. I was deeply moved. The people are beautiful and have preserved our traditions. So many Romanians\u2014and what they\u2019ve accomplished with the church is truly wonderful. I\u2019m very impressed,\u201d responded Her Majesty Margareta.<\/p>\n

The Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Ireland and Iceland is headquartered in Dublin and was established<\/a> by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in February 2024.<\/p>\n

It is part of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe. Bishop Nectarie was enthroned<\/a> in January 2025 as the first Romanian Orthodox bishop of Ireland and Iceland.<\/p>\n

Photo: Romanian Royal Family \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Romanian community in Dublin, Ireland, has seen notable growth since the Saints George & Columba Parish acquired its own place of worship, noted the Custodian of the Romanian Crown, Agerpres reports. The parish was founded in 2009 after it became clear that many Romanians lived there. Ten years later, the Romanian community in Dublin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":531690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[34134,33533,35425,21194,33532],"class_list":["post-531747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora-en","tag-bishop-nectarie","tag-diocese-of-ireland-and-iceland","tag-dublin-parish","tag-romanian-royal-family","tag-romanians-in-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}