{"id":585896,"date":"2026-08-26T11:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=585896"},"modified":"2026-08-26T11:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:59:13","slug":"romanian-orthodox-church-consecrated-almendralejo-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/romanian-orthodox-church-consecrated-almendralejo-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Orthodox bishops consecrate parish church in Spain\u2019s Almendralejo"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Romanian church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark in Almendralejo, Spain, was consecrated<\/a> on Sunday by His Grace Bishop Timotei of Spain and Portugal and his Assistant Bishop Teofil of Iberia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the consecration service, the two hierarchs celebrated the Divine Liturgy, attended by representatives of the local and provincial authorities. They included Raquel del Puerto Carrasco, First Deputy Mayor of Almendralejo and President of the Badajoz Provincial Council; Juan Manuel Forte Mor\u00e1n, Second Deputy Mayor and councillor; and Juan S\u00e1nchez Moreno, the mayor\u2019s Chief of Staff.<\/p>\n

Bishop Timotei spoke about the rich young man in the Gospel and the freedom people lose when they allow themselves to become enslaved by passions. The hierarch explained that the young man\u2019s problem was not his wealth itself, but his relationship with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWealth itself was not the problem, but the fact that he had attached his heart to it and had lost his freedom. It is not a sin to be rich; the problem arises when wealth becomes the master of the heart,\u201d His Grace said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let us love God above all things<\/h2>\n

The Bishop of Spain and Portugal explained that any passion can become a form of bondage when it takes the place of God in a person\u2019s life: \u201cWhen we become attached to it, we become slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Timotei encouraged the faithful to acknowledge their weaknesses and seek God\u2019s help through prayer, confession and Holy Communion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us work together with Christ to regain our freedom and strive to love God above all things,\u201d the hierarch emphasised.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Honours for members of the community<\/h2>\n

At the conclusion of the service, Bishop Timotei bestowed the rank of Stavrophore Oeconomos upon parish priest Fr Ion S\u00eerbu in recognition of his pastoral and missionary work within the community.<\/p>\n

The bishop also awarded him the Order of the Cross of the Holy Apostle James, while the priest\u2019s wife received the Diploma of the Holy Apostle James.<\/p>\n

Mayor Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Ram\u00edrez Mor\u00e1n received the Order of the Holy Apostle James in recognition of his support for the Orthodox community in Almendralejo.<\/p>\n

The Parish of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark in Almendralejo is located in the province of Badajoz, Spain.<\/p>\n

Photo: Diocese of Spain and Portugal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Romanian church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark in Almendralejo, Spain, was consecrated on Sunday by His Grace Bishop Timotei of Spain and Portugal and his Assistant Bishop Teofil of Iberia. Following the consecration service, the two hierarchs celebrated the Divine Liturgy, attended by representatives of the local and provincial authorities. They included…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":585623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[8437,12795,15121,25586],"class_list":["post-585896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora-en","tag-bishop-timotei","tag-church-consecration","tag-romanian-orthodox-diocese-of-spain-and-portugal","tag-romanians-in-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585896","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=585896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}