All these gifts and surprises were possible through the involvement of all deaneries, eparchial NGOs, and Religion teachers, who responded to Archbishop Ioachim’s initiative, according to the eparchial website.

4,606 of the 5,479 gifts were offered by deaneries (Bacău – 3,289, Moinești – 507, Onești – 500, Roman – 160, Sascut – 150) and 873 gifts were offered by 8 eparchial NGOs. The gifts amounted to a total value of approximately 300,000 Lei (60,000 Euros).

Roman Deanery also collected hygiene products, clothing for newborns, and money to help mothers in difficulty. The gifts were donated to the Roman Municipal Emergency Hospital on December 20, 2023.

Around 10,000 packages of sweets, worth about 200,000 Lei (40,000 Euros) were offered during the Christmas celebrations to just as many children from the 150 parishes in the Bacău Deanery.

Also, more than 350 pairs of boots were given to children and young people from the social centers in Onești and Tg. Ocna, through a project of the Onești Deanery, which was entitled “Be a Little St Nicholas!”. In addition, more than 1,500 parcels were given in parishes, worth over 30,000 Lei (6,000 Euros).

The 2,400 Christmas parcels from Moinești Deanery had a total cost of approximately 48,000 Lei (9.600 Euros), while the Deanery of Sascut offered to 300 children gifts in value of 6,000 Lei (1,200 Euros).

The children from disadvantaged families were identified with the help of parish priests or representatives of diocesan NGOs. The children wrote letters or drew the objects they wanted to receive for Christmas and wrote their names, ages, and towns on the back of their letters or drawings.

Some of the gifts were offered by children or families identified within the communities as being able and willing to offer small gifts to other children in need.

Photo credit: Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău
Source: basilica.ro

At the thanksgiving service officiated Sunday night, Patriarch Daniel stressed the importance of time as a gift from God. Patriarch Daniel cited the soon-to-be-saint Dumitru Stanilaoe, who defined time as the interval between when God’s love calls man and when he responds voluntarily to God.

“Christians are called to live the time of their life as a gift received from God, which must be cultivated through love for God and others to participate in eternal life in the Kingdom of love of the Most Holy Trinity.”

Following his proclamation designating 2024 as a Commemorative Year of all the holy unmercenary healers and a Solemn Year of pastoral care of the sick, Patriarch Daniel urged everyone to uphold inner peace by engaging in virtuous deeds and prayer. Furthermore, he urged promoting peace among nations amidst the prevailing armed conflicts.

Read below the full text of Patriarch Daniel’s address on New Year’s Eve:

Gratitude for the gift of the past and hope for the future
Entering the new year 2024, we thanked God for the favours received from Him in 2023, and we prayed that He would make us worthy to increase in the right faith, in love for Him and for our neighbour and in all good deeds (Prayer of thanksgiving at the Service at the turn of the year).

The Service that has been performed now, at the turn of the year, represents a disposition or a spiritual state concerning the time of the year that has concluded and the time of the year that is beginning.

This Service is a bridge of gratitude and hope between the years. Therefore, the most suitable work for spending the previous year and welcoming the new year is the prayer of thanksgiving performed in the Church of Christ, the King of the ages (Acts 1:7; Hebrews 1:2).

According to the resolution of the Holy Synod no. 630 of February 17, 2011, the Akathist of our Lord Jesus Christ is read at the Service that takes place on the night at the turn of the year because, on January 1, we celebrate the Circumcision and the naming of the Baby Jesus, which means “God saves” or “God is Saviour”.

By persistently invoking the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world and the King of the ages, the lives of those who pray are sanctified, as well as the time and space in which people pray.

The new year we have entered is a new gift that we receive from God. That is why, especially now, at the turn of the year, we have to think more about what the gift of time means for people’s lives.

In this sense, St. John Chrysostom asks: “What do we gain from this (earthly) life if we do not use it to gain the future (heavenly life)?”

While time is the creature’s mode of existence, eternity is God the Creator’s mode of existence.
Father Dumitru Stăniloae notes that time is the interval between the call of God’s love to man and man’s free response to God.

More precisely, Father Stăniloae states that: “the joy of intra-Trinitarian love coexists with waiting for the human person’s response and with the sadness of its delay: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Rev. 3: 20). For God, time means the duration of waiting between His knocking on the door and our act of opening it. He does not force His way into people’s hearts. In this sense, time also implies the freedom and respect granted by God to conscious creatures. Union with Him in love cannot be achieved without people’s free response to His offer of love.”

We open the heart’s door through prayer and the daily reading of a text from the Holy Scripture because God the Word is mystically hidden in the words of the Scripture and is offered as light and nourishment for the soul and delight for the mind and heart.

In the life of the Church, the time of salvation is lived by the faithful both as a redemption, through repentance, of the time lost in sin, and as an opportunity to develop their talents, as a preparation for the life of eternal communion in love with God and fellow men (The Parable of the Talents).

In the Church, time is utilised to its fullest capacity through sanctification (“Let us commend ourselves to Christ our God” – we ask during the litany).

Man can only achieve sanctification through communion with God, the One Who is Holy, Good and Merciful.

The most famous saints in Orthodoxy are not the most outstanding scholars but those who showed their kindness to others. Man reaches holiness after freeing himself from pride and selfish passions, and love and kindness become the norm of life, while prayer becomes the breath of his soul. Thus, man himself becomes a living prayer, a permanent dialogue with God.

The calendar of our Church is the screen of lives sanctified in time and entered into eternity, into eternal life. In the “laboratory” of prayer and holiness represented by the Church of Christ, the great spiritual Fathers, as bearers of Christ’s love and holiness, become teachers and supplicants for us.

Therefore, Christians are called to live the time of their life as a gift received from God, which must be cultivated through love for God and others so as to participate in eternal life in the Kingdom of love of the Most Holy Trinity.

For this reason, the Church’s entire social-philanthropic endeavours encompass not only a moral but also a mystagogic-spiritual aspect, representing a meeting between man and Christ, Who loves the poor and desires to assist them via merciful people (Matthew 25: 31-45).

The year 2024, which we are entering, is declared in the Romanian Patriarchate as a Solemn Year of the pastoral care of the sick and a Commemorative Year of all the holy unmercenary healers.

Thus, we consider intensifying the care of those in spiritual and physical suffering.

Every year, we deepen spiritually, theologically and factually, one of the themes that the Church considers a priority in pastoral care. Pastoral care for the elderly constituted a central focus of our missionary and cultural-social endeavours in the previous year, 2023. We expand our pastoral ministry this year by intensifying the pastoral care of the sick by word and deed.

Also, let us cultivate the peace of our hearts received from Christ through prayer and good deeds, and let us pray for peace between peoples in these troubled times of armed conflicts. Let us value the gift of health and show high responsibility for our own health and that of our peers.

Let us pray to God to bless the crown of the year which we have entered, to give the Romanian people in the country, from the vicinity of its borders and the Romanian diaspora, strong faith, peace and joy, health and much help in all good deeds, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and our salvation!

Many and blessed years!

† Daniel
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene
Source: basilica.ro

The Patriarch addressed the faithful, highlighting the value of time, and reminded them that 2024 would be dedicated to the pastoral care of the sick, so he urged everyone to cultivate peace and value health.

“The new year we have entered is a new gift from God. That’s why, especially now, at the turn of the year, we must think more about what the gift of time means for people’s lives,” the Patriarch said, recalling that, in this sense, Saint John Chrysostom asked: “What gain do we have from this life if we don’t use it to gain the one to come?”

“Every year, we deepen spiritually, theologically, and factually, one of the themes that the Church considers a priority in pastoral care. If last year – 2023 – the focus of our missionary and cultural-social concerns was the pastoral care of the elderly, it is natural that this year we should expand our pastoral work by intensifying, by word and deed, the pastoral care of the sick,” Patriarch Daniel said.

“Also, let us cultivate the peace of our hearts received from Christ through prayer and good works, and let us pray for peace among peoples in these troubled times of armed conflict. Let us value the gift of health and show high responsibility for our own health and that of our neighbors,” Patriarch Daniel urged.

“Let us pray to God to bless the crown of the year which we have entered, to give the Romanian people in the country, from the vicinity of the borders and the Romanian diaspora, strong faith, peace and joy, health and much help in all good deeds for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and our salvation. Many and blessed years!” His Beatitude concluded.

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene
Source: basilica.ro

The Patriarch explained that the descent of the eternal Son of God from eternity into time and from heaven to earth “unites heaven with earth and God with men.”

“The Messiah was prophesied centuries before to prepare the people; this was an active expectation, with prayer, fasting and hope.”

“Those who wanted to see the Messiah with their own eyes often had to suffer in history; they were received with hostility, they wandered in the mountains, in deserts, in the holes of the earth (Hebrews 11:38). They waited in suffering and hope; in suffering because they often suffered when they tried to correct people’s lives, but also in hope because of what God promised,” the Patriarch of Romania explained on December 25.

The Orthodox faith is the gold that we bring to the Child Jesus

“These three gifts have, first of all, a spiritual meaning: the gold means the pure right faith – the Orthodox Faith, without error, mixture, and confusion. The right faith or the Orthodox Faith is the gold that we bring to Christ when we confess the Creed and when we confess the faith of the Holy Apostles, Prophets and all the saints in the history of the Church.”

“Frankincense means fervent prayer. If frankincense is not placed on an incandescent coal, it does not produce any smell. Therefore, it symbolises fervent prayer, when a person prays with fervent faith, with all his heart.”

“Myrrh means pure life and good deeds, for only good deeds enter the Kingdom of God. We take none of the things gathered around us into eternal life. Only the light of good deeds imprints itself on the human soul. Man will take this light into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

God is not only almighty but also all-humble

God, the Patriarch stressed, “did not come into the world as a 30-year-old man, just to be crucified for us. He came as an infant, the God-Child. This is the miracle of Christmas. Our carols have captured, like the Holy Fathers of the Church, this great contrast between the omnipotence of God and the humility of the Child who is born in the cave and then is laid in the manger. We also see that the Child Jesus is, like any baby, like any little baby wrapped in a cotton diaper, totally helpless.”

“What God wanted to show is that He is not only almighty but also all-humble. His humility is seen in the fact that he was a Child. A child cannot do anything for himself; he perishes if he is not loved and helped. He needs the love of his parents to clothe, feed and be carried. So, the Almighty is totally powerless in the Child Jesus, but if he had not been an infant, the Child Jesus could not speak later about God’s parental love towards the world because the child learns what parental love is during childhood. He who was not a child is not a full human because he did not learn parental love from his parents.”

“Through the birth of the Virgin, Christ sanctifies the humanity within her. The earth is sanctified through the birth of the Infant in the cave. Through the sleeping of the Baby in the manger, the vegetable and animal kingdoms are sanctified. Through His Baptism in the waters of the Jordan, the nature of the waters is sanctified, and through the crucifixion on the Cross, air and wood are sanctified, as the liturgical books indicate.”

Source and photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Mircea Florescu

Metropolitan Nyphon performed the Divine Liturgy along with a group of priests and deacons.

At the end of the holy service, Metropolitan Nyphon was congratulated by many faithful and local authorities, who praised his quality as a moral and spiritual leader, with a fruitful cultural and academic involvement, but also they underlined the fact that through his service in the local and international inter-religious dialogue he made known the city of Târgovişte and the region of Dâmbovița and indeed the Romanian Orthodox Church worldwide.

The celebrations have continued in the “St. Voivode Neagoe Basarab” auditorium of the Metropolitan Residence, where the Cathedral Choir offered a concert of Christmas carols, in the presence of numerous clerics from the entire Archdiocese.

Both in the speech delivered in the Cathedral and the one in the Archbishop’s Residence, the Metropolitan emphasized the significance of the Nativity of our Lord for human history and civilization, showing its deep theological meanings, which underpin our Christian life, and which also constitute the basis of our contemporary world`s values. The Metropolitan highlighted the fact that: “The Incarnation of God produced a real ontological revolution, a fundamental renewal of human nature”. He also emphasized in his sermon, that “on this Christmas feast, by the Grace of God, we may more humble, more holy and therefore more happy and affectionate and more generous in the love of Christ, our Savior” become the special importance of the Mother of God in the history of salvation, urging her to pursue her virtues in the present spiritual life.

In the end, Metropolitan Nyphon addressed some advice to the 150 priests present in the festivity to intensify the pastoral mission in the parishes, and at the same time, to deepen their vocation to serve the people of God, particularly in our time of economic crisis and dreadful war near the Romanian border.

Read the message of Patriarch Daniel of Romania:

Bucharest, 22 December 2023,

His Beatitude RASTISLAV,

Archbishop of Presov,

Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church

in the Czech Lands and in Slovakia

Your Beatitude,

The news of the tragic event that took place in the afternoon of Thursday, 21 December 2023, at Charles University in Prague, that caused the death of 15 people, leaving injured 25 others, deeply grieved us.

We note with great concern that violence bringing death, manifested by people regardless of age, is increasingly present in today’s society, contradicting the sacred gift of life that comes from God.

In these moments of sadness for the people of the Czech Republic, we pray to our most compassionate God to rest in His peace and love the souls of the ones killed in this tragic event and to grant swift recovery to the wounded ones, as well as consolation to the grieving families, in the light of the Resurrection of Christ, Who has overcome death.

With brotherly love in Jesus Christ, our Lord,

† DANIEL
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

Photo credit: Basilica.ro / Raluca Ene
Source: basilica.ro

“We are called to show compassionate love and solidarity to all people, but especially to those who suffer from war,” he stressed in his letter.

“Let us bring the joy of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ to the homes of orphans, to the elderly people centres, to the bedside of the sick, but also where there is much sadness, loneliness and depression, to the poor, bereaved and grieving families,” he added.

The Patriarch concluded: “On the occasion of the Holy Feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, the New Year 2024 and the Baptism of the Lord, we wish you good health and peace, joy and God’s help, together with the traditional greeting „Many Years to Come!”.”

Read the full text below:

Your Holiness/Beatitude,

The mystery of the Nativity of our Lord is the mystery of God’s merciful and humble love for humankind. As the Son of God descended to us on earth, so He has opened the way for us, humans, to ascend to Him, to heavenly life. Therefore, the Incarnation of the Son of God, Who became Man out of unfailing love for human beings, is the foundation and centre of Christian faith.

For the Holy Apostles, the contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnate Son of God becoming human is the source of all theology, of all spiritual life and of the Church’s mission in the world, as Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist says „God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

We are called, therefore, to show compassionate love and solidarity to all people, but especially to those who suffer from war. At the same time, let us bring the joy of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ to the homes of orphans, to the elderly people centres, to the bedside of the sick, but also where there is much sadness, loneliness and depression, to the poor, bereaved and grieving families. Wherever we can do good, let us do it, in our hearts and in our actions, with the joy of the angels, the shepherds and the Magi who came to Bethlehem!

On the occasion of the Holy Feasts of the Nativity of the Lord, the New Year 2024 and the Baptism of the Lord, we wish you good health and peace, joy and God’s help, together with the traditional greeting „Many Years to Come!”.

With high esteem and brotherly embrace in Christ, the Lord,

† Daniel,

Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

Source: Basilica.ro

Photo courtesy of Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene

The selection of these themes is motivated by the need to increase concern for those enduring spiritual and physical suffering, according to a message from Patriarch Daniel predating 2024.

Simultaneously, following the solemn year dedicated to pastoral care for the elderly, the theme naturally progresses to include the care of the ill.

According to Church doctrine, demonstrating compassion towards those in need is a tangible and evident expression of merciful love; furthermore, physical well-being is intricately connected to spiritual health.

Patriarch Daniel explained repeatedly that health is not inherent to us but rather a gift from God; therefore, it must be cultivated and preserved.

Because our Redeemer Christ serves as the archetype for the pastoral care of the sick and frequently operates wonderfully through His saints, all unmercenary saints will be honored during the Solemn Year of the Pastoral Care of the Sick.

The most famous holy healers include the first physician of the Apostolic Church, the Holy Evangelist Luke and Saint Thekla the First-Martyr, from the same period; the twelve unmercenary physicians remembered during the Prothesis: Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and John, Panteleimon and Hermolaus, Sampson and Diomides, Mocius and Anicetus, Thallelaios and Tryphon; also from the first centuries: Saint Gregory the Miracle-Worker, Saint Spyridon, Saint Parthenios of Lampsakos, Saint Meletios, Archbishop of Antioch; From the contemporary period: the Holy Hierarch Nectarios of Aegina, Saint Luke the Archbishop of Crimea, Saint Gerasimos of Kefalonia or Saint Nikephoros the Leper.

The proclamation of the Solemn and Commemorative year 2024 will occur on New Year’s Day, after the Divine Liturgy, at the Patriarchal Cathedral.

The official announcement of the solemn and commemorative themes for 2025 has not yet occurred; however, 2025 will mark a significant milestone for the Romanian Orthodox Church, as it will have been autocephalous for 140 years and a patriarchate for 100 years.

Photography courtesy of Doxologia / Oana Nechifor
Source: basilica.ro

Auxiliary Patriarchal Bishop Paisie of Sinaia officiated the ordination on Saturday, December 16, at the National Cathedral Chapel.

“We have good hope that he will respond properly to this call,” the hierarch said at the end of the service. His Grace also explained the Sacrament of Ordination, its origin, and the meaning of the Greek term deacon.

“By receiving the grace of diaconate, Father Nicolae chose to serve God and the Church,” the Bishop emphasized.

The event was attended by the hierodeacon’s parents, his confessor father, Archimandrite Siluan Antoci from Brusturi Monastery, as well as by co-workers, acquaintances, and collaborators.

“The deacon assumes in equal measure the service of God and the service of people,” said Bishop Paisie of Sinaia.

The hierarch noted that “in addition to serving at meals, at the agape meals of joy, deacons also had the ministry of preaching the Gospel of Christ and even baptizing.”

“From ancient times, in the services of the Church, deacons had the mission of assisting the apostles, bishops, and priests in the celebration of the sacraments, as well as visiting and helping the sick, the widows, the needy and the poor.”

Ordination is public but a Sacrament of the Church

“The ordination is public and takes place during the Divine Liturgy and in front of everyone because the deacon – in our case, hierodeacon Nicolae – will publicly serve all the faithful of the Church, and the community of faith must recognize the newly ordained as having another status, that of a father and a servant,” the Bishop said.

However, “although Ordination is publicly officiated, it is a Holy Sacrament that is lived inwardly, in the soul of the newly ordained,” the hierarch added.

“He who receives the Sacrament worthily is divinely changed, spiritually transformed, cleansed and sanctified to serve God.”

To stress the importance of the ordination, the Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop referred to the Old Testament times, when a group of 250 rebellious men, led by Korah, wanted to serve without actually being priests. The Scripture says, “They go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”

We cannot play at being a priest with God

“We cannot play at being a priest with God,” Bishop Paisie of Sinaia said.

“Korah meant ice in ancient Hebrew. If we have an icy, calculated, proud heart and if our eyes are looking more towards income, social position, and vain praise, we cannot truly serve God. God wants godly, faithful, humble servants.”

“Our brother, Hierodeacon Nicolae, is called to this holy service today, and we have good hope that he will respond appropriately to this call.”

Bishop Paisie noted that the 36-year-old Hierodeacon Nicolae is a patriarchal counselor passionate about theological culture, church music, and foreign languages.

Ultimately, the Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop wished the new hierodeacon “a holy, saving ministry for the benefit of the Church and the glory of God”.

Hierodacon Nicolae Iftimiu is a graduate of the “Patriarch Justinian” Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest and of the Faculty of International Economic Relations at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies. Since September 2015, he has been the director of the Romanian Patriarchate’s Basilica News Agency. In addition to his work at Basilica.ro, Father Nicolae has been chanting for the last nine years as a member of the Anastasis Byzantine choir of the National Cathedral Chapel.

Photo credit: Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene
Source: basilica.ro

Dean Dan Hognogi of the Cluj I Deanery took this initiative, in response to an urgent humanitarian appeal to help the 45-year-old wife of a local priest, who needs blood transfusions as a treatment.

The hierarch and the clerics donated blood at the Regional Centre for Blood Transfusion in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

“Intenționăm ca și pe viitor, să organizăm astfel de campanii de donare de sânge la nivel de Protopopiat. Îndemnul de a dona se adresează nu doar preoților, ci și credincioșilor buni din parohiile pe care le păstoresc, cu conștiința că prin jertfa fiecăruia putem salva o viață,” stated Dean Dan Hognogi at Radio Renașterea, the eparchial radio station.

His Grace Benedict of Bistrița said that each of us needs to follow our Saviour Jesus Christ’s example, who offered Himself as a supreme Sacrifice by giving His life on the Cross.

Through their involvement, the priests want to set an example and thus raise awareness about the urgent need for blood in medical units across Romania, which has become a constant issue.

Statistics show that 2% of Romania’s population donates blood manually, which represents only a fifth of the EU average percentage.

Through the blood donation campaigns organized since 2013, the Romanian Patriarchate is the institution that has most encouraged the increase in the number of blood donors.

Photo credit: Fr Marius Cristian Focșanu / Radio Renașterea
Source: basilica.ro