On 14 January 2016, the synodal hall of the patriarchal residence of Bucharest hosted the first working session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church of this year, held under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
Here are some of the decisions of the Holy Synod:
1. His Beatitude was mandated to sustain the position of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches to be held from 22-28 January 2016, at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy (near Geneva, Switzerland). The purpose of this Synaxis is to evaluate and validate the texts proposed to be approved at the future meeting of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church announced for June 2016, close to the Pentecost feast.
2. The appeal to parishes with greater financial possibilities to help the parochial communities with lower incomes, especially those in rural areas, was renewed, as well as that to identify some new ways and means of brotherly inter-aid.
3. The eparchies were asked to examine the impact of the new regulations - concerning the support that the state grants to the religious cults recognised in Romania - over the building and social philanthropic activities of the Church.
4. It has appreciated the civil initiative concerning the amending of article 48 of the Romanian Constitution specifying that the family is constituted through the freely consented marriage between a man and a woman. This initiative of the lay people from several religious cults is supported by the Romanian Orthodox Church because it expresses its teaching regarding the family, as well as its permanent position from a juridical point of view.
PRESS OFFICE OF THE ROMANIAN PATRIARCHATE
