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The Patriarch of Romania Met the Priests of the Deanery of Switzerland

Thursday evening, 28 January 2016, while participating in the Pan-Orthodox Synaxis held in Chambésy, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania met the priests of the deanery of Switzerland. His Eminence Iosif, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Central and Southern Europe, and His Eminence Metropolitan Nifon, Archbishop of Târgovişte attended the meeting.

During the meeting, His Beatitude appreciated the activity of the Romanian Orthodox communities in Diaspora as rich, wise and dynamic. The Patriarch of Romania urged that greater care be offered to children and young people and encouraged learning the Romanian language besides the language of the state they live in; in this sense, the mission of the priests in the bosom of the Romanian communities of Diaspora is very important.

“We are very glad because the number of the parishes grew as this reflects missionary and pastoral achievement, as the number of the Romanian faithful who have come to Switzerland has also grown. We know the activity you unfold as dynamic, rich and wise too, because not all the work can be done just as we would like to, so that insistence and patience are needed. From the point of view of the contacts with the faithful very important is the relation from one person to another, and certainly, with the community gathered in prayer.

It is very important to take good care of the children born here, so that they should learn not only the language of the respective country, but also their mother tongue. This is a long term issue, a very important one, so that a more intense cooperation of the state with the diaspora is needed, with the Church in diaspora, because Sunday schools must be organised, if public official schools cannot be, because faith must be transmitted to the new generation and communication between parents and children from a religious point of view must be also ensured. Certainly, this experience of the diaspora to such a great extent is a relatively new one for us. There have always been Romanians who settled abroad, but not in such a large number, so as the 3-4 million Romanians mean a lot from a numerical point of view. The absence of the Romanians who work abroad is felt in the country, especially in the rural localities where the people grew old”, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church said.

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