Today, 3 July 2016, the 2nd Sunday after the Pentecost, the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrated the Romanian Saints.
Today we must thank God especially for the gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the saints of the Romanian people, gifts which they cultivated through faith and efforts, through prayer and good deeds for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for our salvation, the Patriarch of Romania showed in the sermon delivered at the Divine Liturgy.
On this day, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church attended the Divine Liturgy celebrated at Pasărea Monastery, Ilfov county, by Archimandrite Nectarie Şofelea, exarch of the monasteries of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, together with the servant priests of the place of worship.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarch of Romania delivered a sermon for the hundreds of faithful present in which he underlined the spiritual teaching of the Gospel parable read today in all the places of worship of the Romanian Patriarchate (Matthew 4:18-23).
First of all Jesus chooses His disciples and calls the four fishermen to mission: Peter and Andrew, sons of Iona, and James and John, sons of Zebedee. Secondly, we see that all those called answere His call right away, because Jesus is God the Word and Source of eternal life. Thirdly, we see that Jesus preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and also heals all the diseases and feebleness of the people.
Fourthly, we understand that the fruits of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Romanian territory, starting with Saint Andrew the Apostle, the First called to mission, Protector of Romania, were shown in the multitude of Romanian Saints whom we celebrate today, on the second Sunday after the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
Then, the Patriarch of Romania showed that on the Sunday of the Romanian Saints we commemorate those who preached the Gospel of Christ in the territory of our country, beginning with Saint Andrew the Apostle, the first called to discipleship, whom today’s Gospel text reads of.
Christianity spread to the forerunners of the Romanians based on the preaching of Saint Andrew the Apostle and of his disciples in the South East of our country, today’s Dobrudgea, so that the Romanian people were formed slowly but profoundly. The Romanian people were not Christianized in a certain year, by order of the ruler prince, king or emperor, as in the case of some neighbouring peoples. Romanians’ Christianisation was done from bottom to top, beginning with the ordinary people and Christian soldiers of the Roman legions who came to Dacia, and then through the work of some Christian missionaries, especially Eastern ones who could speak Greek and Latin, His Beatitude said.
In the end, His Beatitude Daniel offered the community of Pasărea Monastery several ritual books and of Orthodox teaching recently published at the publishing houses of the Romanian Patriarchate, and to the faithful present small icons of the fellowship of the Romanian Saints. His Beatitude received a bunch of flowers on behalf of the monastic community.
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