Today, 28 December 2014, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania enthroned, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Timisoara, His Eminence John Selejan as Archbishop of Timisoara and Metropolitan of Banat. On 16 December 2014, the Holy Synod elected His Eminence John Selejan as Archbishop of Timisoara and Metropolitan of Banat as a result of the vacancy created for this dignity after the passing away of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae Corneanu on 29 September 2014, who headed the Metropolitanate of Banat for 52 years.
High state officials, representatives of the local, civil and military authorities, personalities of the academic and cultural world, many priests, monks and faithful attended the event.
The Divine Liturgy and the enthronement service were celebrated by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, together with a group of hierarchs as follows: His Eminence Teofan, Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina, His Eminence Laurentiu, Metropolitan of Transylvania, His Eminence Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj, Maramures and Salaj, His Eminence Irineu, Metropolitan of Oltenia, His Eminence Teodosie, Archbishop of Tomis, His Eminence Timotei, Archbishop of Arad, His Grace Lukian, Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Hungary and administrator of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Timisoara, His Grace Sofronie, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Oradea, His Grace Nicodim, Bishop of Severin and Strehaia, His Grace Ambrozie, Bishop of Giurgiu, His Grace Petroniu, Bishop of Salaj, His Grace Gurie, Bishop of Deva and Hunedoara, His Grace Daniel, Bishop of Dacia Felix, His Grace Siluan, Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Eparchy of Hungary, His Grace Paisie Lugojanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Timisoara, and His Grace Emilian, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Ramnic.
The sermon His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel delivered after reading the Evangelical Pericope scheduled for the Sunday after the Nativity of the Lord emphasised the teaching resulted.
“Today’s evangelical lecture underlines the fact that God helps the humans through His angels when they are devoted and lonely, and that Righteous Joseph was blessed by God to take care of child Jesus as adoptive father. Hence, we learn that children always need the affection both of the mother and of the father, even if he is adoptive father. The mother’s affection is not enough. Thus, God shows us His blessing over the family. The same as the sin got into the world through the family, because Adam and Eve made the first human family, so does the Saviour of the world, the new Adam, come into the world to heal it from the sin of disobedience to God and from the death of the separation from Him. Today, the Christian traditional family is more and more threatened, because it lives in a secularised world and confused from a spiritual point of view, often faced with poverty, unsafely tomorrow, unemployment, migration, instability and disorientation”, His Beatitude said.
The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also spoken about the importance of the family institution in the contemporary society.
“At a time when some parents abandon their children, and some children forget about their parents, the light of the Gospel of Christ shows us that the blessing of God is manifested wherever the family is united and fights against the evil and dangers in its life in order to keep and cultivate the holy gift of the earthly life given by God to prepare in this life for getting the heavenly eternal life. Thus, we pray Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Mother of God and all saints to protect the family, and increase the love of the spouses for each other, the love of the children for their parents and of the parents for their children, so that they all feel that the Nativity of Jesus Christ, our Lord, is a blessing for the entire humankind and that the salvation of man is prepared in the faithful family”, the Patriarch of Romania has also said.
To end with the Divine Liturgy, His Grace Paisie Lugojanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Timisoara, read the Patriarchal Gramata. Then, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church offered His Eminence John the insignia of the metropolitan rank, the cross and engolpion, as well as the kamelaykion with cross, and the walking staff, and enthroned him as Archbishop of Timisoara and Metropolitan of Banat. His Eminence Metropolitan John blessed the faithful in his new dignity.
The Patriarch of Romania delivered the enthronement speech in which he evoked the personality of the new Metropolitan of Banat.
“Your Eminence John, some of the pastoral aspects briefly presented here you accomplished during the 20 years of pastoral activity in a Romanian area in which the Romanians are in minority, but the wisdom and courage, love for Church and nation, diligence and generosity which you cultivated and fructified so far will be very useful in the new pastoral service which you begin in Banat. The experience of a peaceful cohabitation with other ethnic groups and religious denominations of Harghita and Covasna will be very useful for promoting the relationship of good companionship with other ethnic groups and denominations of Banat where Germans, Serbs, Hungarians, Jews, and more recently many Italians, have been living together with the Romanians for centuries. Having been a wise arch-shepherd of the Church of Banat you will notice that, just like in Transylvania, the fatherly sincere love shown to the hierarchs of the Metropolitanate, to the priests, monks and faithful of the Eparchy is the holiest work for guiding the people on the way of salvation, to the Kingdom of eternal love and happiness of the Most Holy Trinity. May Christ, the Head and eternal Arch-shepherd of His Church help you enjoy the fruitful spiritual work in this Metropolitanate for many blessed years!”, His Beatitude said.
Rev. Ionel Popescu, eparchial vicar, addressed a congratulatory speech to the new arch-shepherd in the name of the monks, clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese of Timisoara.
“The effort of the 20 years of work, ‘from morning till night’, in the eparchy of Covasna and Harghita was implemented in raising tens of churches and monasteries from the scratch, hundreds of places of worship having been renovated and given back to the religious service, without forgetting to “appoint priests in cities”, as Apostle Paul urged his disciple Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus. All this helped you keep the flame of our righteous faith burning in the souls of worthy faithful and preserve the Romanian identity. After these 20 years of hardships, many known only by God, crowned by fruitful achievements, God chose you, through the prayers of Saint Hierarch Joseph the New from Partos, called you, and made you the arch-shepherd of an eparchy with a rich history and too many times tried, an eparchy where the Gospel was brought by the Roman merchants, soldiers and clerks, about which the paleo-Christian items dating from the 3rd-4th centuries the archaeologists discovered speak throughout the centuries”, Rev. Ionel Popescu said.
Then, Mr. Victor Opaschi, state secretary for religious affairs has also addressed a congratulatory message to the Metropolitan of Banat, assuring him of all the support needed in the pastoral service of the Church of Banat.
To end with, His Eminence John, Metropolitan of Banat thanked God for the advantages received.
“From this day forward, I pass from the Metropolitanate of Transylvania into that of Banat, but I remain firm in my faith and sincere desire to serve God and the Church of our Romanian nation. I assure all those who live in Banat of all my respect even if they belong to another nation and faith. I hope in a good collaboration for the welfare of all those who live in this blessed territory of Banat. I stretch out a warm friendly hand to our brothers beyond the South-West frontier of the country and I assure them of all my love and esteem. I convey my thoughts of comfort to the monastic community and faithful of the Eparchy of the mountains whom I shall never forget in my prayers. May God be with me and with all those entrusted to my service today!”, His Eminence underlined. After the enthronement ceremony an exchange of presents followed. His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel offered the new metropolitan several books published by the Romanian Patriarchate and a blessing cross. His Eminence John offered, in his turn, the Primate of our holy Church an icon of Saint Daniel the Prophet. The faithful received small icons of the feast of the Nativity of the Lord on behalf of the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
To end with, the group of hierarchs together with His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel and His Eminence Metropolitan John went to the esplanade of the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the new metropolitan blessed all those present.
