Today, 7 June 2015, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church consecrated the parish church of “Saint Virgin Mary”, deanery district 3, Bucharest, assisted by a group of priests and deacons.
To end with the consecration service, the Patriarch of Romania underlined the fact that the Church celebrates all the saints together on the first Sunday after Pentecost to underline three special things: “First of all it is to show that the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s coming into the world is to constitute the Church founded by Christ, her Head, through His incarnation and saving work shown now in visible form, as communion and community of various people of various nations, ages, and places, who believed in Christ, loved Him and accomplished His will in their lives. Secondly, All Saints’ Sunday shows us that the saints are not isolated one from another, but in communion. We see, on one hand, the richness of the diversity of the saints of all times and places, and, on the other hand, the beauty of their communion, of their communication through the grace of the Most Holy Trinity. This beauty of the communion of the saints represents the beauty of the Church too, because the communion of saints is the foundation of the Church. Today, when we remember all saints, we are glad because we see the image of the Church of Christ, which gathers the peoples in the love of the Most Holy Trinity and which exceeds the isolation imposed by time or space. Thirdly, this Sunday shows us that today we celebrate not only the saints known, but also those not known yet. There are a number of saints enrolled in the calendar because the Church has solemnly recognised them, but there are also some other saints still unknown by us, but known by God. There are more saints in reality than in the calendar. Today, we enjoy the presence of the saints in the light of the Most Holy Trinity, of those known of canonised and of those not known by people yet, but known by God, the Source of holiness. This feast has a prophetic role too, in the sense that we celebrate in advance some other saints who will be found out by God to have confessed their faith, that they were martyrs and lived in holiness. I am thinking of the crowds of Romanian Christians who died keeping the faith during the invasions of the migratory populations”.
The communion of saints can be easily seen in the iconographic programme of a church. “The place where we see the saints all the time together is the church painted. In this church we see the communion of saints, in groups of prophets, apostles, martyrs (both men and women), monks and nuns. Whenever we do not understand what the communion of saints is, we must look more attentively at the Orthodox painted churches. Saints Michael and Gabriel the Archangels are painted on the two pillars at the church entrance, angels among people and people in the heavenly communion of the angels of God”, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also said.
To end with, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel awarded the Order of “Sancturs Stephanus Magnus” to parish priest Ioan-Gheorghe Teugea, for the work unfolded for the benefit of the Church. The Patriarch of Romania awarded the diploma of “Saint John Chrysostom” with medal to Robert Sorin Negoita, mayor of district 3, Bucharest, as a sign of gratitude and appreciation for the help given. Several persons have also been awarded the Diploma of Honour of “Saints Emperors Constantine and Helen” for the help given to the Church. The Worthiness Distinction of the image of Saint Pious Dimitrios the New was awarded to the Parish Council of the parish of “Saint Virgin Mary”, and the Worthiness Distinction of the image of the Mother of God was awarded to the parish committee of the parish of “Saint Virgin Mary”, and to Floarea Teugea, wife of priest Teugea.
His Beatitude offered several religious books to the parish church and one small icon of the Mother of God to the faithful present. Parish priest Ioan-Gheroghe Teugea offered, in his turn, an icon of the Mother of God to the Patriarch of Romania. Representatives of the local and state authorities attended the consecration service of the church of “Saint Virgin Mary’, among whom the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Valeriu Zgonea. The foundation stone of the place of worship was laid in 2008, in autumn, so that next year, the semi-basement could be used as liturgical space.
The painting that adorns the church at present was executed by Marcel Codrescu.
