Cornerstone Laid for First Romanian Orthodox Church in Africa

In what seems to be an increasingly rare act of inter-Orthodox cooperation on its part, a bishop of the Bucharest Patriarchate has laid the cornerstone for a church to serve Romanian immigrants in metropolitan Johannesburg, South Africa, with the blessing of Pope Theodore II (Horeftakis) of Alexandria and All Africa. The cornerstone was laid this past Saturday in Midrand, a suburn of Joburg, by Metropolitan Damascene (Papandreou) of Johannesburg, the local ruling hierarch, and Bishop Petronius (Florea) of Zalau, a suffragan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Cluj in Transylvania. A full account of the day with pictures of the service can be found here.

It is unclear whether the church will function as a representation of the Bucharest Patriarchate to the Church of Alexandria or as a Romanian-speaking parish of the Metropolis of Johannesburg.

Romanian Orthodox Bishop Meets with Department for Romanians Abroad

Bishop Cyprian of Campineanca, an auxiliary of the Bucharest Patriarchate, has met with representatives of the Romanian government's Department for Romanians Abroad to discuss ways in which the department and the Romanian Orthodox Church can cooperate in caring for the Romanian Diaspora. Bishop Cyprian discussed the recent expansion of the Bucharest Patriarchate in the Diaspora and into the canonical territories of its sister Orthodox Churches during the course of the meeting, also noting that the Patriarchate is now preparing to open a church on the canonical territory of the Alexandrian Orthodox Church in South Africa. More in Romanian here.

Russian Orthodox Delegation Visits Romania

A delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate has visited the headquarters of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Bucharest. More here and in Romanian here.

Serbian Orthodox Holy Synod Threatens Schism with Romanian Orthodox Church, Glorifies New Martyrs

At its recent session earlier this week the full Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church (the Holy Assembly of Bishops) reiterated its repeated protests to the Bucharest Patriarchate over the schismatic intrusions of the Romanian Orthodox Church on the canonical territory of the Church of Serbia and stated that if the Romanian Orthodox Church does not stop uncanonically celebrating services in eastern Serbia without the permission of the local hierarchy that it would follow the example of the Church of Jerusalem and break communion with the Bucharest Patriarchate.

During its session the full Holy Synod also protested the ongoing persecution of the autonomous Macedonian Orthodox Church by the Macedonian government, glorified the Holy New Martyrs of Momisici of the Turkish Yoke, and discussed the division of the Archdiocese of Belgrade and Sremski Karlovci (currently the largest of the Serbian Orthodox Church) into several more manageable dioceses. More (in Serbian) here.

New Romanian Orthodox Auxiliary Bishop for Iberia Consecrated

Bishop Ignatie (Trif), auxiliary of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Spain and Portugal, has been consecrated to the episcopacy. Axios! The consecration took place during the Sunday Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Holy Archangels in Paris. More (in Romanian) here.

Auxiliary Bishop Elected for Romanian Orthodox Church in Spain and Portugal

At its recent session the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to appoint an auxiliary for the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Spain and Portugal, electing Archimandrite Ignatie (Trif) to the position as Bishop of Mures. Axios! Fr. Ignatie, a native of Bilbor in northeastern Transylvania, was ordained to the priesthood in 2001 and has served in the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Western and Southern Europe since March of this year. More (in Romanian) here.

Pope Theodoros Begins Visit to Romania

Pope Theodoros II (Horeftakis) of Alexandria has begun a visit to the Romanian Orthodox Church, being received in the Romanian capital by Patriarch Daniel of Bucharest. The texts (in Romanian) of the first hierarchs' speeches at the reception can be found here.

Ukrainian Orthodox Local Synod Meets, Elects New Bishop of Obukhov

The Local Synod of the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church met today under Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev at the Kiev Caves Lavra to take decisions concerning the life of the Church of Ukraine. Among other things the Local Synod elected Archimandrite Iona (Cherepanov) as Bishop of Obukhov and auxiliary of the Metropolitanate of Kiev and called on Metropolitan Volodymyr to protest the schismatic activities of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Chisinau and Bessarabia on the canonical territory of Ukraine to Patriarch Daniel (Ciobotea) of Bucharest. More (in Ukrainian) here.

Russian, Romanian Orthodox Hierarchs Celebrate St. Stephen's Day in Budapest

On the new style celebration of the feast of St. Stephen of Hungary and the celebration of the founding of the Hungarian state Archbishop Mark (Golovkov) of Yegorevsk, auxiliary of the Moscow Patriarchate and administrator of the Eparchy of Budapest, and Bishop Siluan of Gyula of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Hungary concelebrated the Divine Liturgy in Budapest's Cathedral of the Dormition, afterwards staying for a celebratory meal with the cathedral's parishioners. During the state celebrations of the holiday later that day the rector of Budapest's Church of St. Sergius, Archpriest John Kadar, was awarded the Knight's Cross by the President of Hungary. More (in Russian) here.

Bulgarian Orthodox Representation Church to be Built Near Bucharest

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has acquired property near the Romanian capital in the city of Snagov for the construction of a church and cultural center for the members of the Bulgarian Diaspora in Bucharest. The process is underway to have the future church canonically established as a representation of the Sofia Patriarchate to the Romanian Orthodox Church. More (in Bulgarian) here.

Romanian Orthodox Church Glorifies Sts. Andrew of Sibiu, Simeon of Balgrad

At its meeting yesterday the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church formally glorified Metropolitans Andrew (Saguna) of Sibiu and Transylvania and Simeon (Stefan) of Alba Iulia (then Balgrad) and Transylvania. More (in Romanian) on that decision here.

St. Andrew (Saguna) was born to Aromanian parents in central Hungary. After completing his theological studies the Saint moved to Sremski Karlovci where he served as a professor at the seminary there as well as in the administration of the Orthodox Church of Austria-Hungary, eventually being elected Metropolitan of Sibiu and Transylvania. In Transylvania St. Andrew successfully campaigned for the establishment of the Church there as a self-governing entity, creating a conciliar structure that would influence the later structures of the national Church of Romania and becoming a leader of the Romanian nationalist movement in Austria-Hungary. More (in Romanian) on his life can be found here, here, and here.

St. Simeon (Stefan) of Balgrad was elected Metropolitan of Balgrad and Transylvania in the 1600s, having previously served as a theological professor in the city. During his oversight of the Orthodox Church in Transylvania the first full edition of the New Testament in Romanian was printed in Alba Iulia. This edition was reissued as recently as 1998. More (in Romanian) on his life can be found here and here.

Pictured is St. Andrew (Saguna) of Sibiu.

Patriarch Daniel, Metropolitan Hilarion Meet in Bucharest

As part of his recent visit to Romania Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has met with Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the seat of the Bucharest Patriarchate in the Romanian capital. During their lengthy meeting the hierarchs discussed issues in relations between the Local Orthodox Churches as well as the existing problems in relations between the Russian and Romanian Orthodox Churches, in particularly the activities of the schismatic Metropolitanate of Chisinau and Bessarabia on the canonical territories of the Moldovan and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. More here and here.

In Memoriam: Fr. Arsenie (Papacioc)

Romanian Orthodox confessor Archimandrite Arsenie (Papacioc) fell asleep this morning at the monastery in Romania where he resided at the age of ninety-seven. Born in 1914, Fr. Arsenie undertook tertiary studies in Bucharest before embracing the monastic life in the 1940s and being tonsured a monk in 1950, later that same year being ordained to the priesthood.

In 1958 Fr. Arsenie was arrested by the Communist authorities and imprisoned for six years in several jails. After his release the confessor served in Transylvania for over a decade before, in 1976, becoming the spiritual father for St. Mary's Monastery in Techirghiol, Romania, where he reposed. May Fr. Arsenie's memory be eternal! More (in Romanian) here.

Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Visits Odessa

A delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Theophan of Iasi has begun a visit to Ukraine hosted by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Eparchy of Odessa. More here.

Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Consecrates Church in Ukraine

The head of the schismatic Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, Metropolitan Peter of Chisinau, has consecrated a Romanian Orthodox church in the town of Komyshivka (also known as Hagi-Curd) in Ukraine's Budjak district. More (in Romanian) here.

The Budjak district together with all of Ukraine and Moldova are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, which established the first diocese in the region of Bessarabia (to which both Moldova and Budjak belong) following its incorporation into the Russian Empire and later resumed jurisdiction over the region following its annexation to the Soviet Union. Rather than dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate over the status of the Orthodox Church in Moldova and Budjak the Bucharest Patriarchate instead unilaterally established its own ethnic metropolitanate and dioceses in the region following the collapse of the USSR.

Romanian Orthodox Patriarch, Georgian Orthodox Archbishop Meet in Bucharest

Patriarch Daniel (Ciobotea) of the Romanian Orthodox Church has received a representative of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Stephan of Tsageri, in Bucharest. During their meeting the two hierarchs discussed ways in which the two sister Orthodox Churches could draw closer to one another through pilgrimages and other projects. More (in Romanian) here.

Archbishop Irineu of Alba Iulia Enthroned

The Romanian Orthodox Church's newly elected Archbishop Irineu (Pop) of Alba Iulia was enthroned over the weekend by Metropolitan Andrei of Cluj in the presence of Patriarch Daniel (Ciobotea) of Bucharest and many other hierarchs of the Church of Romania and hundreds of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Alba Iulia. In the practice of the Romanian Orthodox Church metropolitans enthrone their suffragan archbishops and bishops, whilst the patriarch enthrones the metropolitans. More (in Romanian) here.

Romanian Orthodox Parish Opens in Canberra

Bishop Mihail of Sydney of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Australia and New Zealand has celebrated the first Sunday Liturgy of the new Romanian Orthodox parish in the Australian federal capital, Canberra. The services were hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Canberra and were followed by a general assembly of the community to elect a parish council. More (in Romanian) here.

Serbian Orthodox Holy Assembly Elects New Bishops, Reorganizes Dioceses

The session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops in Belgrade has come to a close. The session, which included all the diocesan hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the autonomous Macedonian Orthodox Church, took a number of decisions regarding the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

To care for vacant dioceses the Holy Assembly elected an auxiliary to the Metropolitan of Cetinje, Bishop Jovan of Diocleia, as Bishop of Nish (the former cathedra of the current patriarch) and Hierodeacon David (Perovic) was elected bishop of the newly established diocese of Krusevac. It also elected Protosyngellus Jovan (Culibrk) and Archimandrite Andrej (Cilerdzic) as patriarchal auxiliaries as the Bishops of Lipljan and Remezijane respectively.

Vis-a-vis the dioceses it established during its recent session the Holy Assembly appointed Bishop Irinej of Bachka as administrator of the new Diocese of Vienna and southern Europe and Metropolitan Amfilohije of Cetinje as administrator of the new Diocese of Buenos Aires and Latin America. In North America the Holy Assembly suppressed the Metropolitanate of Libertyville, designating St. Sava's Monastery in Libertyville as a stavropeghial institution and merging the other parishes of the Metropolitanate with the Diocese of Nova Grachanitsa and Midwestern America.

The Holy Assembly had been expected to divide the Archdiocese of Belgrade (the current seat of the Pech Patriarchate) and Sremski Karlovci (the former seat of the first hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in Austria-Hungary) as well as the Diocese of Raska (a city in southern Serbia) and Prizren (the capital of Kosovo), but given current conditions it delayed a decision on the creation of new dioceses out of the existing diocesan structures.

Considering the issues existing between the Serbian Orthodox Church and state authorities in neighboring Macedonia and Montenegro the Holy Assembly expressed its regret that the Macedonian and Montenegrin governments continued to interfere in the internal life of the Orthodox Churches in their countries and violated the human rights and freedom of their citizens. It also noted with sadness the ongoing challenges facing the Serb nation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo and in particular the latter's failure to allow its Serb residents to return to their homes.

Regarding the uncanonical intrusions of the Romanian Orthodox Church into eastern Serbia the Holy Assembly agreed that appropriate canonical and legal measures would have to be taken if the Bucharest Patriarchate refused to stop violating the canonical order and sacred unity of the worldwide Orthodox Church.

Responding to the request of Metropolitan Nikolaj (Mrda) of Sarajevo and Bosnia for retirement the Holy Assembly decided to instead releave Metropolitan Nikolaj of his day-to-day duties and appoint Bishop Grigorije (Duric) of Mostar and Herzegovina as administrator of the Metropolitanate.

More (in Serbian) on the Holy Assembly's deliberations and decisions can be found here.

New Romanian Orthodox Parish Organized in Eastern Serbia

The Romanian Orthodox Church continues to actively violate the canonical territories of its sister Orthodox Churches, most recently by organizing a parish under its jurisdiction in the eastern Serbian city of Negotin. More (in Romanian) here.