St. Parasceva

Joyous feast! Today we celebrate the memory of St. Parasceva, better known in much of the Balkans as Petka, who lived in the 11th century. The Saint was born to a Bulgarian family in Epibata, a Thracian town near Constantinople, and at an early age was inspired by her parents' righteous way of life to serve her Lord with her entire being.

After her parents' death St. Parasceva took up the monastic life, first in nearby Constantinople and then in the region of the Jordan, growing strong in the virtues and in prayer. Years after her arrival in the Holy Land an angel appeared to St. Parasceva and commanded her to return to her hometown, where she lived another two years before falling asleep and being buried in an unmarked grave.

Many years after St. Parasceva's repose the decaying body of a sailor washed up on the nearby shores of the Marmara and was buried on top of her grave, which had been forgotten by the inhabitants of her town. That night the Saint appeared to one of the grave-diggers and a pious townswoman in dreams, commanding them to remove her incorrupt relics from beneath the sailor's tomb.

Thereafter St. Paraceva's fragrant relics were enshrined and venerated by the faithful, first in Epibata and later in Trnovo, Belgrade, and Constantinople before coming to rest in Iasi, where they remain to this day and where the Saint is venerated as the protectress of Moldavia. More on St. Paraceva's life can be found here and here. May her blessing and prayers be with us all!

Elder Cleopa Still Heals, Works Miracles

There are growing reports of miracles being worked through the prayers of reposed Elder Cleopa (Ilie) of Sihastria. More here. Hat tip to Mystagogy for posting this!

Moldovan Orthodox Parish in London

Efforts are underway to establish a Romanian-speaking parish in London under the Diocese of Sourozh for immigrants from Moldova. More here.

Meeting of Romanian Orthodox Hierarchs in Diaspora

Over the weekend Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp) of Detroit and Bishop Ireneu (Duvlea) of Dearborn Heights, both of the American Orthodox Church's Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in America, met with the various hierarchs serving in the Romanian Diaspora in North America and Western and Central Europe. These gatherings of the Romanian Orthodox hierarchs in the West have been taking place for several years to allow them to discuss how to deal with the pastoral needs of the Romanian Diaspora.

The most recent meeting of the Romanian Orthodox hierarchs abroad took place in Paris, but the ROEA has also hosted them in the past in the United States. Since the reconciliation of the Romanian Orthodox communities in Western Europe formerly associated with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with the Bucharest Patriarchate the ROEA is the only Romanian Orthodox jurisdiction involved not part of the patriarchal Romanian Orthodox Church. More on the recent meeting can be found here.

Commemoration of Father Paisius (Olaru) of Sihastria

This is a little dated, but Patriarch Daniel of Bucharest together with a number of other hierarchs recently celebrated the anniversary of the repose of Fr. Paisius (Olaru) of Sihastria. Fr. Paisius was an ordained schemamonk and also spiritual father to many. More on the commemoration can be found here. Fr. Paisius reposed on 18 October in 1990.

Statement on the ROEA's Impending Union with the Bucharest Patriarchate

Vladica Nathaniel of the ROEA has just posted a statement on the impending absorption of his diocese into the Bucharest Patriarchate. I know of a couple of communities, one over half Romanian and the other hardly Romanian at all, that would prefer to remain part of the OCA should union occur and so one question I have in all of this is whether those communities of the ROEA that do not desire unity with the Bucharest Patriarchate will be released from the ROEA and allowed to remain in the American Orthodox Church, either as a separate non-territorial Romanian Orthodox diocese or as parts of the territorial dioceses, or forced to join the patriarchal Romanian Orthodox Church? It would be nice to see a statement on that on the ROEA's website at some point...

Romanian Orthodoxy in North America

So it appears that the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in America (ROEA) of the American Orthodox Church and the patriarchal Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the Two Americas (ROAA) are ready to unite. I'm not entirely sure what convictions are guiding Archbishop Nathaniel of the ROEA in endorsing the standing proposal for union with the Bucharest Patriarchate, but if it's the dream that the new episcopal assemblies and the supposedly imminent "great and holy council" are months away from resolving the canonical issues in our existing ecclesiastical structures in the West, then I fear he's setting himself and the pro-unity clergy and faithful of his diocese up for great disappointment.

God grant me to be wrong! I do find it sad, however, that the ROEA is prepared to give away its self-governance as a part of the OCA for an autonomy under the Bucharest Patriarchate that can be rescinded at any time by its holy synod. It is by far the larger of the two Romanian Orthodox jurisdictions in North America and the original Romanian Orthodox diocese in the New World and it is ignoring both facts for a union with the diocese whose past hierarchs viciously attacked the ROEA in the press, in the courts, and in the Church at large.

God guide us all to unity...