Parhida, Romania, March 2, 2018
Photo: www.eparhiaortodoxaoradea.ro At the initiative of local parish priests, faithful from the northwestern Romanian villages of Paleu and Oşorhei took up a collection over the course of the previous year to buy a home for a family with 9 children from the nearby village of Parhida, reports the Romanian Orthodox Church’s Basilica News Agency.
The house was blessed on Sunday by Frs. Cosmin Popa and Nicolae Robotin.
According to the site of the Oradea Diocese, the beneficiaries of the philanthropic act were Adrian and Andreea Tomoș and their 9 children—6 boys and 3 girls between the ages of 3 and 14. The family is awaiting the birth of the 10th child. Until receiving this wonderful gift, the large family lived in a poor and insubstantial communal dwelling.
The family has been in the attention of Fr. Nicolae of the parish in Oşorhei since 2016, when he informed his parishioners of the family’s plight on the feast of the Nativity. “The faithful were very open and everyone helped as he could: food, clothing and household items,” the priest said.
The pious Orthodox villagers of Oşorhei and Paleu first helped the family buy a terracotta stove and firewood, and then a cow and pig, and then finally their new home. The home is renovated and equipped with all necessities. The two-room home includes a kitchen, large hall, bathroom, and a pantry, as well as an orchard and a garden, according to Fr. Nicolae.
The family moved into the house on February 22.
They were given icons of Christ and the Theotokos on the Sunday of Orthodoxy which were placed in the main room of their new home after the service of the blessing of the house. The Philanthropic Association of the Oradea Diocese also provided school supplies for the children of the family so they could study at the local school.
