Bucharest, October 26, 2018
basilica.ro The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church met today in the Patriarchal residence in Bucharest under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.
As the Church’s press service reports, the Synod addressed several matters, including the pressing issue of the ecclesiastical situation in Ukraine.
In particular, the Holy Synod approved last month’s appeal from the Metropolitan Synod of Bessarabia for the canonization of Bishop Dionisie Erhan of Ismail and Cetatea Alba (1934-1943), who will be celebrated annually on September 17.
The Synod decided to dedicate 2019 as the Solemn Year of the Romanian Village (priests, teachers, and heads of households), and the Year of the Memorial of Patriarchs Nicodim Munteanu, Iustin Moisescu, and of the Translators of Liturgical Books. 2020 will be dedicated as the Solemn Year of Ministry to Parents and Children and the Year of Romanian Orthodox Philanthropists.
The Synod also highlighted the financial support of Diocesan centers to schools in the 2017-2018 school year. The total amount of support provided by the Church’s 29 dioceses amounted to $ 1,205,124 (RON 4,939,643.57).
And addressing the situation in Ukraine, the Romanian Holy Synod states:
Taking into account the recent developments in the situation with the Church in Ukraine, the Holy Synod reiterates its recommendation of May 24, 2018 for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Moscow Patriarchate to arrive at a solution together, while preserving unity of faith and administrative-pastoral freedom, the latter representing a characteristic feature of Orthodoxy.
In calling for Constantinople and Moscow to work together, the Romanian Church echoes the late-September statement of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The Holy Synod also underlines the fact that unity is preserved through co-responsibility and cooperation between the Local Orthodox Churches, by cultivating dialogue and synodality at the pan-Orthodox level, this being a permanent necessity in the life of the Church. The unity of the Church is a holy gift of God, but also a great responsibility of the hierarchs, clergy, and loyal believers. That is why the Holy Synod urges to multiply prayer for unity, and to cultivate through dialogue and reconciliation the fraternal Christian love that offers true freedom.
The call for pan-Orthodox cooperation has been heard many times lately, including from the Antiochian Holy Synod, and again in a joint Antiochian-Serbian statement, from His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland, His Beatitude Metropolitan Rostislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, and several other primates and hierarchs from around the Orthodox world.
