Bucharest, November 26, 2020
Photo: ukraina.ru
The Romanian Orthodox Church recently learned that a certain political candidate has printed Church calendars to be used as campaign materials.
However, the calendars, complete with a political logo, were printed without the blessing of the Church and contain a number of mistakes concerning Church services, the Church typikon, feast days, and so on.
In a statement published the Patriarchate’s press office on Monday, the Church condemned this misuse of Church calendars, saying that this “printing of masked electoral material in an Orthodox Christian calendar constitutes a misappropriation of Orthodox Christian content, images, and symbols,” and violates a law “according to which the Romanian Orthodox Church has the exclusive right to print Orthodox calendars and to sell/distribute them only in churches, monasteries and Church-owned shops.”
The statement also reminds that according to the Holy Synod’s decision of July 21 of this year, based on several previous decisions, wanting to make the Romanian Orthodox Church’s attitude towards political life and electoral campaigns as clear as possible, the Church calls on political leaders to allow neither the recruitment of members from the among the clergy nor the use of persons, spaces, services, and Church insignia for political purposes.
The Romanian Church thus advises its faithful to only purchase authentic materials sold in churches, monasteries, and Church shops.
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