Bucharest, July 12, 2023
Photo: basilica.ro
The Archdiocese of Bucharest of the Romanian Orthodox Church opened its first nursery in recent times in June 2021. And on Tuesday, the Holy Prophet Daniel Nursery was festively consecrated by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel and His Grace Bishop Timotei of Prahova, reports the Basilica News Agency.
The nursery has nearly 60 enrolled children, and there is an attached free training program for mathematics, French, and English. The center also hosts free summer camps for children who study well but have financial difficulties.
The consecration was attended by representatives of county and local authorities and social, educational, and administrative institutions. 13 mayors from local towns attended the opening, along with the parents of the children enrolled in the nursery, and nursery employees and supporters.
“Education is a medium-term, long-term, and eternal investment,” the Patriarch said during the service.
The Church’s concern for the family and for education “is a constant in the life of the Romanian people,” he added, emphasizing the importance of the formative years that children spend in nurseries and kindergartens.
Photo: basilica.ro
Such works of the Church are not aimed just at giving someone a little help in life, “but all the Holy Mysteries of the Church are performed for the acquisition of salvation, which means the union of man with God,” the Romanian primate said. And how many have been educated in the Church and learned how to live according to the Gospel and thus became saints, the Patriarch said.
“We are called to dialogue and eternal love together with the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, children are considered persons who have a precise goal, namely their spiritual growth in the love of the Most Holy Trinity and in the love of the Church, the family, society and living in the world according to the Gospel of the merciful love of Christ, in order to acquire eternal life.”
Pat. Daniel also spoke about children as created in the image of the Divine Persons and united to God through Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.
As a gift to the new nursery, His Beatitude offered an icon of the Theotokos with the Christ Child, “as an icon of the blessing that Christ the Lord bestows on His Church and as an icon of the Mother of God’s love for all children.”
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