Bucharest, March 27, 2024
Photo: basilica.ro
Plans for an Orthodox chapel in the Romanian Parliament have long been underway, and on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, the prayer space was formally opened.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania consecrated the new Chapel of St. Andrew the First-Called on Monday evening, reports the Basilica News Agency.
The Patriarch noted that in the history of the Romanian people, the National Council and then the Chamber of Deputies were located next to the Metropolitan (now Patriarchal) Cathedral, and now the Parliament is located near the National Cathedral that is dedicated to both the Ascension of Christ and St. Andrew the Apostle, the Protector of Romania.
Thus, the Patriarch proposed that the new chapel be dedicated to St. Andrew, whose feast the Parliament also established as a state holiday in 2012.
The consecration of the chapel in the Parliament has a special spiritual significance, the Patriarch said: “It highlights the connection between prayer and communion, between worship and culture, including political culture, between activity and institutional community, between individual freedom and social responsibility.”
“In an increasingly secularized world, a consecrated liturgical space that invites prayer helps us to rediscover the truth that man is called to sanctification in the relationship of communion with the holy God and to humble service towards people because individual prayer and community is a source of peace, joy and hope,” the Romanian primate continued.
The Patriarch also donated a number of liturgical books for the chapel, including the Bible, the Psalter, the Book of Hours, the Triodion, and prayer books for those praying in the chapel.
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