At his arrival in Bucharest for the tenth time, His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his emotion and joy to attend the historic event of the inauguration of the National Cathedral.
During the official reception held at the Patriarchal Cathedral on Friday, the Ecumenical Patriarch held a speech pointing to the good ties between the two local Churches.
His Holiness also stressed Patriarch Daniel’s contribution to the success of the 2016 Holy and Great Council.
Full text of the message:
Your Beatitude Daniel, Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrudja, Locum Tenens of the Throne of Caesarea of Cappadocia, and Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, beloved brother in the Lord and our concelebrant,
Your Eminences and Your Graces,
Most Reverent Priests and Deacons,
Distinguished state officials,
Blessed sons and daughters of the Church!
Your Eminences and Your Graces,
Most Reverent Priests and Deacons,
Distinguished state officials,
Blessed sons and daughters of the Church!
From our heart and the depth of our soul, we offer prayers of praise and glorification to our Most Holy God praised in the Holy Trinity, who vouchsafed us once again to come to this blessed land of Romania at Your Beatitude’s invitation to participate in this great joy of the consecration of the National Cathedral in Bucharest.
Thank you in advance, Your Beatitude, because since the days we chaired together the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in June 2016 in Crete you invited Our Humbleness to this great and historic moment of the Romanian Orthodox Church and of the entire Romanian people.
Beloved brothers and sisters, it is noteworthy that this contribution of His Beatitude to the success of our Council was truly important, not only because of his rich dogmatic and theological education, thanks to which he was able to make a substantial contribution to some important and delicate aspects, but also because of his wide horizon and his conciliatory and irenic character. These were greatly appreciated by all or fellow synodal hierarchs, by the Primates and by others.
We take this opportunity to warmly congratulate him and publicly thank him once again.
We invoke the intercessions from above of the Holy Emperor and Equal to the Apostles Constantine, the father of Romanity and the founder of New Rome, and of his Mother Helen, under whose protection we are placed, but also the prayers of Saint Demetrius the New the Wonderworker, Protector of Bucharest, whose holy relics are in our midst, and we affirm from our heart, as the Psalmist teaches us, ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity’ (Psalm 133:1).
We are delighted to see the wonderful countenances of those present, both clergy and laity. Our meeting is a fruit of common joy and gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who loved us first and unto end and gave Himself for us because He wanted everyone to be one (John 17:11 ). To Him is due glory and honor for this our holy meeting, as well as for His benefactions and gifts poured upon us.
We know that the construction of the new Patriarchal Cathedral, beloved brothers and sisters, represents the holy promise of the Romanian people for the national liberty that God gave it and dates back to 1878, especially for the formation of the Romanian State in today’s complete form from 1918. And now, after 100 years, or if you prefer, after 140 years, that holy promise and dream of the godly ancestors, their worthy sons and daughters have turned into action and fulfilled it with glow, with divine will and help.
We are called to consecrate it the day after tomorrow and present it to the One Who gave us spiritual and physical freedom, 11 years after the laying of its foundation stone. We feel emotion that is no less than Your Beatitude’s emotion, joy and spiritual gladness, because the spiritual, sacred and ancient ties connect the Church of Your Beatitude and the entire Romanian people with the Great Mother Church of Constantinople of Christ and our well-believing nation.
You are literally bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh (Genesis 2:23). For centuries, we are a flock of Christ, in the loving arms of our common Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, together suffering the evil, together passing through dangers, together carrying the good struggle of good faith, and together confessing the truth of the Gospel.
Every joy, every success and progress of Your Beatitude is also ours, and every offense, problem and difficulty you encounter we consider and feel as our own. We know that there is a sense of reciprocity from Your Beatitude, and thus the originality of brotherhood is ascertained, because ‘we, being many, are one body in Christ, and, every one, members one of another’ (Romans 12:5).
The rank of Autocephalous Church was granted to the Church of Romania by our patriarchal and synodal resolution by the Patriarchal Tomos issued in 1885 by our predecessor Ecumenical Patriarch Joachim IV of blessed memory.
Neither our Church nor the Church of Your Beatitude perceived this autocephaly as alienation from one another. God forbid! Such a thing would be a cancellation of the fundamental principles of Orthodox ecclesiology, and even a fall from the faith, always following the words to be like-minded, to have the same love, to be one in spirit and of one mind… not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others (Philippians 2:2, 4).
A very relevant example for others is the love of the Mother Church to offer to the Romanian Patriarchate the Metropolitan Throne of Caesarea of Cappadocia, which holds a leading position in accordance with the organizational structure of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
But, Your Beatitude, beloved fathers, brothers, and blessed sons and daughters of the Church, we do not want to make you weary anymore. We will have enough moments during this three-day stay to expand our good feelings that fill our heart and that of our beloved members of the distinguished Patriarchal delegation.
Now we will end up by thanking from the depth of our soul for the wonderful reception, as well as for the warm and polite words that Your beloved Beatitude has addressed us with fervent brotherly love.
At the same time, we address warm blessings and cordial greetings from the Mother Church to all the well-believers of the Church of Romania and to the entire Romanian people, together with political and state authorities.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit! Amen.