Archimandrite Gherontie Consecrated as Assistant Bishop of Deva and Hunedoara
Pic: basilica.ro
OCP News Service – 06/02/2023
Bucharest-Romania: Archimandrite Gherontie was consecrated as the Assistant Bishop of Deva and Hunedoara on 19th February 2023 at the Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral in Deva, during the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy was presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Laurentiu of Transylvania and included sixteen other concelebrating hierarchs. At the end of the service, the installation ceremony took place. Bishop Andrei of Covasna and Harghita read the Patriarchal Confirmation Decree. Then, the new assistant bishop received the crosier from the hands of the Metropolitan of Transylvania.
Pic : basilica.ro
According to Basilica News:
The State Secretariat for Religious Affairs sent a message at this event, conveying sincere congratulations to assistant bishop Gherontie and assuring him of the institution’s support in the noble mission to which he was called. Bishop Nestor of Deva and Hunedoara emphasized that “the pastoral and missionary experience of His Grace Bishop Gherontie of Hunedoara, acquired over time and confirmed by the fruitfulness of the work carried out in our diocese from its foundation until today, entrusts us that the new assistant bishop to the Diocese of Deva and Hunedoara will have the ability to significantly contribute to the intensification of spiritual life within Hunedoara County with God’s help.”
Pic : basilica.ro
In his speech, assistant bishop Gherontie of Hunedoara expressed his emotion regarding the new ministry and his gratitude to those who elected him.
“Called today by the mercy of God to this ministry, I look with awe at the heavy and fearful responsibility entrusted to a bishop of Christ in the Church. I offer deep thanks to the Good God and His Most Pure Mother for their providence and the countless blessings showered on my unworthiness, humbly asking for their help for the service ahead of me,” the new hierarch said on February 19
The newly-ordained assistant bishop Gherontie remembered Deva’s first bishop Gurie of blessed memory.
“At this solemn moment, my heart goes out to His Grace Bishop Gurie of blessed memory, the first archpastor of the Diocese of Deva and Hunedoara, who revitalized and supported with great dedication and capability the spiritual and cultural life here. As the works of God’s pleasing ones work even more powerfully after they depart from this life, today’s event is undoubtedly the fruit of his tireless sacrifice.”
The assistant bishop thanked those who trusted him for the new dignity, mentioning Patriarch Daniel, Metropolitan Laurentiu and Bishop Nestor.
The hierarch also thanked his parents and mentors, mentioning among them Archimandrite Polycarp Sidor as well as the Metropolitans of Oltenia with whom he collaborated: Metropolitan Nestor of blessed memory, Metropolitan Teofan, and Metropolitan Irineu.
Source:
OCP News Service
