The Patriarch of Romania Licensed 15 Priests of the Archdiocese of Bucharest as Father Confessors
On 27 June 2011, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church licensed 15 priests of the Archdiocese of Bucharest as father confessors. The religious service took place in the room of the Romanian Saints of the Patriarchal Residence, informs Trinitas Radio station.
In the sermon delivered His Beatitude emphasised the responsibility of the spiritual father: “We do need father confessors who are enlighteners of the people. The father confessor is the one who helps the faithful grow spiritually, the same as a father helps the children grow biologically and educationally too. Here we have a spiritual growth that does not depend on the biological age. There are lots of spiritual young people and old ones too, less spiritual. So, the biological age is not so important as the spiritual one. We need father confessors able to listen patiently to and advise with much wisdom the faithful who come to the Holy Sacrament of Confession to tell their sins, to get forgiveness and guidance in order to renew their lives. The father confessor is not a sin forgiving machine, but a physician, a doctor of the souls, a man interested not only in forging sins, but also in getting rid of sins in the sense of renewing the life’.
The license examination for the father confessors was held at the seat of the Archdiocese of Bucharest in the morning, informs Trinitas Television station.
The new father confessors will go to their parishes or monasteries to listen to the confessions of their spiritual sons, especially because we are during the fasting period of Saints Peter and Paul, when the number of the faithful who confess their sins is larger.
