The Patriarh of Romania consecrated the Church of Turda Bai
On 18 September 2011, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church consecrated the church of the Descend of the Holy Spirit in Turda city, assisted by two hierarchs, members of the Holy Synod, His Eminence Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crisana and Maramures and His Grace Vasile Somesanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj, by priests and deacons, in the presence of thousands of faithful.
To end with the consecration service, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel spoke to those present, among other things, about the importance of the liturgical acts in the religious service and explained the reason why holy relics are put in the leg of the holy Table and in the Holy Antimis.
Further on, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, together with the two hierarchs, the priests and deacons, celebrated the Divine Liturgy on a scene specially arranged close to the church.
After reading the evangelical pericope, His Beatitude Daniel delivered a sermon in which he underlined the fact that we must assume our cross in order to follow Christ: “Whoever carried the cross of sufferance thinking of Christ, our Saviour, and came close to God, that one felt that in the cross the seed of Resurrection, the light of Resurrection, was already mysteriously hidden. This is why the people who suffered a lot and defeated the temptations, troubles and sufferance are fighters in this life. If we give up something, we receive something else in exchange. We give up a selfish life and get a holy spiritual life. We give up the love for ourselves in order to receive the never ending love of Christ which deifies our love which becomes as merciful as His. This is why He says: “Be merciful as your Father in Heaven is”.
At the same time, the Patriarch of Romania spoke about the self denial as a condition for coming close to God: “Some of the contemporary sociologists have already said that of all the civilizations existent in the history so far, ours is the most narcissist, which loves to see and listen to itself, to praise itself, to rely only on itself and be self sufficient. The narcissist man has no other concern than his own person. This is why the narcissist civilisation is a self sufficient one, arrogant and individualist. Thus, the self denial today seems for some people such a selfish thought, a kind of self destruction or self-denial of personality or of the person. Jesus Christ, our Lord, understands by self denial the change of our way of being, of thinking, of acting, namely passing from the selfish way of life to the altruist one. The passage from the selfish love to the love for God and for one’s neighbour only when man loves God, from his soul mind and force, gives man freedom, because he is no longer fond of a temporary limited being of this world, but gets in communion with God unlimited in time and space and immortal. This is why self denial means man’s orientation to God, the source of life. Saint Maxim says that true love is that state of soul which prefers God to any other being of this world. When we love persons and material things as the ultimate reality of this world we limit ourselves to temporary things and to limited temporary persons. But when we love God our love becomes unlimited and then the love for our fellow beings if it is love for God it is deified and strengthened. Our love is no longer a selfish one, but a generous dedicated one.”
To end with the Divine Liturgy, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church offered several distinctions to the worthy persons who contributed to the construction of the church in Turda Bai. Thus, His Beatitude awarded the Patriarchal Cross to the iconomos stavroforos priest Aurel Misca, the parish priest of the newly consecrated church. Then, he awarded the “Steven the Great” order to economist Tudor Stefanie, mayor of Turda city. His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also award the diploma of honour of “Saint Paul the Apostle” to two families of the parish, to the Parochial Council and to the Parochial Committee. He has also offered the parish of Turda Bai a blessing cross, made at the workshops of the Romanian Patriarchate, a Gospel in the Romanian language adorned for the first time with Sunday icons and a silver censer.
His Beatitude has also offered several books to the parish library. The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also offered small icons of the consecrated church of the “Descend of the Holy Spirit” to the faithful present.
There followed the speech of His Eminence Metropolitan Andrei who thanked His Beatitude for his participation in today’s feast and presented the region as full of special historical significance.
Rev. Aurel Misca, the parish priest delivered the final speech in which he praised, appreciated and thanked His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, His Eminence Metropolitan Andrei, His Grace Assistant Bishop Vasile Somesanul, as well as the authorities and faithful who helped in one way or another the construction of the place of worship.
The construction of the church of Turda Bai began in 1999. The place of worship has a Byzantine plan and it was built in an ancient parish that used to be called the “Among Romanians” parish.
