The Cultural and Patrimony Counsellors of the Country Met the Patriarch of Romania

On 14 May 2013, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church met at the Patriarchate Palace the counsellors of the cultural departments, as well as the persons in charge with church patrimony of the eparchies of the country. These days they participated in the regional workshop entitled the “Value and symbol-conservation, restoration and promotion of the religious patrimony”, organised within the “FORTE” project – lasting formation for social partnership.

To end with, the Primate of our Church spoke about the responsibility needed for keeping the culture and church patrimony.

“This sacred or religious patrimony is a central one in the national patrimony because it is the both the oldest and the richest. From the point of view of the responsibility for these great values this one is greater and greater but the affirmation of the eparchial responsibility is not enough.
The same as the Holy Synod meets several times a year, so must the counsellors of various departments of activity meet and consult one another at least once a year. This consultation is a must for the intensified co-responsibility and practical cooperation”, His Beatitude said.

The Patriarch of Romania emphasised in his speech the importance of protecting and promoting the values of our church patrimony.

“We should keep both the faith and the expression of our faith. The greatest value of a Church is the community of the faithful, so that it is for these faithful loving salvation and heavenly beauty that we must keep our sacred patrimony not only as an artistic value, but also as missionary, educational, catechetical, mystic values, as a value of renewal and bedecking of the soul of the faithful according to the model of our paintings restored, cleaned of the smoke and dust of the time, just like a man who renews his souls through confession and Eucharist.

Therefore, it is not only an artistic value that we support, but also a missionary value, a value of preaching. Orthodoxy preaches the crucified and resurrected Christ not only through words but also through images, because He is the icon of the unseen God”, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church said.

His Beatitude remembered the need of a better collaboration with the Ministry for Culture and national Patrimony.

“A greater collaboration with the Ministry for Culture is needed because there are several issues still unsolved. Today we do not have a restoration guide yet. The responsibility for the national values diminished in regard to their conservation, restoration and emphasising, so that a Centre for Cultural Religious Patrimony was needed, set up here, at the Patriarchate, to promote the supervisors and museum guides, because it is important to know the historical and spiritual value of the objects we keep and protect”, His Beatitude also said according to Trinitas TV.

To end with, the counsellors of the cultural departments and the persons in charge with the church patrimony received books published by the publishing houses of the Romanian Patriarchate, and the Pastoral letter for the Holy Easter.

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