Romanian Academy hosts solemn session to celebrate the Great Union Day

Aurelian Iftimiu – Basilica News Agency – 4/12/16

The Romanian Academy hosted Monday, 28 November 2016, a solemn session to celebrate the Great Union Day and remember the country’s participation in WWI, Radio Trinitas reports.

His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, members of the Romanian Academy, high-ranking officials of Romania, diplomats as well as people of culture convened in the Aula of the Romanian Academy.

The solemn session opened with Romanian Academy Chairman Ionel-Valentin Vlad delivering the opening speech, in which he stressed the important involvement of the Romanian Academy in the ideal of uniting Romanian provinces.

Then followed the readout of the message from Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis.

Also delivering speeches were His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel and crown Princess Margareta.

Patriarch Daniel emphasised in his speech the importance of military priests serving on the battlefields.

Besides politicians of the time and the country’s army, the Romanian Orthodox Church played an important role through her clergy and laity. In May 1915, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church proposed to the General Staff of the Romanian Army that Priest Constantin Nazarie, professor of Moral Theology at the Theological Faculty in Bucharest, be appointed as dean of army priests and head of religious office. Orthodox military priests found the strength to sow in the souls of the soldiers the comforting and strengthening word of God. The Blessing Services, the Divine Liturgy, Confession and Holy Communion with the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ were completed by words of encouragement, of motivation in the battle for fulfilling the national ideal.

HRH Crown Princess Margaret explained the important decisions taken by the Kings of Romania during that time.

This year marks 98 years since the Great Union.

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