125 Years Since The Recognition Of The Autocephaly Of The Romanian Orthodox Church
28/4/2010
On 25 April 1885, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople recognises the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Patriarchal Synod met on 25 April 1885 took notice of the letters received from Romania and drafted the answering letters, which they sent to the country through Gheorghe Ghica, the Romanian representative in Constantinople. The Ecumenical Patriarch Ioachim IV sent the autocephaly Tomos to the Primate Metropolitan Calinic Miclescu, President of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, by which “it blesses the Romanian Orthodox Church, with spiritual joy, recognising its autocephaly with its own leadership”. It was also now that the Ecumenical Patriarch Ioachim IV communicated, by an encyclical letter, the recognition of the autocephaly granted to the Romanian Orthodox Church, to all the sister Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, namely to the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, as well as to the Russian, Greek, Serb Churches and to the Archdiocese of Cyprus.
This document is the fruit of the long diplomatic activity the Romanian hierarchs unfolded with the assistance of the state dignitaries, who supported, with historical arguments, the noble cause of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. While following the course of the national history, the Church of independent Romania had to claim its autocephaly, the church equivalent of the victory of 1877. By Tomos of 25 April 1885, the Ecumenical Patriarchate does no longer consider itself the Mother Church and adopts the natural position of sister Church of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The year 2010 is the “Homage year of the Orthodox Creed and of the Romanian Autocephaly” in the Romanian Patriarchate. This thing was adopted at the initiative of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, with the approval of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, during the working session of 18 – 19 June 2009.
