Festive time at the Patriarchate Palace

The day of 30 November, celebration of Saint Andrew the Apostle, was declared free day. The event was marked today in “Europa Christiana” Hall of the Patriarchate Palace in the presence of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, of the Assistant Bishops to the Patriarch Ciprian Câmpineanul and Varlaam Ploieşteanul, of the members of the Church National Council, as well as of the state and local officials.

To start with the event, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, delivered a speech in which he emphasised the importance of the day of 30 November as feast of the entire Romanian nation – as Trinitas Radio station informs us.

“A Christian anniversary is first of all a remembrance or commemoration, full of love, of the merciful love of God manifested in persons and events which fulfil the holy aspirations of a people (…) According to the written church tradition (Ipolit of Rome, Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, Sinaxis of the Constantinopolitan Church) as well as to the oral church tradition till nowadays, it is to Saint Andrew the Apostle, the first called of the disciples, that we own, as people and Church, the preaching of the Gospel in the first century to our Dacian-Romans forerunners in Dobrudgea and the foundation of the Church of Christ in today’s Romanian territory, as Church of apostolic origin”, said the Patriarch of Romania.

The law no 147 of 23 July 2012 was adopted by the Romanian Senate on 23 November 2011 and by the Chamber of Deputies on 26 June 2012. The President of Romania promulgated the law this year, on 29 July.

“This day is an occasion of holy joy and gratitude because after many efforts and requests of our Church expressed through the official applications of 2008 and 2011 which I personally addressed the Parliament, Presidency, and Romanian Government, through law no 147 of 23 July 2012 adopted by the Senate of Romania on 23 November 2011, and by the Chamber of Deputies on 26 June 2012, and then promulgated through decree 517 on 20 July 2012 by the President of Romania, the day of 30 November, when Saint Andrew the Apostle the First Called, Protector of Romania is celebrated, was declared free legal feast. Through this legislative act voted in the Chamber of Deputies by 236 deputies out of the 248 present, the Romanian Parliament confirmed the national, spiritual, missionary, and cultural educational importance of the celebration of Saint Andrew the Apostle as feast of the entire Romanian Orthodoxy and of all the Romanian people confirmed by now as a legally free feast, just as other peoples celebrate their national saint, although they received Christianity much later than the Romanian people”, His Beatitude also said.

The day of the celebration of Saint Andrew the Apostle is marked with a red cross in the Calendar of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a result of the decision of the Holy Synod taken in 1994.

“A very great moment for the celebration of Saint Andrew the Apostle in the Romanian territory took place from 12 – 19 October 1996, when the Romanian land was blessed with the first coming again of Saint Andrew the Apostle to Romania, in Iaşi and Galaţi, when his holy head was brought to Patras (Greece). Another significant moment took place in 2011, from 24 October – 1 November, when the Romanian people was blessed, in Bucharest and in Transylvania, in Sibiu (29 October) and Alba Iulia (30 October), with the second coming of the Holy head of Saint Andrew the Apostle to Romania. On this occasion, the Apostle of our people was received as “a useful divine redeemer of all needs and guardian”, calling our people to strengthen the apostolic faith received from him, almost two millenniums ago. Another sign of the Romanian people’s worship of Saint Andrew the Apostle is the fact that the new Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation has Saint Andrew the Apostle, Protector of Romania, as saint patron”, emphasised His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

During the event, the book entitled “Saint Andrew the Apostle. Protector of Romania, Beginner of the Baptism with the Romanian People”, published by Basilica Publishing House, was launched – as Trinitas TV station informs us. The medal dedicated to this feast issued by the State Mint was also presented – informs “Lumina” newspaper.

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