His Beatitude Chaired The Spring Semester Pastoral Missionary Conference
His Beatitude Chaired The Spring Semester Pastoral Missionary Conference Of The Priests Of The Archdiocese Of Bucharest
Romanian Orthodox Church
On 26 May 2010, the spring semester conference with the theme “2010 – Homage Year of the Orthodox Creed and of the Romanian Autocephaly” was held in the “Patriarch Teoctist Aula Magna” of the Patriarchal Palace, in the presence of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. Over 700 priests of the deaneries of the capital city and of Ilfov county participated. The conference was preceded by the Divine Liturgy and by the Te Deum celebrated in the church monastery of Radu Vodă by His Grace Varsanufie Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest.
Trinitas Radio station informs us that the first lecture of the conference, entitled History of the Orthodox Creed (The Nicene Constantinople Symbol) was delivered by Rev. Prof. Dr. Tache Sterea from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of “Patriarch Justinian” of Bucharest.
Rev. Prof. Dr. Nicolae D. Necula, professor at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology delivered the lecture entitled The Place of the Orthodox Creed in the Orthodox Cult (text and religious chant), in which he showed the fact that the teaching of the Symbol of faith can be found in the Orthodox cult.
The third lecture, entitled The Place of the Orthodox Creed in the Orthodox Catechises (the Religion class and the programme ‘Christ shared with the children’ included), was delivered by Rev. Dr. Constantine Naclad from the Theological Educational Department of the Romanian Patriarchate. He underlined the vital importance of the Symbol of faith in the religious education of the children.
The last lecture was delivered by Lecturer Dr. Gheorghe Holbea, Patriarchal Counsellor within the Theological Educational Department of the Romanian Patriarchate and it was entitled The Orthodox Creed in Dialogue with Other Christian Churches (issue of Filioque adding) in which he showed, among other things, that Filioque adding annuls the teaching of the Holy Fathers (especially of the Cappadochian Fathers) on the Monarchy of the Father, according to which the principle in the Holy Trinity is not the Being, but the person of the Father who gives birth to the Son from eternity and proceeds the Holy Spirit from eternity.
To end with today’s conference, after the four lectures delivered, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel delivered a speech in which he showed the importance of the Orthodox Creed in the life of the Church, as well as in the life of the faithful.
His Beatitude showed that God is love because He is a Trinity of Persons: “God is love because He is a Trinity. A single eternal person cannot be love, and eternal loneliness cannot be eternal love. So, God is love because He is a Trinity of distinct Persons, equal and undivided, who include one another and dedicate themselves to one another.
The Patriarch of Romania also spoke about the creation of the world, a truth confessed in the Symbol of Faith: “The world was created by God in Trinity in order to participate in the eternal glory and joy of the Holy Trinity. Why has God created the world? It was in order to share His eternal love, of the uncreated divine Persons, to a crowd of created persons, who are the humans. God has created the world so that the love bestowed from the Holy Trinity should be intercepted, shared with the persons created according to the image of the divine Persons.
The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church underscored the fact that the Holy Trinity is the only source of life and unity for the Church: “The Holy Trinity is the archetype according to which man was created, while the Church has no other example of unity, neither the Roman empire, nor any ideology of the world, but the Holy Trinity as the only source of life and unity for the Church.
