Make a donation: Help the construction of the Orthodox Cathedral and Romanian Cultural Centre in Bălţi
His Grace Bishop Antonie ofBălți. Credit: Basilica.ro / Files.
Basilica News Agency – Aurelian Iftimiu – 30/1/21
The Diocese of Bălţi still has to pay approximately 20,000 euros to take possession of the land on which it will build a cathedral and a Romanian cultural centre in the city.
“The project is an investment, by faith, for the future of our Romanian nation, and, in essence, it is an endeavour for whose great purpose we are all called to contribute,” urges His Grace Bishop Antonie of Bălţi.
Most of the amount for the purchase of the land, of over 250,000 euros, was provided by the Romanian Government.
For those who want to contribute to the financial, the diocese has provided several accounts:
- MDL: MD 10AG000000022514025546 Bălţi, SWIFT- BANK AGRNMD
- RON: MD 15AG000000022514025553 Bălţi, SWIFT-BANK AGRNMD
- EUR: MD26AG000000022514025549 Bălţi, SWIFT-BANK AGRNMD
- USD: MD44AG000000022514032306 Bălţi, SWIFT-BANK AGRNMD
Bishop Antonie said that this project represents “an act of justice and honour to the people to whom we all belong.”
“We see ourselves as good continuators of the spirit of our forerunners, to build a new Cathedral and a Romanian Cultural Centre, to revive and strengthen the Romanian faith of our ancestors, to be an important symbol, but also a factor of the unity of all Romanians from the north of the Republic of Moldova.”
“Our request is a sign of brotherly love and help and Romanian unity that will remain in the land of ancestral Bessarabia a testimony over time to the glory of God and the prosperity of our Romanian nation,” the bishop told Basilica.ro
The Diocese of Bălţi is the successor of the Diocese of Hotin, the ecclesiastical structure of the Romanian Orthodox Church from the interwar period, which was founded on March 8, 1923.
The first hierarch of the diocese was Bishop Visarion Puiu (1923-1935), during which the Cathedral of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen, the episcopal residence and 64 churches (which now belong to the Moscow Patriarchate) were built.
Later, the diocese was pastored by bishops Tit Simedrea (1935-1940) and Partenie Ciopron (1941-1944 as locum tenens). After the establishment of the Soviet regime in the Romanian space on the left bank of the Prut River in 1944, the diocese ceased its activity, but without being abolished by the Romanian Orthodox Church.
In 2007, the Holy Synod approved the registration of this diocese in the Statute for the organization and functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Eleven years later, in the vacant episcopal see of the Bălţi Diocese was elected His Grace Bishop Antonie Telembici, at that time an assistant bishop of the Archdiocese of Chisinau.
Photography courtesy of Raluca Ene / Basilica.ro Files
