Patriarch Daniel at Pasarea Monastery, county of Ilfov

April 2014

On 22 April 2014, the 3rd Easter day, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania was present in the middle of the monastic community of Pasarea Monastery, Branesti commune, county of Ilfov.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church delivered a sermon in which he spoke about the meaning of the evangelical pericope of the day on the appearance of Christ, our Lord, to disciples Luke and Cleopa.

“The first Christo-centric lecture of the Old Testament focused on Christ is done by Christ himself. He interprets the words of the Scriptures which read about God-the-Word, about the Son of God who will incarnate, become Man, suffer and resurrect for the people’s salvation. Thus, the Holy Scriptures although made up of many books written in different styles and by different authors and in different periods has unity. The unity of the Holy Scriptures is the Mystery of the Person of Christ. He spoke to them about what it had been written about Him centuries before. Thus, Christ, our Lord interpreted the words of the Holy Scriptures by which He inspired them through the Holy Spirit to show the plan of God for the salvation of the world in the Incarnated Son of God” His Beatitude said.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has also said that the second great truth of today’s Gospel is the truth of the Holy Eucharist.

“Christ, the Lord, blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples and they recognised Him right away, but He vanished. Somebody asked where Jesus has gone, because neither the door nor the window was opened, but He disappeared. And He answered very nicely: to the Holy Eucharist. When He vanished He entered into the bread of the Holy Eucharist showing that He is the content of the Holy Eucharist. He also said that the disciples do not have the Holy Communion with simple bread, but with Christ who is mysteriously present in the blessed bread, blessed by Him. Thus, we see that the relationship between the Holy Scriptures when the disciples were eating the seeds or the spiritual senses of the words of the Holy Scriptures and that the Holy Scriptures is fulfilled in the Holy Eucharist, in the Cup”.

To end with, His Beatitude offered several books published by the publishing houses of the Patriarchate to the monastery’s library, and the pastoral letter for the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord to the faithful present.

Pasarea Monastery was set up in 1813, in the time of Caragea Voda (1754 – 1844). It is a historical artistic monument situated 29 km far from Bucharest. There are workshops of tailoring and painting in the monastery. The monastery patronises the Theological Seminary of Saint Filofteia – Branesti and supervises an old people’s home.

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