Synaxis of the Abbots and Abbesses of the Archdiocese of Bucharest

On 12 September 2014, the synaxis meeting of the abbots and abbesses of the monastic settlements of the Archdiocese of Bucharest was held at the “Holy Cross – Caraiman” Monastery, county of Prahova, under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. The theme of the meeting was Relationship between Repentance and Eucharist – light of the monastic life.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel chaired the working session and opened the synaxis: “This theme is very important because both the Sacrament of Repentance and the Sacrament of Eucharist are closely related to the monastic vocation. Thus, the monk is a man who repents not only for himself, but also for other ones, and does not pray only for himself, but also for other ones. There is no salvation without repentance. The repentance teachers were those who organised their life as systematic repentance. The monk’s insignia themselves show the monk’s vocation as a man of repentance”, His Beatitude said.

Repentance is the door of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Patriarch of Romania also said: “The church writer Lactantiu said that a Church who lost her sense of repentance is not a true Church any more. A Church without the Sacrament of Repentance does no longer guide to salvation. Thus, repentance is the urge of the Saviour, the beginning of the Gospel included as an urge in the sermon of Saint John the Baptist, a great teacher of repentance, and resumed by the great saints as a theme not only of meditation, but also of pastoral teaching. But the institution in which repentance is organised in the most systematic and intense way is the Monastery”, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church also explained.

Then, free discussions took place on the theme of the meeting. The synaxis was preceded by the Divine Liturgy celebrated at Caraiman Monastery by a group of exarchs and abbots of the great monasteries.

During the next days, the monastic synaxis will also include two special events, Archimandrite Teofil Anastasoaie, exarch of the monasteries of the Archdiocese of Bucharest, declared for Trinitas Radio station: “On 13 September 2014, the participants in the synaxis, abbots and abbesses, egumens, will climb the Bucegi platform to the place where a church will be built dedicated to the heroes of the nation. An akathistos of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and a solemn service for all the heroes of the nation will be celebrated at the place. Then, on 14 September 2014, feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Caraiman Monastery celebrates its dedication day on which occasion His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel will celebrate the dedication day service and the re-consecration of the big church of Caraiman Monastery, assisted by a group of hierarchs and abbots participating in this synaxis.

The synaxis of the Archdiocese of Bucharest is organised every year, and at the Metropolitanate level the meeting of the abbots and abbesses of the monastic settlements has a periodical character.

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