The Patriarch of Romania celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral in The Sunday of the Migrant Romanians
His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, celebrated on 19 august 2012, at the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, called The Sunday of the Migrant Romanians, the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, surrounded by a group of priests and deacons. In the sermon delivered after the reading of the Gospel excerpt (St. Matthew 18: 23-35), His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel spoke about the relationship between God’s Mercy and Justice as reflected in the Gospel: ‘The text of today shows that God is both Merciful and Just.
First, He is Merciful, but when He sees that we, as cunning servants, use His Kindness, take advantage of the forgiveness given to us, but in turn we do not forgive others, He becomes angry and His Justice comes into action. Therefore, God’s Mercy should not be treated with indifference. His Goodness, when mocked, disregarded, scorned, turns into Justice; yet, His Justice as punishment is not out of hate, but punishment meant to make us straightened […] Our Saviour Jesus Christ wants to show that if we do not appreciate God’s Goodness Who forgive us effortlessly, then we receive from Him the rebuke of improving through much ascetic effort, through many kinds of trouble. The purpose of God’s Justice is our improvement and thus we realize that the Gospel is at the same time a Gospel of Mercy, but also a Gospel of God’s Justice’.
The Patriarch of Romania has shown that today’s text represents the synthesis of God’s behaviour toward humans, in order to teach them to be at once merciful and just and to not ignore God’s forgiveness and to not despise our neighbour. ‘Through the forgiveness received from God and then given to our fellow human beings that owe us something, either by wrongdoings or by things they have not returned, human relationships change. Forgiveness shows that a human being is more than his/her wrongdoing. When we forgive a wrongdoing of a fellow human being, we forgive him/her with the hope that this person, by straightening oneself, can do also many good deeds. We do not reduce a person to a single wrongdoing of his/hers, but we wait to see that one shows the good part in him/her and one’s ability to change and to turn from an evil doer into a good doer. At the same time, forgiveness means a fresh start in relations between people. If human beings are unable to forgive each other, life becomes hell even from this world. People who are in constant hatred and enmity become spiritually ill and their life becomes a life of desire for revenge. When we forgive we free ourselves from a state of hatred, revenge and enmity. Therefore, forgiveness is useful not only for the one forgiven, but also for the one who forgives because frees oneself of wickedness, of a desire for revenge, to hurt others, to respond to evil with evil ‘, said His Beatitude.
At the end of the sermon, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel has read his message at The Sunday of the Migrant Romanians, entitled Blessing for the Romanian Orthodox from abroad.
Moreover, during the Divine Liturgy, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church ordained the young theologian Constantine Hurjui as deacon for the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. On this occasion, His Beatitude said: ‘We are glad that the Good God calls young people to serve Jesus Christ and His Church. Congratulations to Fr Constantin Hurjui for this holy and great gift which is the gift of priesthood, beginning with that of the deaconate. We also congratulate the whole family and all those who today prayed with us so that the Holy Spirit consecrated and made worthy the new deacon to joyfully serve the Church of Jesus Christ’.
