On 17 January 2012, the Princely church of the Old Court celebrates its second saint patron, Saint Anthony the Great. On this occasion, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy assisted by a group of priests and deacons. Today, thousands of faithful were present, willing to attend the Divine Liturgy, and pray the miracle worker icon of Saint Anthony the Great.

After reading the evangelical pericope, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church delivered a sermon in which he emphasised the model of living of Saint Anthony the Great considered the father of the Christian monasticism.

“Saint Anthony the Great is the spiritual father of all monks and nuns. He remains in the Church conscience as a man who, although not very theologically educated, learned much wisdom through a direct relation with God and prayer, fasting and love for Christ. His teaching is essential. Christ is the wealth of our life, while the purpose of our life is reaching the eternal life in the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity”, also said His Beatitude, as Trinitas Radio station informs us.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church also mentioned the relationship between monastery and parish.

“We congratulate today all those who live in monasteries or sketes, or retired in more secluded places, in the mountains, forests or hermitages. We no longer have as many monks as in the time of Saint Anthony the Great, thousands of monks, but those remained are fighters in a time when the desert moved from sandy and stony places into the people’s souls, becoming deserts of the souls because of the lack of faith, prayer, thought and life with no God. The monasteries in the cities or towns, as well as those close to other localities bring hope and prayer because they are guidance for us. A lot of spiritual priests go together with their faithful to monasteries because they noticed that such visits increase the piety of the parish. So, there was no contradiction between parish and monastery in the healthy Orthodoxy. The young people who used to come to the monastery to become monks were coming from parishes. The parish formed baptised young people in piety with the help of the spiritual fathers, namely the parish priests, together with the biological and god parents of the children, so that the parishes helped the monasteries, because it was from here that young men and women, as well as aged persons, went to monasteries to become monks and nuns.

At the same time the monasteries pray for a lot of people with problems, for confused people, so that we can talk, especially in the case of the Romanians, of a symbiosis between monastery and parish, with no mixing between jurisdiction and vocation, monasticism becoming very popular”.

To end with, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel awarded the Sanctus Stephanus Magnus order for clergy to parish priest Gheorghe Zaharia, and offered the latest edition of the Holy Gospel, with colour icons, as well as the books “Proloagele” and “Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation. History of an ideal” to the place of worship.

Rev. Gheorghe Zaharia thanked the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church for his presence on this day. Then, he spoke about the renovations made to the holy place of worship also presenting the social philanthropic activity of the parish.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church congratulated the parish priest for all his activity and emphasised the fact that in this time of crisis the Church should be like the hands of the love of Christ in the world.

Saint Anthony the Great became the protector of the church of the old Court after the fire of 23 March 1847 when the church of Saint Anthony close to the Old Court burned down completely. The place of worship celebrates its first dedication day on the feast of the Annunciation.