His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, celebrated the Holy Liturgy on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord and performed the Great Blessing of Waters at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. On the Feast of Theophany, the Patriarchate's Hill was filled with thousands of faithful, who waited patiently to receive the Holy Water in the square between the Patriarchal Cathedral and the Patriarchal Residence.
In the sermon spoken during the Holy Liturgy, His Beatitude explained that the end of the Gospel read shows the most important meaning of the Baptism, which is not just forgiveness of sins, which was also asked through John's baptism of repentance, underlining that the expression: 'This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased' shows that 'the most important purpose of the Baptism is the adoption of man. In Christ, the Son of the eternal God Who became man, the humanity is adopted by God the Father through the Holy Spirit, and that is why the Holy Spirit is also named the Spirit of Sonship.'
After the Great Blessing of Waters, which took place in the square outside the Patriarchal Cathedral, His Beatitude Explained that the waters are blessed by being once again bearers of the Holy Spirit, as the One Holy God, Jesus Christ, who became a man out of love for mankind and for the salvation of humans, entered Jordan and blessed them with His presence. Now, through the same Persons of the Holy Trinity, the waters are blessed once again and we receive the Holy Water as a gift and benefaction, as a sign of the fatherly love of God towards us. |