His Grace Damaschin, Bishop of Slobozia and Călăraşi, died on April 23, 2009, on the feast of St. George, at 10 p.m. at the Central Army Hospital in Bucharest, of complications related to a stroke.

The memorial service for Right Rev. Damaschin has taken place at the Diocesan Cathedral in Slobozia, yesterday, April 26, 2009, at 11 a.m. The holy service was celebrated by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. In his message, His Beatitude said:

“With great sorrow we are participating in these moments at the memorial service of our beloved brother in Christ, the worthy Bishop Damaschin Coravu of Slobozia and Călăraşi, who, in a most unexpected moment, has passed away during the Bright Week, on the day of a great feast of our Church, dedicated to Holy and Great Martyr George, the Victory-Bearer, as a sign that his earthly life was a victory over the tribulations of life and that he received the crown of light in the Kingdom of God.”

Right Rev. Damaschin Coravu was elected Bishop of Slobozia and Călăraşi in 2000. As shepherd of this eparchy, he has unfolded a rich pastoral-liturgical and social-missionary activity.

The locum tenens of the see of Slobozia and Călăraşi will be, until the election and enthronement of a new Bishop, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, as Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrogea, because the Diocese of Slobozia and Călăraşi is part of this Metropolitanate.