Today it is three years since the Romanian Orthodox Church and the entire Christian world received with great sorrow in their souls the news about the passing away of the late Patriarch Teoctist († 30 July 2007).

At this time of remembrance and homage in the memory of this worthy Arch-shepherd of the Romanian Orthodoxy, his never-ending love for the Church and people, his bright image and kindness of his soul are still alive in our hearts. His pastoral, missionary, spiritual, cultural and social work for the welfare of the Romanian Orthodox Church represents, for us, the hierarchs, clergy and faithful living today, a means of understanding in a more spiritual way the recent history of our Church, which had to face many trials and humiliations, but which has also had the powerful help of God to overcome these trials.

We still remember with great emotion the “Bethlehem” of Patriarch Teoctist, the area of Botoşani in beautiful Moldova, where he was born, where he joined the monks of Vorona Monastery as brother and where he had the first jobs in the Church. From the Moldovian land of Saint Steven the Great till the Patriarchal dignity, the late Patriarch Teoctist added years and ranks in the service of Christ and of His Church, 57 years as a hierarch, as well as a servant of the holy altar (hierodeacon, hieromonk, hierarch), 70 years in all.

Patriarch Teoctist spread light of the light of Christ around him, because he was a pious diligent hierarch. He served both in the time of communist oppression and of the restless freedom, but always in a missionary context, which needed vigilance and sacrifice, much wisdom and spiritual fight. This is why the prayer experience has been a source of spiritual power for him, of courage and wisdom, of kindness and forgiveness, of dialogue and co-operation both in time of sorrow and sufferance and in time of new hope and of many achievements.

His stability in faith as spiritual strength helped him to serve the Church in hard times, following the example of Saint Paul the Apostle: “in times of troubles, hardships, and difficulties, (…) in purity, knowledge, patience and kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love” (2 Corinthians 6, 4-6).

Patriarch Teoctist was a diligent wise hierarch who worked for keeping the faith and the Romanian cultural values this faith inspired.

After 1990, Patriarch Teoctist used freedom for following the Romanian tradition of the active presence of the Church in society. He spread light and hope through the many churches built from foundation, through the canonization of many Romanian saints, through the introduction of religion in the public schools, through the reintegration of the theological education in the state network, through the re-establishment of the religious assistance of the charitable priests in the military units, in hospitals and prisons, setting up some social-charitable centres for the disadvantaged people, as well as medical consulting rooms and social-medical centres.

He brought joy to many Romanians through the re-established eparchies or through those set up for the first time in the country and outside the present frontiers of Romania. He cultivated communion through the brotherly relations full of spiritual light and warmth with all the other sister Orthodox Churches, as well as through the fatherly care for our Romanian brothers from everywhere.

His kind peaceful soul has often urged to dialogue and co-operation with other Christian Churches, as he was a wise shepherd keeping the irenical tradition of the Romanian Orthodoxy, which avoided both the isolation from other Christians and the dissolution of their own identity when meeting or co-existing with them.

The most obvious results of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Bucharest, in May 1999, and of Patriarch Teoctist to Rome, in October 2002, are the many Roman-Catholic churches from Italy and Spain offered as space of prayer to the faithful of over 200 Romanian Orthodox parishes in these countries, till our parishes can build their own places of worship. This fact shows us that the brotherly dialogue and mutual respect increases generosity and kindness, as well practical co-operation among Churches, although there are still obstacles in the way of re-establishing their unity of faith and of ecclesiastic life.

The rich legacy His Beatitude Patriarch Teoctist bequeathed us must be further kept and cultivated with wisdom and responsibility.

Even at his venerable age, Patriarch Teoctist showed an amazing youth and vivid dynamics in the reception and promotion of the new pastoral missionary chances of the Church in today’s Romanian society. At the same time, he was aware there were always certain issues to be solved according to the concrete needs of the Church. Let us only think of his ardent desire to see the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation built. If in three years since his passing away important steps were taken in view of preparing the building project of the new Cathedral, this is due to the fact our present efforts are sustained by his prayers in heaven. In this sense, we kept the location His Beatitude chose for building the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation and organised the contest for the design needed for building it on the respective location. A firm from Bacău wan the contest presenting a cathedral project inspired by the style of the Romanian Orthodox cathedrals of the 20th century, a synthesis between the Eastern Byzantine style and the Western neo-classic style, especially since the Romanians have always had, throughout history, the vocation of synthesis, of the spiritual arches uniting different centuries and spaces. This has also been the desire of Patriarch Teoctist: a cathedral in the Romanian architectural style.

Patriarch Teoctist remains in our memory, through everything he bequeathed us as spiritual legacy of his Romanian and religious activity, as a wise patient shepherd, always prayerful to God.

Because we still feel today that due to the light of his life and exemplary deeds, our worthy to remember Patriarch Teoctist is mysteriously present in our Church, as a resurrection icon lamp, as a spiritual guide, we pray Christ, our Lord and eternal High Priest, to put his soul in the dwelling places of His servants, in the joy of the angels, in the light and love of the Holy Trinity.

May he be always remembered from generation to generation!


†Daniel
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church