Today, 21 August 2011, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, consecrated the church of the “Birth of the Mother of God”, in Gura Humorului city, county of Suceava, assisted by a group of hierarchs members of the Holy Synod, made up of His Eminence Teofan, Metropolitan of Moldova and Bucovina, His Eminence Serafim, Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan for Germany, Central and Northern Europe, His Eminence Teodosie, Archbishop of Tomis, His Eminence Pimen, Archbishop of Suceava and Radauti, His Grace Corneliu, Bishop of Husi and His Grace Ioachim Bacauanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacau, priests and deacons, in the presence of over 5000 faithful.

To end with the consecration service, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel spoke to those present about the significance of this special moment in the life of the Christians in the city of Gura Humorului: “The blessing that the consecration of a church offers is great and holy, because the brick church is the architectural cover of the Living Church of Christ, which means the Church Eucharistic community supervised by its spiritual shepherds. So, at the same time with the consecration of the church, our souls are consecrated too, the souls of those who prayed during the consecration service”.

Then, His Grace Bishop Corneliu read the consecration document, as Lucian Ducan, Trinitas Radio correspondent informed us.

Then, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel celebrated the Divine Liturgy on a scene specially arranged in front of the church, assisted by the group of hierarchs, priests and deacons. After the evangelical pericope was read, His Beatitude Daniel delivered a sermon in which he emphasised the importance of prayer and fasting for strengthening the faith of the faithful: “Jesus Christ, our Saviour, shows us that whenever we have little faith we must increase and strengthen it through ardent constant prayer and fasting, because when we pray and fast we are directly related to God more than to any other material thing of the world. We fill ourselves of the grace of the Holy Spirit through prayer and fasting, namely not eating anything on the respective day”.

To end with the festivity, the mayor of the city, Mr. Marius Ursaciuc awarded His Beatitude Patriarch the title of citizen of honour of Gura Humorului city. The Patriarch of Romania offered, in his turn, several orders and diplomas to those who offered special support to the construction works of the church of the “Birth of the Mother of God”.