Yesterday, 2 July 2010, the feast of the celebration of Saint Steven the Great, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest assisted by a group of priests and deacons. The members of the Standing meeting of the Church National Council as well as hundreds of faithful were also present.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church showed in the sermon delivered that the human life looks like the two sisters of Lazarus: “Our life in body represents Marta who works to provide hospitality to Jesus in her house. And the Saviour does not scold her as long as she minds her work. But when she wants to replace the spiritual activity and reduce it only to the material one, then the Saviour draws her attention to the fact that the concern for the soul, for the food of the soul, is more precious than the concern for the temporary food. Maria represents the spiritual priority compared to any other preoccupation in this world”, informs Trinitas TV channel.

Further on, His Beatitude emphasized the virtues of Saint Steven the Great: “Steven the Great has two great virtues: defense of Christianity and of his ancient homeland and building of holy places of worship. According to tradition, Steven the Great built 44 churches after each victory, but he also built churches after he was defeated twice. So, we see a complete harmony between bravery and humbleness, a very seldom thing but very necessary to be cultivated by a good Christian. Whenever he defeated in war, he said: “It was with the help of Merciful God that we defeated, not because of our wisdom or bravery”. When he lost the battle at Razboieni or at Valea Alba in 1476, he has built a church for twenty years after the battle where he gathered the bones of those who had died on the battlefield. So, the victory was ascribed to God, while he was only the victory bearer, but the loss of a battle was his guilt, caused by his own sins. Saint Steven the Great combined the military fight with the worship of the saints. Saint Steven the Great had a special devotion both for Saint George and for Saint Dimitrie, who were solders, because he felt the help of the saints on the battlefield”, informs us Trinitas Radio station.

As for the contest for designing the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation, the Patriarch of Romania emphasized the fact that the jury, the Commission for final estimation, analyzed the reports of the specialized sub-commissions, and after the total calculation of the points the specialized sub-commissions have given, the hierarchic order of the points acquired was established and the winner of the entire contest was declared, namely S.C. VANEL EXIM SRL, Bacau: “On 30 June, the feast of the Saints Apostles, the jury listened to the reports of the specialized sub-commissions, namely: technical specialized commissions concerning the structure of resistance, installations, architecture, and financial estimation of the future project of the Patriarchal Cathedral. We listened to the estimation report of each of the four commissions made up of experts, recognized all over the country, from Bucharest and from various provinces of Romania. The classification these experts made was for every participant in the contest, taking into account the points granted to these competitors. Next day, on 1 July, on the feast of Saint Hierarch Leontie from Radauti and of the Moneyless Doctors Cosma and Damian, the Commission for final estimation continued its activity, examining to what extent the participants in the contest observed the stipulations and the scale model provided by the Romanian Patriarchate. As a result of the points acquired from the specialized sub-commissions, the jury established the hierarchic order of the points acquired and declared the winner of the entire contest, namely the firm S.C. Vanell Exim SRL, Bacau”.

The Commission for final estimation of the design of the future Patriarchal Cathedral was made up of hierarchs with experience in building cathedrals, as well as of experts from the Department for Church Monuments and Constructions, as the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church said: “On 29 June, the celebration day of Saints Peter and Paul, the Apostles, the hierarchs, members of the Holy Synod, with experience in building cathedrals and the members of the commission for final estimation started to come to the Patriarchate. These ones were: His Eminence Laurentiu Streza, Metropolitan of Transylvania, who started the construction of the Cathedral in Caransebes, having also been professor of liturgics, His Eminence Casian, Archbishop of Lower Danube, who built a new beautiful Cathedral in Braila, His Eminence Timotei, Archbishop of Arad, who initiated and supervised the building of a new Cathedral consecrated in December 2008. Certainly, also present was His Grace Ioachim Bacauanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacau, who supervises the finishing works of construction of the greatest Cathedral in the country for the time being, 87 meters long, the Cathedral dedicated to the “Ascension of the Lord” and “Saint Steven the Great” in Bacau city. All these hierarchs, together with the two Assistant Bishops to the Patriarch, His Grace Ciprian Campineanul and His Grace Varlaam Ploiesteanul, and our experts from the Department for Church Monuments and Constructions, made up the jury who also included Mr. Goiciu who has been a member of the Eparchial Assembly of the Archdiocese of Bucharest for many years.”

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel thanked God for the help received and expressed his hope that this autumn the construction of the new Patriarchal Cathedral may begin: “We wanted to mention this thing and announce this event after we said thanksgiving prayers to God for the help given so far in the three consulting symposiums of 2008 and 2009 as preparation for the design theme and to continue to ask for the help of God for the works to come. The contract with the Romanian Patriarchate for designing the future Cathedral can be concluded on the basis of the documentation provided by the firm winner of the contest, we shall get the building license, and then the construction stage can begin. We hope that this autumn the building of the Patriarchal Cathedral should begin. This holy work of the contest designed to select the designer coincided with the following feasts: feast of “Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles”, feast of “Saint Leontie from Radauti”, father confessor of Daniil the Hermit and the feast of “Saint Steven the Great and Holy” who was a great founder of holy places of worship. We see that the saints of God help us to build a church to Christ and to Saint Andrew the Apostle, because it will be dedicated to the “Ascension of the Lord” and to “Saint Andre the Apostle, the Protector of Romania”.

To end with his speech, His Beatitude expressed his desire to see, with the help of God, the Cathedral built and consecrated in three years: “May God help us to feel the joy of the Resurrection when we enter the church of the Holy Cross and feel the joy to have been called by Christ to build with our hands a church for the glory of the Holy Trinity and for our own salvation. It will be a church that will last, with the help of God, for hundreds of years, and they will always remember those who built it, who were the happy, always remembered founders. The people in need, in poverty and sufferance, built the church of Christ, as a sign of hope and victory, the church protected by Saint Andrew the Apostle, the first called to discipleship, the protector of Romania. May God help us to see the church built and covered in three years. This is our desire: to see the church built and consecrated in three years, and in three other years to have it painted and furnished, and the painting consecrated. But the consecration of the new Cathedral is scheduled, with the help of God, for 2013 and the consecration of the painting in 2015”.