Today, 21 April 2010, His Beatitude Daniel ended the canonical visit to the Romanian Orthodox Diocese for Spain and Portugal. Last night, His Beatitude was met at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest with a Te Deum service celebrated by His Grace Varlaam Ploieşteanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch, together with the group of servants of the Cathedral – informs Trinitas Radio Station.

Besides His Beatitude, also present were His Eminence Andrei, Archbishop of Alba Iulia, His Grace Ambrozie, Bishop of Giurgiu, His Grace Mihail, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Australia and New Zealand, His Grace Ciprian Câmpineanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch and His Grace Varsanufie, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest. Members of the Standing Meeting of the Church National Council and of the Archdiocese of Bucharest were also present in the Patriarchal Cathedral.

To end with the religious service, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church mentioned the main points and conclusions of the visit to Spain and said: “It was visit in which I felt the blessing of God and we were very glad to see a lot of Romanian Orthodox brothers of ours who settled in Spain. We saw those of Madrid and from neighbourhood and we noticed that the church life continues to be practised there.

We visited several parishes and it was a rather loaded programme, which included, besides the pastoral aspects, encounters with central state, regional and local authorities. One day before our arrival the historical settlement of all the Orthodox communities in Spain was recognised, the largest one being the Romanian Orthodox community. There are almost one million Romanians in Spain. The central event for which we went there it was to consecrate the place of the Episcopal church that will serve the Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese for Spain and Portugal”.

At the same time, Trinitas TV station informs us, on the occasion, that His Beatitude also said: “We have visited several parishes from neighbourhood, as well as the old parish of “Saint Virgin Mary” of Madrid, over thirty years old, headed by Rev. Prof. Teofil Moldovan. We have visited the Greek Metropolitan See as pilgrims to the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, where we were met by His Eminence Policarp. Then, we have also visited the parishes of Alcala de Henares, Coslada and Arganda del Rey, which are very living, dynamic ones. After visiting the Cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo and the City Hall, we have also visited the Romanian Orthodox parish of the “Protection of the Mother of God” of Toledo”.