Today, 3 September 2010, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church blessed the beginning of the construction works of the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation. The event took place on the place where the building will be raised, close to the People’s House.

The members of the Holy Synod, the members of the Church National Assembly, members of the Church National Council, people of culture, representatives of the authorities and many faithful attended the ceremony.

To end with the Patriarch of Romania delivered a speech in which he underlined the importance of building the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation: “We have a holy moment today, namely, after receiving yesterday the building license for the new cathedral called the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation, we said a thanksgiving prayer and a request to God, to the Holy Trinity, for the beginning of the building yard organization, a beginning that can be seen here as well as for the construction itself that will begin after selecting the firm to build the cathedral. This moment coincides with another very important one in the life of our Church, namely the setting up of the new Church National Assembly after the Eparchial Assemblies have been set up in various eparchies.”

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church presented a few characteristic features of the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation: “Here, on the panel on our right side, you can see how the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation will look like and the fact that it has a message, namely the Resurrection message. This Cathedral has in its domes, eight in all, the idea of Resurrection, of Resurrection flames. Each dome has the significance of a Resurrection flame. And they are eight in all, because eight is the day of eternity and the day of the Resurrection. The eighth dome is the Pantocrator Dome, the central dome.”

His Beatitude has also shown that the new Cathedral will be neither big nor small, but big enough to gather its clergy and faithful inside, emphasizing in this way its practice necessity: “It is a practical necessity taking into account the large number, almost sixty, of hierarchs of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, but only twelve of them can get inside the altar of the present Cathedral on the Metropolitan Hill. So, it is a practical necessity. Secondly, it is a symbol of our crucifixion and resurrection in history. It is a cathedral neither big nor small; it is ten times smaller that the People’s House nearby, but big enough to gather the clergy and faithful together inside the Church. It will no longer be like now, when the clergy is inside the church and the faithful outside the place of worship”.

His Beatitude underlined the fact that during this difficult period, the construction of a church is a sign of hope, and underscored the fact that in the past, the most beautiful monasteries and churches have been built in times when the country was tried very hard: “We must bring signs of hope during this period that seems to be a time of trial, of economical crisis. The construction of a church is a sign of hope, it is a sign of thanksgiving to God for the fact that we survived the trials and a prayer to God to help us pass over such hardships, so that the situation today looks like all the other situations in the history when the most beautiful monasteries and churches have been built. We hope in God both when we live well and when we pass through difficulties.”

His Beatitude expressed his hope to start the construction soon and in three years time to consecrate, with the help of God, the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation: “The Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation means the expiation of the nation, of no longer maiming the territory of our country, of deportation situations, of diminishing the population as a result of war. Every church is a Resurrection candle through which we keep in touch with the past generations and spiritually orientate to the generations that will come after us and remember us. This is why the founders are called “blessed and always remembered”. When they no longer have anybody of their family, the priest will remember them together with the faithful people who will pray in a church somebody founded to last for a long time. Blessed are those whom Christ, our Lord, calls to lend them His hands to build the church. So, they better understand what the truth means that the Church is the body of Christ, the hands of His love in the world. Thus, either if we provide our physic effort, or our financial one when we build a church for the glory of the Holy Trinity, the honour of the Saviour and of His saints, we become Christ’s working consecrating hands. May God help us to begin the construction works soon and come in three years time to consecrate it!”