Spirituality

UK Romanian priest calls for dialogue between theology and psychology in addressing mental health

“A spiritual father needs to distinguish between a mental disorder and a spiritual disturbance,” Father Justin Mihoc said in an interview for the Hristocentric project, underlining the need for dialogue between theology and psychology in contemporary society. Father Justin Mihoc is the parish priest of the Romanian community in Durham, in northern England. He is…

Jan 15, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Digital Matericon: Women Saints of January (I)

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has declared the year 2026 the Commemorative Year of the Holy Women in the Church calendar. Accordingly, we invite you to discover each month the faces of holy women—mothers, wives, nuns, and martyrs—who are models of the Christian life from all ages. Saint Emilia, mother of Saint…

Jan 8, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Time is a life between ‘Passing’ and ‘Coming’: Banat Metropolitan reflects on youth in God’s Kingdom

Metropolitan Ioan of Banat told worshippers gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Timisoara on New Year’s Eve that time is like a life lived between two verbs: “to pass” — which denotes biological ageing and the sombre perception of years slipping away — and “to come”, a verb referring to the way a person responds…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Bishop Ioan Casian hails man–woman complementarity as God-given path to human fulfilment

In his New Year message, Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada wrote about the idea of renewal and about the family as a place of spiritual and communal renewal. His message opens with a quotation from St Paul the Apostle: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

UK’s Romanian Orthodox Archbishop Atanasie calls for spiritual vigilance at start of New Year

“This passage between years is also a time of watchfulness. We are not called to judge our lives with harsh severity—which leads to discouragement—but to place them before God with sincerity,” noted Archbishop Atanasie of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a message marking the turn of the year. “The year now drawing to a…

Jan 3, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Whoever receives Christ receives the courage to love: Archbishop Atanasie’s first Christmas pastoral letter

“Whoever receives Christ receives the courage to love, to forgive, and to live without fear. In Him, fear is transformed into trust, and loneliness into a sacred encounter,” noted His Eminence Archbishop Atanasie in his first pastoral letter for the feast of the Nativity since his enthronement as shepherd of Orthodox Romanians in Great Britain…

Dec 22, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian Bishop warns technology threatens young people’s freedom

“Purity of heart is difficult to preserve in this world — but not impossible,” said Bishop Damaschin of Dorna, Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuți, in an interview with Lumina Newspaper about the challenges facing young people in contemporary society. He stressed that, despite the overwhelming flood of digital stimuli and temptations…

Dec 4, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

First Orthodox saints to have lived in the 21st century are all Romanian

Amid the rush of daily life, you may have missed an interesting piece of information: Did you know that the first five Orthodox saints who lived in the 21st century and have since been canonised are all Romanian? The list includes Saint Sofian of Antim, Saint Dionysius of Colciu, Saint Petronius the Prodromite, Saint Antonina…

Nov 26, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Apostles’ Fast in 2026 to last 21 days, longest in eight years

The Apostles’ Fast in 2026 will last 21 days, making it the longest in the past eight years. The fast will begin on Monday, 8 June, and end on Saturday, 28 June, on the eve of the feast of the two great Apostles Peter and Paul. The duration of the Apostles’ Fast varies from year…

Nov 6, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Orthodox Nativity Fast to span 41 days with weekend fish allowances

The Orthodox Nativity Fast in 2025 will run for 41 days — from November 14 to December 24 — during which believers observe dietary discipline, with fish permitted on Saturdays and Sundays except in the first and final week. By contrast, in Orthodox communities that follow the unrevised Julian (Old) Calendar, the Nativity Fast starts…

Nov 5, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Two Romanian Athonite elders canonised by Ecumenical Patriarchate

Two Romanian elders from Mount Athos have been added to the synaxarion by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. They are Hieroschemamonk Niphon (Ionescu), the founder of Prodromos Skete, and Venerable Nectarios (Crețu) the Protopsaltis, also known as the Nightingale of Mount Athos. The canonisations were approved during the Holy Synod meeting of the…

Oct 20, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu