sanctification

Escape the idolatry of performance! We sanctify by presenting ourselves to God as we are, Bucharest abbot says

“Holiness, indeed, is the impossible. It is the impossible that God demands of man,” Protosyncellus Arsenie Irimiea, the abbot of Darvari Skete Monastery in Bucharest, told the faithful on the Sunday of All Saints. Yet, most often, we “offer God mere theatre,” he cautioned. In this regard, the abbot recalled that God tells the Israelites…

Jun 18, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Sanctification of humankind was the purpose of Pentecost, Patriarch Daniel explains

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel explained that the Sunday of All Saints follows immediately after Pentecost because “the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world is the sanctification of humankind.” The Patriarch emphasized that this feast primarily reveals the ultimate goal for which Christ founded the Church. “The Church of Christ was…

Jun 16, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel’s Christmas Homily: The world is sanctified through Christ’s birth as a divine gift for humanity

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel presided over the festal Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral on Wednesday, marking the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, and explained that “by coming into the world, Jesus sanctifies the world as a gift from God to humanity.” His Beatitude referred to the Saviour’s humble obedience to God the…

Dec 26, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Holy Chrism is the foundation and the source of the sanctification of Church life, Patriarch Daniel says

After leading the sanctification of the Holy Chrism on Maundy Thursday, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel spoke about its meaning and use in the Orthodox Church, noting that the Holy Chrism is ‘the foundation and the source of the sanctification of Church life’. On Thursday, April 25, 2019, the Patriarch of Romania together with other hierarchs…

Apr 26, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Basilica Photos: Vesperal Divine Liturgy on Maundy Thursday & Sanctification of Holy Chrism

The members of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church gathered on Maundy Thursday at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest to celebrate the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil, during which the Holy Chrism was sanctified. Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Mircea Florescu

Apr 26, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Daniel performs Great Blessing of Waters. ‘Today we re-experience the Great Mystery of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River’

At the end of the Great Blessing of Waters on Saturday, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel told the faithful that the feast of the Theophany ‘reveals the renewal or the update of Christ’s Baptism, but also the renewal of the Baptism of each and every one of us.’ Speaking about the rite of the Great Blessing…

Jan 8, 2018Aurelian Iftimiu

9 inspirational quotes from Patriarch Daniel on how to relate to creation

The entire creation is made for sanctification and blessing. This is why we, who are baptised in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, must behave in the world in such a way as to bless and hallow the place we live in and take good care of God’s creation. Do not deform creation, do…

Sep 1, 2017Aurelian Iftimiu