The mission of our Church clergy in relation to Orthodox Romanians’ migration Cover Image

Misiunea slujitorilor Bisericii noastre în contextul migrației românilor ortodocși
The mission of our Church clergy in relation to Orthodox Romanians’ migration

Author(s): Episcop Emilian Crisanul Vlad Nică
Subject(s): Pastoral Theology, Eastern Orthodoxy, Migration Studies, Sociology of Religion, History of Religion
Published by: Editura Institutului Biblic și de Misiune Ortodoxă
Keywords: Orthodox Church; Romanian diaspora; eparchies; hierarchs; priests; mission; migrants;

Summary/Abstract: During history people migrated from an area to another, from a country to another, due to diverse motifs and on diverse purposes. The migration of the Orthodox Romanians started after the year 1990 and is has increased especially after Romanian has entered the European Union (2007), so that, according to the statistics, there are five millions Romanians in diaspora. The Orthodox Church’s care for the believers who left Romania it has been concretized in organizing parishes and eparchies, with shepherds who are serving the Romanians who has settled down abroad, with a great spirit of sacrifice. The Romanians rooted themselves in diverse countries, and the bishops and the priests organized parishes where are being developed pastoral-missionary, cultural-educational, and social-philanthropic activities. Consequently, the Romanian Patriarchy through the Holy Synod it has proclaimed the year 2021 as “The Homage Year of the Pastoration of the Romanian from outside Romania”, as sign of appreciation of the Romanian’s efforts (clerics and laymen) for confessing the Orthodox faith and for preserving their Romanian identity in all of its dimensions, and also for stimulating the connections between the Romanians from home and the ones who left for living abroad. Our Church’s servants haven’t an easy mission. The hierarchs and the priests from abroad they apply missionary means adequate to a pastoration aiming the Romanians coming from diverse provinces of Romania and who live and work in diverse social environments. The Romanians from diaspora they have also other expectations from the priests, and the shepherd must correspond to some complex requests from the believers. The communication means are very useful to the priest for an efficient mission and they are very useful to the believers too. Thus, we aim to develop this theme, having the experience of serving the Romanian parochial communities from other countries, formulating, in the same time, pastoral-missionary strategies which to be practical and bringing good results.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 260-275
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Romanian