On Tuesday, June 29th 2021, the feast day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, with the blessing of His Eminence Nicolae, the Metropolitan of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, under the care of V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Ene, the eparchial secretary and Dean of New York, New England and Eastern USA, and Mrs. Mirela Manga from the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America, took place a brotherly meeting via the electronic platform Zoom between representatives of our Metropolia and those of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese Dacia Felix from the present day Serbia, more precisely, of the Romanians from Vojvodina and the Timok Valley.

With good cause, His Grace Daniil Stoenescu, the archpastor of Dacia Felix, could not participate, but delegated instead for this importance conference the V. Rev. Fr. Emanuel Tăpălagă, the Vicar of the Diocese. At the invitation of Fr. Theodor Damian, who was the moderator of the meeting, the well-known and appreciated writer Nicu Ciobanu from the community of Romanians from Vojvodina participated in the meeting.

The meeting began with the usual prayer and the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae who explained the role and the meaning of such kind of conferences in this year dedicated by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel and the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the Romanian Diaspora. His Eminence made the connection between the previous meeting with the bishops, priests and Romanian faithful from Bessarabia and the one from now, emphasizing the idea of unity and brotherhood in the sense that the Romanian diaspora is big and diverse, and that this is why the conscience of unity, of our spiritual and cultural identity and of ethnic belonging represents an imperative which we cannot overlook, and which must be actively cultivated.

Afterwards, Fr. Prof. Theodor Damian introduced the first guest of the meeting, Fr. Dr. Emanuel Tăpălagă, Vicar of the Diocese of Dacia Felix and at the same time, dean and parish priest, presenting his academic and ecclesiastical background and the role that he has in the eparchial administration. The Vicar Father offered a series of facts regarding the historical and actual status of the Diocese, talking about parishes, deaneries, circumscriptions, but also about certain characteristics of the pastorship of Romanians from Vojvodina and Timok and offering answers to the other questions posed by the ones that were in attendance.

Fr. Theodor Damian then introduced the second guest of the conference, the writer Nicu Ciobanu, poet, essayist, playwright, editor, complex personality of the intellectual and cultural scene of Serbia but also of Romania, active promoter of Romanian identity values and founder of Romanian culture and communion. In his interventions, Mr. Nicu Ciobanu offered a series of details regarding the life of Romanians from the Dacia Felix Diocese, recalling statistics, historical facts, the essential role of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the life of the Romanians from there at a spiritual, cultural, educational level and answering, likewise, to the many questions that were raised during the discourse.

At the end, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae summarized the entire conference in a few words, thanking the guests, as well as expressing the desire for a continuous collaboration between our communities so that the Romanians from the entire diaspora can have the conscience that, although geographically spread out, spiritually and identitarily, they are one and the same wonderful people.

Fr. Theodor Damian