Between July 1 and July 3, 2022, the 84th Congress of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America took place at the Holy Trinity Church in Troy, MI. After a long break of four years, during which the priests and delegates only met virtually at the 2020 Congress, due to the restrictions caused by the Covid virus, all those present looked forward to this moment with great enthusiasm.
The meeting began on Friday, July 1, 2022 at 9.00 am with the Hierarchical Liturgy served by His Eminence Nicolae, Archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America and Metropolitan of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, in concelebration with other clergy. According to a tradition established for years, immediately after the Divine Liturgy, those fallen asleep were commemorated when the official book of the Archdiocese with the priests, deacons, founders, and benefactors who have fallen asleep was read. Afterward, His Eminence Nicolae together with the concelebrating priests and in the presence of the delegates present at the Congress served the Te-Deum service for the beginning of the works of the Congress.
After a short lunch and a prayer of invocation of the Holy Spirit, V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Ene, the Secretary of the Eparchial Council recorded the attendance of the priests and delegates from the Romanian Orthodox parishes in the USA. The quorum met, His Eminence Nicolae officially declared the opening of the 84th Congress of the Archdiocese.
In his opening remarks, Metropolitan Nicolae expressed his joy to see us face to face, talking about the importance of our communion and concelebration, welcoming everyone and thanking V. Rev. Fr. Călin Barbolovici and the parish of the Holy Trinity in Troy for hosting them.
Once the work agenda was approved and the Secretariat was appointed, the Validation and Nomination Committees were proposed and approved, and the minutes of the 2020 Virtual Congress were read. The minutes were voted on and unanimously approved.
This Congress is also a special one because it marks 20 years since the clergy delegates and lay people present at the Special Electoral Congress held on March 9, 2002, also at the Holy Trinity Parish in Troy, Michigan, elected Fr. Nicolae Condrea in the vacant seat of Archbishop. As such, 20 years have passed since the service of His Eminence Nicolae on American soil. On this occasion, the Archbishop and Metropolitan Nicolae presented an impressive activity report from the last 20 years. The report presented produced among those present a lot of admiration and gratitude for the sacrifice of our Hierarch during all this time he worked with time and without time for the good of the Archdiocese. Traveling along and across the North American continent, visiting Romanian parishes, strengthening parish priests, advising parish councils, serving God on every occasion produced results and blessings for the entire Archdiocese. After the presentation of the impressive activity report, His Eminence Nicolae was applauded openly for minutes by all those present.
After a short break, the Archdiocesan Congress resumed with a conference by V. Rev. Protosyngellos Ieremia Berbec, Abbot of St. Demetrius the New Monastery in Middletown, NY, on “Prayer, the breath of our lives.” 2022 was proclaimed by the Romanian Patriarchate as a Homage Year of prayer in the life of the Church and of the Christian and a Commemorative Year of the Hesychastic Saints Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas and Paisius Velichkovsky. On this occasion, the conferences held at the Congress of the Archdiocese are related to these two topics. Fr. Ieremia spoke about unceasing prayer and breathing through prayer, giving examples and concrete advice that can be useful in the prayer of each believer.
The next item on the agenda of the Congress was the presentation of V. Rev. Fr. Nicolae Clempuș from the Romanian Orthodox Church of St. Mary of Dacula, Georgia entitled: “Fundraising in the Church, advantages and disadvantages, how to better accomplish it.” Fr. Nicolae spoke about the possibility for parishes to receive online donations through various platforms; the organization of various virtual fundraising campaigns and the countless possibilities offered by the virtual world today; the advantages of the online presence of our communities through the web pages of the parishes, through the modern methods of communication and parish marketing in order to have a good virtual presence. In this manner, the parish opens its gates to a world without borders.
Then came the reports. Mrs. Mirela Manga from the Holy Trinity Church in Troy, the host parish, presented the report of the Education Committee: school curriculum, Sunday schools, religion Olympics and other important programs of the Department of Education within our Archdiocese.
V. Rev. Fr. Vasile Mureșan from Sts. Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Chicago then presented the report of the Publications Department: The Faith Magazine, which since the pandemic has been published only virtually, The Faith Almanac, yearbook of the Metropolia that reflects the activities of our parishes and publishes general articles; other future projects such as the publication of a bilingual Romanian-English Book of Needs.
The report of the Youth Organization (ROYA - Romanian Orthodox Youth in Americas) was presented by the President of the Organization: Pompiliu Gîrlonța from the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Sacramento, CA. Pompiliu spoke about the activities carried out by ROYA in the last two years, emphasizing the summer and winter camps, the visits to Romania and the collaboration with ASCOR. Also, the ROYA Congress was mentioned, which will be organized in the autumn of 2022 and where the new board of directors will be elected. Pompiliu asked the priests of the Archdiocese to be more active with the young people in the parish and invited them to a better collaboration. He also thanked His Eminence Nicolae for the uninterrupted support of the last 20 years because, through his efforts, ROYA has become more active and more present in the life of the parishes.
The first day of the Congress ended with the Clergy Conference. The meeting of His Eminence Nicolae with the priests of the Archdiocese provided an opportunity for important discussions about the role of each of us in maintaining the unity of faith and living on the American continent, the effort that we must each make to maintain this unity. In a divided world, first of pandemic and fear of disease, then of war between brothers of faith, we are called not only to speak of unity, but to put it into practice through concrete gestures of fraternal communion to show believers that unity starts from us. The presence at the Congress of the Archdiocese and concelebration is one of these unifying signs of our unity, concluded His Eminence Nicolae.
The second day of the Congress, July 2, 2022, began with the conference of Rev. Fr. Radu Bordeianu entitled: “The Church after the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas.” Inscribed in the cycle of the conferences of The Solemn Year of the Hesychastic Saints Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas and Paisius Velichkovsky, this presentation by Fr. Radu brought into discussion the theology of grace, hesychastic practice and the contribution of St. Gregory Palamas in defining the Eastern Church. Several questions were asked on this subject and an uplifting discussion took place regarding the translations of Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae from the writings of St. Gregory Palamas.
V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Ene, Secretary of the Diocesan Council and Dean for Eastern USA, then held a presentation entitled: “Gratitude, the State of Communion between the Giver and the Receiver. Give when you need it too. Case Study.” Father Daniel spoke about his missionary experience in the countries of South America, especially the tragedy of the people of Venezuela. The Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas also includes an Orthodox parish in Venezuela. The Maramures-style wooden church of Sts. Constantine and Helen, where Rev. Fr. Antonio Garcia serves, is in the care of our Archdiocese. Father Daniel impressed all those present by telling the needs and difficulties that this parish is going through and how they manage to help a lot of people through their “one soup a day” program. Several videos from Father Daniel’s experience in South America and the tragedy of emigration from Venezuela were watched. After the presentation of Fr. Daniel, those present were divided into three working groups where the proposed topic of almsgiving and its types were discussed. At the end of the group work time, the conclusions and ideas reached by those present were presented.
Before lunch there was a beautiful anniversary moment dedicated to His Eminence Nicolae on celebrating 20 years of hierarchical service. Those present were joined by His Grace Ioan Casian of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada, who came with several gifts. His Eminence Nicolae then received several congratulatory messages on the occasion of the anniversary, starting with the message of congratulation and blessing of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, followed by messages from Organizations throughout the Metropolia. The congratulatory messages and gifts received were accompanied by a long applause from all those present at the Congress.
This anniversary moment was followed by the second series of reports. Mr. Viorel Moroșan, the treasurer of the Archdiocese, presented the financial reports for the last two years and the budget proposal for the next two years. After several discussions and questions, the Archdiocese’s budget was approved by Congress.
The next report was that of the deans of the three US deaneries. Father Daniel Ene presented the report for the Eastern USA Deanery, Father Călin Barbolovici presented the report for the Central Deanery, and Father Mihai Bălan for the Western USA Deanery.
The last activity report was that of the Ladies’ Organization (AROLA, the Ladies’ Auxiliary Association of Romanian Orthodox Women in America) presented by Mrs. Adriana Munteanu Obreja. The special programs of the organization were highlighted. The charity project “You are not alone,” St. Catherine's scholarship for first year female students at the College, the organization’s contribution to the Dumitru Staniloae scholarship for young students in Theology, conferences and meetings in the last two years. The rich activity report of the Ladies’ Organization concluded the presentation of the reports.
In the last part of the working day, V. Rev. Fr. Nicholas Apostola read the official letters sent to the US civil authorities and the proposal of the Nomination Commission for the members of the Eparchial Council and of the Eparchial and Metropolitan Consistory.
In his closing remarks, His Eminence Nicolae thanked all those present for the effort to come to this Congress, expressing once again the joy of seeing us in person and face to face, congratulating everyone for the rich activity and advising the parish priests to go home to their parishes and carry on this message, to pass on to the faithful what they saw and heard during the two days of the Congress. His Eminence Nicolae once again thanked the host parish by offering an icon of the solemn year and a reliquary with the holy relics of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine and the Venerable Father Irodion of Lainici. The Parish Priest Călin Barbolovici received from His Eminence Nicolae the American Metropolitan Cross for clergy, and Marius and Mirela Manga family, the American Metropolitan Cross for lay people.
Saturday night’s Vespers was served by His Grace Ioan Casian together with several priests. His Eminence Nicolae thanked His Grace Ioan Casian for his presence and congratulated him on his 16th anniversary of his hierarchical service, on the 2nd of July, offering him the icon of the solemn year and a set of engolpion and cross.
The Congress of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America culminated on Sunday, July 3, 2022, with the Hierarchical Liturgy concelebrated by His Eminence Nicolae together with His Grace Ioan Casian and the priests present at the Congress. It was also the anniversary Divine Liturgy as a sacrifice of thanks for the 20 years of hierarchical service of our Archbishop and Metropolitan Nicolae.
V. Rev. Fr. Nicolae Clempus
