Patriarch Daniel Urges Prayer and Compassionate Love, Citing Saints Demetrius the New and Elizabeth of Pasărea

Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel has urged Christians to strengthen family life through prayer, mutual care and practical support for those in need. He said the examples of St Demetrius the New and St Elizabeth of Pasărea show that holiness remains possible in every generation.

In an address during the Way of the Saints procession in Bucharest on Saturday, 24 October, the patriarch highlighted the role of families in passing on the Christian faith. He called on parish communities to support people facing illness, poverty, separation and loneliness.

“God is at work in every generation and continually calls people to holiness,” Patriarch Daniel said. He pointed to St Elizabeth of Pasărea, who died in 2014, as an example of how prayer and humble service can transform everyday life.

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church proclaimed 2026 the Solemn Year of Pastoral Care for the Christian Family and the Commemorative Year of Holy Women in the Church Calendar, covering myrrh-bearers, martyrs, monastics, wives and mothers. The patriarch said the Christian family is the place where a child learns to pray, to receive and give love, to ask forgiveness and to show mercy.

He said numerous families had come to venerate the reliquary containing the relics of St Demetrius the New, patron saint of Bucharest, during the annual pilgrimage. Parents came with their children, and grandparents with their children and grandchildren. Their prayers before the relics, he said, showed the bond between generations and how faith is passed on through older family members and through shared participation in the life of the Church. Such pilgrimages can become lasting memories for children and young people, a sign of the next generation carrying the faith forward (Psalm 78:4).

On the feast of St Demetrius the New this year, the faithful also received for veneration the reliquary containing the relics of St Elizabeth of Pasărea. The patriarch said St Demetrius lived in the thirteenth century, while St Elizabeth lived in the present era, experiencing its trials before her repose in the Lord in 2014. Both, he said, teach that people can grow in communion with God through prayer, humility and compassionate love.

The patriarch also said the holy women of the Church are examples of faith and courage for all Christians, and that their holiness reveals the power of God’s grace to renew human life. He noted that at the heart of the veneration of holy women stands the Most Holy Mother of God, who accepted with faith and humility the calling to become the Mother of the incarnate Son of God.

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