Metropolitan Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly. Photo CCEE-CEC / Ag. Siciliani
13 September 2007 07-0712
Stephen Brown
Sibiu, Romania (ENI). Metropolitan Daniel of Moldavia and Bucovina, who studied in the West and taught at an ecumenical institute near Geneva while his country was under communist rule, has been elected Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
"We look forward to the Romanian Orthodox Church remaining under your leadership a committed partner to the other churches of Europe," Archdeacon Colin Williams, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, said in a letter to Daniel after the announcement of his election on 12 September.
Daniel, widely regarded as being open to Christians of other denominations, received 95 votes out of 161 in a final ballot against Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anani, seen as a more traditionalist candidate.
"There is no doubt that in you there has been elected a Patriarch ... who will see far into the challenges of living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Romania," Williams stated in his letter.
Daniel is a member of the presidium of CEC, which groups most of Europe's Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches. He has also been a member of the central committee of the World Council of Churches.
The election followed the death of Patriarch Teoctist on 30 July, aged 92. "I want to serve the church as Teoctist did," Daniel was quoted telling reporters after his election.
The church said Daniel would be enthroned on 30 September in Bucharest's Patriarchal cathedral.
Born Dan Ilie Ciobotea on 22 July 1951, the newly-elected patriarch received his doctorate from the faculty of Protestant theology in Strasbourg in eastern France in 1979, after studies in Romania, France and West Germany.
He then spent eight years as a lecturer at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute at Bossey near Geneva before returning to his home country in 1988.
Daniel has been archbishop of Iasi and metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina since 1990, the year after a revolution overthrew Romania's communist leader, Nicolae Ceausescu.
Since then, he has founded more than 300 parishes, 40 monasteries, and initiated and supported the building of over 250 new churches, the Patriarchate said on its Web site http://www.patriarhia.ro/CV%20eng.html.
Daniel's election came shortly after the conclusion of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu in central Romania, at which he underlined the role of the church in guarding the faith under communism, "to the extent to which the Romanians remained one of the most religious people ,
accepted
Always oriented on the East-West axis, the church has a ground plan consisting of a nave partinioned as follows: from the main entrance one enters an enclosed passage called pronaos or narthex, which is separated from the naos (or nave) by means of a screen made of fretwork, latticework or wrought iron. Covered with a semicylindrical vault, the naos is the largest part of the church. The altar is placed in the sacristy, which has a polygonal shape and is located towards the East.
, and 
turi noi ?” Am putea formula uşor diferit, şi am spune : viaţă morală sau viaţă duhovnicească ? A nu se înţelege că cele două se opun în mod necesar, dar putem fi de acord că pentru a fi morali nu avem, de fapt, nevoie de Dumnezeu. Fiecare am întâlnit măcar un necredincios foarte virtuos. În acelaşi timp, avem exemple de sfinţi recunoscuţi care nu erau “morali”, în sensul obişnuit al cuvântului. Ştim că sfinţii “nebuni pentru Hristos” făceau tot felul de extravaganţe, de pildă, iar mari Părinţi din pustia Egiptului nu ezitau să mintă (pentru a-l acoperi pe vreun frate care greşise), mîncau brânză şi carne în post (pentru a nu se făli cu nevoinţa lor în faţa altora) sau erau “nepoliticoşi” cu anumiţi vizitatori. Prin urmare, ce să credem ? De ce nu ajunge să fim pur şi simplu morali, şi ce anume face diferenţa ?
t's a wonderful countries, i feel it fascinating, therefore i i dndnt left it,when most GERMAN did, in the communisme, because, i love the romanian good heart, the beautiful landscapes, 
nature ,the traditions, the fascinating legends, ......
Ilie Sina
duminică 7 iunie 2009 la 14:54