At the end of last week, on 17 and 18 October 2015, His Grace Macarie, Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Northern Europe, was in the mid of the faithful of the Romanian Orthodox Parish in the Swedish city of Uppsala, as the official website of the eparchy informs (episcopiascandinavia.se)
On Saturday, 17 October 2015, His Grace Bishop Macarie officiated in the parish church the Divine Liturgy and the Holy Mystery of Baptism for a Swedish-American young family, who had prepared for six years to enter the Orthodox Church. The next day, on Sunday, 18 October 2015, after the Divine Liturgy, His Grace Bishop Macarie officiated the Holy Mystery of Marriage for the two youth: Matthew and Åsa, who had received on Saturday the Holy Mystery of Baptism. The hierarch offered to the newly-weds an icon of the Theotokos and other gifts consisting in books and Romanian traditional objects for their new home.
In his sermon, His Grace Bishop Macarie referring to the Raising of the son of the widow of Nain, affirmed that the two young people who had received the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and Marriage have been risen by Christ from the death of sin and from the shadow of death, in the same way as the young man of Nain had been risen.
The groom, Matthew, confessed the following: “Today my family and I were baptized. This is the end of a six year journey that we travelled together, coming close to Orthodoxy. It has been a long journey; we’ve had many difficulties, and many questions, but in the end we found a community in which we truly feel accepted, having the opportunity to meet other Christians, who have become Orthodox right after their birth. It is wonderful that we have been welcomed to this community. It is not always easy to find such a community, so I am very glad about it and, I am also glad to finally find a Church that will remain unchanged even when my child will reach maturity. This is not a Church that changes with the passing of time, but it stays faithful and keeps the essence of the faith. This will give us strength, to me and my family and to our children, whom we want to bring up in the Christian faith. Therefore, we are very happy that we could finally join a community where this will be possible. We are really happy and blessed that we could receive the Holy Mystery of Baptism and we are now prepared to begin a new life”.
Parish Priest Fr Dan-Virgil Păcurar gave thanks to the Most Merciful God for the gifts bestowed upon the Romanian Orthodox Community in Uppsala, while His Grace Bishop Macarie thanked the parish priest for the catechesis sessions that he had lately carried out for the benefit of the young family converted to Orthodoxy and for crowning these missionary labours by officiating the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and Marriage at the parish church in Uppsala.
In the end, His grace Bishop Macarie blessed and encouraged the present faithful.
