His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrated the Akathistos of Jesus Christ, our Lord, at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, at the beginning of the civil New Year 2014, assisted by a group of priests and deacons, in the presence of many faithful.
The Akathistos service was accompanied by thanksgiving prayers for the boons received last year and for the beginning of the new one. Thus, four prayers were said: Prayer of Saint Isaac the Syrian to the Saviour (Akathistos), Thanksgiving prayer and two prayers for the beginning of the New Year, one according to the Romanian and Slavonic Liturgical tradition (at the Te Deum) and another one according to the Greek tradition, recently translated into the Romanian language.
To end with, the Patriarch of Romania addressed all those present the speech entitled “Thanksgiving or gratitude – the highest human dignity”, in which he showed, among other things, that we must thank God for the gifts bestowed over us.
This religious service is a good opportunity to make solemn the beginning of the New Year, to thank the Most Holy Trinity for the boons received, to pray for the blessing of the New Year to begin, and to deepen the meaning of the royal feast of 1 January.
