{"id":312444,"date":"2021-03-18T14:27:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=312444"},"modified":"2021-03-18T14:27:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:27:21","slug":"during-the-pandemic-romanians-in-italy-remained-united-and-close-to-god-assistant-bishop-atanasie-of-bogdania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/during-the-pandemic-romanians-in-italy-remained-united-and-close-to-god-assistant-bishop-atanasie-of-bogdania\/","title":{"rendered":"During the pandemic, Romanians in Italy remained united and close to God: Assistant Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalist Cristian Curte published in the weekly Formula AS<\/a> an interview with His Grace Assistant Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania, who explained how the pandemic was felt in the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy. \u201cThe Romanian is connected to the Church and the other Romanians,\u201d said the bishop, and the hidden gift of the scourge was for them a spiritual one: the closeness to God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The churches were abruptly closed on the first Sunday of Lent (2020): even during the Divine Liturgy, the authorities called and demanded the closing of the Divine Liturgy as soon as possible and the churches\u2019 immediate closure.<\/p>\n

In quarantine<\/h1>\n

\u201cThe greatest pain was to serve without believers,\u201d said the assistant bishop. Livestreaming on the Internet does not offer the certainty that what is done in the Church really reaches people\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cTears of joy, Holy Communion or prosphora cannot be transmitted through the Internet. Even our tears, of the altar servants, which we shed when we communed alone, during the quarantine period, could not be transmitted through the Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are accustomed to looking into the eyes of Christians who come to church and to feel the warmth of a physical presence when we pray,\u201d said the Assistant Bishop to the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy. \u201cI felt that the physical presence of the faithful is irreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first post-lockdown Divine Liturgy was celebrated on the feast day of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen. \u201cSaint Constantine the Great was the one who opened the Christian churches in 313, and he also reopened them, here, in a pandemic, giving us a new hope,\u201d said His Grace Bishop Atanasie.<\/p>\n

Romanian solidarity<\/h1>\n

Romanians in Italy got involved and offered support during the quarantine in the peninsula. Those who worked in the food or cleaning industries or government institutions used greater freedom of movement to provide food and hope to those isolated in their homes.<\/p>\n

Gifts were always accompanied by spiritual support: icons or prayer books. \u201cHere was seen the inventiveness of the Romanian, who, in the most difficult situation, when others no longer see solutions, he finds one, to reach his brother, to give him what he needs. And brings him not only food for the body, but also for the soul\u201d the assistant bishop noted.<\/p>\n

Since last autumn, when the number of infections increased, the churches were open, and the number of believers coming to services has increased.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis confirmed to me the fact that the Romanian is connected to the Church and the other Romanians. For us, the Church is the place where you can find yourself and where you can meet with your peers; it is the place where you can find what you left at home, a small Romania,\u201d the hierarch said.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the pandemic’s movement restriction separated the Romanians in Italy from their homeland, His Grace added. Before there were five flights from Rome to Bucharest, now there is only one left and that without constant frequency.<\/p>\n

We sow with tears and reap with joy<\/h1>\n

After the lockdown, hundreds of believers told the hierarch during confession, with tears in their eyes, that the period of self-isolation was the most beautiful of their lives. This is how the purpose of this trial was revealed to him: \u201cFor those deeply rooted in the Church, the challenge turned into spiritual growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic that appeared in the world was like a brake pulled on a high-speed train, explained His Grace Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania. \u201cNaturally, all the things on the train fell, they turned upside down. Those who remained standing were those who had a good spiritual state. They do not generally fall during their lifetime and have not fallen during this pandemic either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the Cross, there can be no Resurrection; without passion, there is no joy. People have turned inwards; grace has moved many hearts during this period. Death is such an objective reality! People understood that they could die. Both you and I can all die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, what saves us is to live grace right now, at this moment. The thought of man meets the thought of God, and the heart of man meets the heart of God. Then you feel the power of grace very intensely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paradoxically, it is not happiness but difficulties that bring us closer to God: \u201cVery rarely do you have the same resonance with the mind of God in your moments of happiness,\u201d the hierarch pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crisis is the moment of truth; where there is a crisis, there is truth because man meets God in a crisis. In the crisis, God decants things, filters them, brings gold to the surface and sets aside everything that covered it and was impurity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything that happens is allowed by God for a purpose. And this purpose will be revealed to the believer sooner or later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always experience a tension between \u2018Why, Lord?\u2019 and \u00abGlory to You, Lord!\u00bb. I am like this, I often say \u201cWhy did you allow it, Lord?\u201d, and the Lord does not answer me in words, but in deeds,\u201d the assistant bishop added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how He answered my questions about this pandemic through the tears of happiness of the believers. And then I didn\u2019t say \u2018Why, Lord?\u2019, But \u2018Glory to You, O, Lord!\u2019 The Lord will always answer our questions and concerns. That is why we should have more confidence in Him because He is at the helm of this ship, which is the Church, but also of the whole world,\u201d the hierarch concluded.<\/p>\n

\n

His Grace Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania is an assistant bishop to the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy. He studied Telecommunications Engineering at INSA Lyon and Theology at the \u201cSaint-Serge\u201d Institute in Paris.<\/p>\n

Between 2010 and 2012, he followed a Master Program in Practical Theology (Canon Law), at the Faculty of Theology \u201cAndrei \u0218aguna\u201d in Sibiu, which he graduated with the dissertation \u201cPrinciples of Canonical Theology in the Diaspora, with special reference to Italy\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recognition of Orthodox Romanians’ philanthropic involvement in Italy during the pandemic, the President of Romania decorated<\/a> the assistant bishop with the National Order \u201cFor Merit\u201d in the rank of Knight.<\/p>\n

Photo source: Formula AS<\/p>\n

Follow us on Twitter: @BasilicaNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalist Cristian Curte published in the weekly Formula AS an interview with His Grace Assistant Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania, who explained how the pandemic was felt in the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy. \u201cThe Romanian is connected to the Church and the other Romanians,\u201d said the bishop, and the hidden gift of the scourge was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":310982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[14308,22837,15256,25292,10386,4794,53,24870,21327],"class_list":["post-312444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora-en","tag-bishop-atanasie-of-bogdania","tag-coronavirus-pandemic","tag-diocese-of-italy","tag-italy-coronavirus","tag-orthodox-news","tag-romanian-diaspora","tag-romanian-orthodox-church","tag-romanians-outside-romania","tag-solemn-year-2021"],"better_featured_image":{"id":310982,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":768,"height":511,"file":"2021\/03\/2602-16-768x511-1.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"2602-16-768x511-1-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2602-16-768x511-1-360x360.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":312444,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2602-16-768x511-1.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312444\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=312444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312444\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310982\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=312444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=312444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=312444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}