09.04.2024
Celebrating the Great Lent with the Romanian Orthodox Church in Dublin
Archbishop Michael Jackson and the Vicar of St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Canon Paul Arbuthnot, were welcomed by members of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Dublin yesterday evening (Monday April 8) to mark the Great Lent.
They joined the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at the St John the Baptist Missionary Centre at Drimnagh Castle.
The Great Lent is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominations of Eastern Christianity. It is intended to prepare Christians for Pascha (Easter). Members of the Orthodox Tradition fast on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays throughout The Great Lent. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is a liturgy which is celebrated on the weekdays of Great Lent.
Following the service, Archbishop Jackson said it was a great pleasure for him and Canon Arbuthnot to mark the Great Lent with members of the Romanian Orthodox community in Dublin.
“We were given the opportunity to share fully in the act of worship and the fellowship which followed,” he commented. “Many thanks to Father Caelin Florea along with his priests and deacon and the priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Dublin for a wonderful evening of ecumenical hospitality.”
The invitation follows the installation of the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Western and Central Europe, Metropolitan Archbishop Joseph, as an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in February.
