The Holy Prophet Daniel, a shepherd to his people during the Babylonian exile, is the spiritual protector of Patriarch Daniel of Romania, who leads the Romanian Orthodox Church during a period when Romanians are most extensively spread across all meridians of the globe.
Saint Daniel, honoured on December 17, lived for nearly 90 years and was chosen by God to support the Jewish people before the rulers of their land.
Connecting Patriarch Daniel’s mission to the Prophet Daniel
At the festivities organized last year for Patriarch Daniel’s name day, Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe highlighted aspects of Prophet Daniel’s mission and its resemblance to the ministry to which the current Patriarch of Romania is called.
“The Holy Prophet Daniel, along with the three youths who became his friends – Ananias, Azarias, and Misael – were very young when they went into exile, into captivity. We can compare this today to another form of captivity for the Romanian people. Surely, we do not call it captivity, but it stems from a need that can turn into bondage, the need to survive today and tomorrow, the material needs that have driven millions of our brothers outside Romania,” said His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif.
“When you studied as a young man, you never thought about what God would call you to do. Like the prophet Daniel, whose name you bear, you received an excellent education. And at a certain point, just like the prophet Daniel, God placed you at the forefront of His people,” the metropolitan told the Patriarch, continuing the analogy: “God called you to serve this people and to remind them that the foundation of our salvation is the true faith, which must not, under any circumstances, be set aside for any material gain in this world. And what sustains us, even far from home where we live – about which you rightfully care – is precisely this true faith.”
The two patron saints
The Prophet Daniel, a shepherd to his people during the Babylonian exile, serves as a source of inspiration for the multiple initiatives coordinated by Patriarch Daniel for the benefit of Romanians abroad and as an intercessor before God for their success.
At the same time, Patriarch Daniel also venerates Saint Daniel the Hermit (December 18) as a spiritual protector: “We keep these two commemorations as the remembrance of personal protectors, but also as great intercessors for the Church of Christ,” the Patriarch said in 2021.
Patriarch Daniel: short bio
Patriarch Daniel was born on July 22, 1951, in the village of Dobrești, Timiș County. Among his mentors are Saint Cleopas Ilie, his monastic godfather, and Saint Dumitru Stăniloae, his doctoral supervisor.
He entered monastic life in 1987 at Sihăstria Monastery in Neamț County, receiving the monastic name Daniel.
As a hierarch, he briefly served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Timișoara, then as Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bukovina for 17 years, and since 2007, he has been the Patriarch of Romania.
The name day of Patriarch Daniel is celebrated privately on December 17. His official celebration is on September 30, the day of his enthronement as Patriarch of Romania.
Photo: basilica.ro
Source: basilica.ro