The social maturity of a society, as well as the rootedness of Christianity in it, is measured by how it treats the elderly, children and the poor: this is the message of the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania Daniel on the occasion of declaring 2023 a year dedicated to pastoral work and social care towards the elderly.
“We are particularly concerned,” explained the Orthodox Patriarch of Romania during a ceremony in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, “the state of social abandonment and lack of concern for the elderly (parents and grandparents) that we often find in today’s society.” In fact, today there are many elderly people living in loneliness and isolation, in addition to the fact that the segment of the elderly population in Romania is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, according to a demographic study published by Eurostat in 2015. The study reveals that if people over the age of 60 accounted for 10.3% of the total population of Romania in 1990, the percentage is expected to be higher than 21.8% in 2080.
Therefore, the Synod of the Orthodox Church in Romania decided to dedicate the year 2023 to the elderly, in order to support them in the current context of individualism and secularization. And as Patriarch Daniel mentions, the Bible always stresses respect for the elderly generation, which also plays an important role in the upbringing and upbringing of future men. Thus “the Church is called – continued the Orthodox Patriarch in Romania – to think of new forms and temporary pastoral methods that meet the needs and aspirations of the elderly. At the same time, we must also work on the growth and education of young people so that the elderly are not marginalized, abandoned or isolated in aid centers. Social The young and the old need each other.
For the Orthodox Church in Romania, “grandparents” care has become a reality, with 21 day centers, 54 residential institutes and 52 mobile home help services. Indeed, pastoral concern and social/material assistance must go hand in hand, according to Patriarch Daniel. An example of this is in Bucharest, in the palliative care center “St. Nectarie”, where each year more than 500 patients and elderly people receive housing, medical care and spiritual and psychological counseling. Other reference points for the elderly are in Cluj and the Roman and Bacau Parishs, which has 13 social centers for the elderly.
At the ceremony of announcing the year dedicated to the elderly, the icon representing the theme of the year was presented. The Orthodox Patriarch in Romania, Daniel, said that the icon represents two characters from the Old Testament who were entitled to live more than a hundred years and see the child Jesus, and they are Simon and Anna, the saints that the Orthodox Church celebrates on February 3, immediately following the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. They are examples and intercessors for elderly people.
Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel concluded by saying that the Year dedicated to the pastoral care of the elderly motivates us to multiply our activities in favor of grandparents, and to offer them tangible support as a sign of appreciation and communion between generations, between young people and parents, or between grandchildren and grandparents.
