“Joys from the Romanian heart”- the third meeting
The week leading up to the last meeting was one of the most emotional for the parish of Glasgow. Fr. George, together with Fr. Deacon Ioan and Andrei Costin (the soul of this project!) distributed all the gifts to the children in less than a week, so that, by the last meeting, all the children in Glasgow had received the long-awaited gifts. Parents spoke of their children’s joy:
“How much joy at home!!! Thanks a lot! The children are very excited about the gifts!” (Raluca Berhiu, Glasgow)
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the surprise made by Denisa Maria. God help something beautiful come from tomorrow and congratulations on this wonderful project. We wish you good health!” (Cristina Coutun, Glasgow)
“I want to say with great joy that the gifts for Sofia have arrived precisely in the Republic of Moldova, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! God help!” (Ilaria Negara, Glasgow)
The meeting started with a prayer-song sung by two children from Brăila, “Lord, protect the Romanians!” which created from the beginning an atmosphere of mystery, of spiritual thrill. Then, Andrei Costin from Glasgow confessed that, although he had scheduled to make an announcement towards the end of the meeting, after this beginning, he decided to reveal the surprise that the community of Glasgow had prepared. He spoke of fulfilling mercy and that, in fact, we are the ones who seek mercy, according to the words of the Saviour: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!” That’s why, speaking on behalf of the Glasgow community, he announced that they wanted to start contributing, as far as we are able, to the extraordinarily rich philanthropic activity of the Holy Archangel parish, since we are now brothers.
It was a heart-to-soul meeting in which the children took the initiative: they talked to each other, they all introduced themselves, they talked about their patron saints, they thanked the children of Braila for the gifts sent, they showed the drawings they made for those in Brăila. The children from Braila then surprised us, showing us some behind-the-scenes pictures in which we saw how they prepared their gifts with much love for the children of Glasgow to enjoy.
Then Fr. Deacon John (Scottish) spoke in Romanian language, introducing the children to information about local Orthodox saints. The children of the two parishes presented their dedication and sang the troparia of the patron saints. And because we have twinned with a community protected by the Holy Archangels, the children also decided that praying to their guardian angel would be their common prayer, promising that from now on, not an evening will pass without saying this prayer for their new friends.
The children sang in Romanian, English, Greek and Russian, told us poems and told us how they delighted others with their activities. A very emotional moment was when Fr. Mark, the Scottish priest, recited in Romanian together with a child from Brăila “What I wish for you, sweet Romania!” Children from both parishes competed to surprise each other. Some children from Glasgow and Braila surprised Fr. Mark and Fr. Ioan with songs in Scottish and Greek, and two little girls played the whistle. Maria Hrițcu from Brăila even composed a poem for the children of Glasgow. Both parishes prepared surprise photos in which others would recognize people from their own parish participating in activities in the twinned parish. A special moment experienced by children was when Fr. Mark, the parish priest of the Greek church in Glasgow, told riddles to the children of Brăila. There was no lack of patriotic songs and the screen was filled with Romanian flags waved by all children when Teodora Zamfirescu from Glasgow sang, with great longing “Bucovina, plai cu flori”.
As proof of the fact that these two parishes are twinned, there was also the surprise moment prepared by the four children of Father George for His Eminence Casian, Archbishop of the Lower Danube. They sang “Our Master and Bishop”, wished His Eminence Cassian all good things for St. John Cassian’s day and invited him to come and meet our parish.
A vmuch appreciated moment was the one dedicated to the Romanian village. Children sang folk songs, presented pictures from the activities dedicated to the Romanian village in which they participated. Amaica’s family from Glasgow impressed everyone present when they talked about how they managed to bring the Romanian village to Glasgow. Then, the children from Braila and Glasgow told us about traditional cabbage leaves, and those from Braila presented us with moments from the meeting organized on the occasion of Homage Year of the Romanian Village”. Daria and George from Glasgow told us how they impressed their Scottish schoolmates when they showed them traditional Romanian food. Even Fr. Christopher Wallace, a Scottish priest who converted to Orthodoxy and now serves under the Romanian Patriarchate, learned to make stuffed cabbage leaves and the children were very impressed to see him in a short film explaining how Romanian stuffed cabbage leaves are made.
The presentation of the ties between the two parishes was a heartfelt moment of the meeting, in which members of the two parishes joyfully discovered themselves in surprise pictures taken on various occasions when they had visited or participated in events organized by the twinned parish. The twinning model made by the children from Braila for the children from Glasgow impressed and excited all participants.
Joint activities were planned, in which all children of the two parishes are eager to participate. A joint Braila-Glasgow group was set up to get involved in the philanthropic actions carried out by Holy Archangels parish in Brăila. Braila County Library will get involved with Romanian teachers in Braila and Glasgow in organizing online activities for the children of the two parishes. Already friends, they will keep in touch through various activities that will be organized in the future. They have already sent each other drawings showing longing and love for each other. It was also proposed to organize spiritual evenings for members of both parishes, and Fr. Victor and Fr. Mihai have announced that they will make every Thursday the akathist of a patron saint of the diaspora, at which they will mention their brothers in Glasgow.
At the end, those present reflected on the bond created through this project and shared what they learned from these meetings. Andrea Ross from Glasgow said: “How beautiful Orthodox Romanians are, such beautiful experiences, I don’t know how to explain this, but I always wondered what it would have been like if I had grown up in an Orthodox family, but now I think that emptiness in me or this lack was somehow filled with the feelings I have had for the past three Sundays. Now I feel that I am also part of a big Christian family in Romania, and I lived the childhood of the Orthodox child through the little children in Braila and Glasgow, through everything they, the little ones, did for us!” And Fr. Mark concluded: ”Holy Archangels flew to us from Braila, and those in Glasgow welcomed them with joy and embraced their brothers in Romania just like Simeon embraced Christ. Added together, we have all experienced a small miracle through God’s love. This beautiful initiative, especially during the pandemic, has sweetened the souls of people who long for their homeland and has given us all a foretaste of our heavenly homeland. Thank you all with all our hearts!” Fr. Mihai said that all the fatigue of the day disappeared by participating in this meeting, that four hours passed almost imperceptibly. In the end, it was very difficult for us to part: “Everything was so nice! Sorry it can’t last longer!! You are really people who enlighten other people!!”, said Catalina Pațelea from Brăila. The electronic card made by the children from Glasgow for their new friends from Braila added extra excitement to our meeting! All the children had messages in their hands in which they shared their love and longing for each other and promised themselves that they would do their best to see each other face to face!
With this last meeting, the project came to an end, but it opened the door to a lasting collaboration. Therefore, we pray that this link that has been created will not be broken, that it will remain open permanently. People discovered each other, themselves and their community, as Mrs. Elena Budea from the USA well observed: “Through this action you will be twinned with the Church of Holy Archangels, but I do not know if you realized that the greatest achievement is the twinning between you members of the parish, who contributed in great and small ways with so much love to the realization of this project. I was impressed by everything you accomplished in such a short time.” Fr Mihai said: “You gave us nectar tonight!” Gicuța Caragață from Brăila asked us to continue to be Romania’s messengers abroad because, as Fr. Victor exclaimed: “Orthodoxy is in good hands!”
We believe that all these meetings helped us to live in closer brotherhood, through that thing we have in common, Christ. We all felt that the Savior was in our midst, that the Kingdom of God is nothing else than what we experienced tonight, that there is no greater happiness than that of being together (as St. Basil the Great said). We all parted with the assurance voiced by Andrei Costin: ”the project “Joys from the Romanian heart” is just beginning, it is not ending!”
