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One Orthodox community in the Republic of Moldova is experiencing the joy of finally having their own church. And the Church of Sts. Seraphim of Sarov, Catherine, and John (Maximovitch) in the Chișinău suburb of Floreni was built in just 40 days, basilica.ro reports.
His Eminence Metropolitan Petru of Bessarabia blessed the church with holy water on Saturday, December 11, 2021.
Emphasizing rector Fr. Gabriel Andrei Gherasa’s wise and able use of the money raised over the years for the building of the new church, Metropolitan Petru called on the faithful to continue to support him and work together with him in every good deed.
In turn, Fr. Gabriel thanked His Eminence and all those who laboured in love to realize the community’s aspirations to have its own church.
“It is true that we worked hard, but the love you have shown me so many times has made everything easy. All the gratitude belongs to some lovers of the house of God, some of them are with us today, others for blessed reasons are not here, who have endured and have tolerated me with all insistence,” the priest said.
Following the service, a baldachin for a copy of the Assuage Our Sorrows Icon of the Mother of God and a reliquary with fragments of the relics of Sts. Seraph, Catherine, and John Maximovitch were blessed.
The Metropolitan of Bessarabia offered several distinctions to those who supported the construction of the first church in Floreni in such a short time.
Among them was Father Florin Aldea from Păltinoasa Parish, Suceava County, who received the Cross of the Metropolis of Bessarabia.
