In the days preceding the Sunday of parents and children in the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Northern Europe, several specific activities have been carried out, bringing together children, parents and other believers in joy.

Thus, on Wednesday, May 30 and Thursday, June 1, 2018, in Stockholm, Sweden, His Grace Macarie was alongside the parents and children who participated in the Family Picnic organized by the “St. Stephen the Great” Center for Youth (CTSM) and other sporting and recreational activities. Believers from the community in the capital of Sweden prayed and rejoiced spiritually through conversations with His Grace Macarie and priestly ministers.

On Saturday, 2 June 2018, the hierarch held the Divine Liturgy in the Romanian Church in Gothenburg. On this occasion, His Grace Macarie baptized two young girls of young Romanian families, showing the believers that the reception of divine grace through the Holy Sacrament of the Church is the most important event of a man’s life, an event that must also be transformed into a continuum of multiplying and spreading the grace received at Baptism.

On Sunday, June 3, 2018, the hierarch held the Divine Liturgy in the Romanian Parish in Aalesund, Norway. On All Saints Sunday, dedicated to parents and children this year, Father Bishop Macarie blessed those present at the Liturgy and shared gifts to the little ones. After the job, he attended the Christian agape outside the worship place.

In the Eucharistic ministry, the His Grace Macarie urged believers to reflect on the condition of the Romanian and Christian families of today, especially those living in the diaspora. “The preservation of cultural identity is closely related to the preservation of Orthodox faith. This is the only way to ensure a healthy family environment for children. We need to recover the innocent sensitivity and openness of the child to receive in our hearts Christ, the Infant of infants, who tells us: “If you do not return and you will not be like infants, you will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven” 18, 3). One of the distinctive signs that we have not yet lost our childhood is the ability to enjoy the luminous face of infants, be it ours or others, their serene look and the smile that blossoms them on the face. Someone said that without child within you are a lost adult”, the hierarch said.

These days in the Diocese of Northern Europe a collection was organized to give 100 bikes to the poor children in Copsa Mica, Romania.