In the address delivered on Thursday at the Patriarchal Cathedral, marking the proclamation of 2026 in the Romanian Patriarchate as the Solemn Year of Christian Family Ministry and the Commemorative Year for the Holy Women in the Church Calendar, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Daniel, spoke about the essential role of the family and of women in cultivating and promoting Christian identity.
"The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has proclaimed 2026 as the Solemn Year of Christian Family Ministry and the Commemorative Year for the Holy Women in the Church Calendar (Myrrh-bearers, martyrs, nuns, wives, and mothers), thus acknowledging the essential role that the family and women play in cultivating and promoting Christian identity, as well as in passing down the Christian faith from one generation to the next. In our time, when the institution of the family faces multiple challenges and the role of women in the Church and in society calls for deeper appreciation, it is necessary to emphasize that the family is the fundamental nucleus of the Christian community, and that the Christian woman - wife and mother - is the primary bearer of faith, generous love, and steadfast piety," Patriarch Daniel said, agerpres reports.
The Patriarch emphasized that "the Church has the mission to support and strengthen the Christian family, offering pastoral guidance and spiritual support for all stages of family life: preparing young people for marriage, the Christian education of children, resolving internal problems, and deepening the bonds of love between family members."
He brought to mind that the Christian family is not only a cell or social unit, but also a "small church", as Saint John Chrysostom described it, or "the domestic church", in the words of Blessed Augustine. He added that "the Holy Scripture presents God's relationship with the world as one of intimacy, like a marriage and a family."
"The Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition show us the special worth of the faithful woman in the life and mission of the Church, particularly in transmitting faith in God. The Church has upheld the dignity of women especially through the veneration of the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ideal of femininity and Christian life, bearer of God and holiness, calling Her the All-Holy (Panagia). She is at once Virgin and Mother, the icon of the Church sanctified by the grace of the Most Holy Trinity, of humanity bearing Christ, and of humble, merciful, and generous love. Alongside the Mother of the Lord, the holy Myrrh-bearers showed steadfast faith and exemplary devotion to Jesus Christ; they were the first human persons to receive the great news of His Resurrection and the first to proclaim it to His disciples," Patriarch Daniel explained.
He also noted that "throughout Christian history, the holy women have shown that the path to holiness does not depend on belonging to a certain social category, but on the cooperation of the human person with divine grace", mentioning in this regard "the holy martyrs who confessed their faith at the cost of their lives, the holy nuns who embraced repentance, fasting and unceasing prayer, as well as the holy Christian wives and mothers who enriched the Orthodox tradition of holiness through the example of a Christian life lived in the midst of the family, the ecclesial community and society."
According to His Beatitude Daniel, the Christian family finds models of holy life in numerous saintly families in the history of the Orthodox Church, like for instance, in the 4th century, the family of Saint Basil the Great: his parents Basil and Emilia, grandmother Macrina the Elder, and five of the children - Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Peter of Sebaste, Venerable Naucratius, and Saint Macrina the Younger; all eight were canonized as saints in the calendar of the Orthodox Church.
"In such concrete models of Christian life, the family becomes the environment where Christian virtues are learned and practiced: fervent prayer, humble and merciful love, patience, forgiveness, and helping those in need," the Patriarch added.
He recalled that in 2025, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized sixteen Romanian women with holy lives, and the general proclamation of their canonization will take place at the beginning of 2026, while the local proclamations will follow throughout the year, according to their feast days set in the calendar.
"These new Romanian women saints show us that the Romanian Orthodox Church has always been blessed with faithful and pious women, who fought the good fight of faith and completed their earthly journey in holiness (cf. 2 Timothy 4:7) through many forms of service: mothers whose children became saints, martyrs who defended the Christian faith with their blood, nuns who prayed and labored in monasteries, women confessors who endured persecution for the name of Christ, and wives of voivodes or rulers who supported the Church and the Romanian nation," Patriarch Daniel went on to say.
According to him, these holy Romanian women are "both models of Christian living and prayerful in heaven for the Christian family", especially today, when the family is facing many challenges manifested by rising divorce numbers, the weakening of ties between generations, the diminishing role of the family in the religious education of children, and others.
The Patriarch spoke about the need for the Church to intensify pastoral efforts to support the Christian family.
"Young people in many families are struggling with new addictions or dependencies such as drugs, alcoholism, gambling (which have become a social plague especially through the exaggerated promotion of online games), excessive use of the internet (in its various addictive forms) and others. Therefore, it is necessary for the Church to intensify its pastoral efforts to support the Christian family, to develop counseling and support programs for families in difficulty, to provide adequate religious education for children and to promote the values of the confessing Christian family," His Beatitude Daniel also conveyed.
The Patriarch indicated that the Romanian Orthodox Church will continue to provide support through family counseling centers, marriage preparation programs, through social assistance initiatives and through the activity of women's organizations.
"By proclaiming 2026 as Year of Tribute and Commemoration, the Romanian Orthodox Church wishes to strengthen the cultivation of Christian life within the family, the love between husband and wife, between children and parents, and the love for the Church and nation, for the glory of the Holy Trinity and the good of the Romanian people," His Beatitude Daniel concluded.
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