Romanian Orthodox Church

Russian Patriarch Kirill presented President Igor Dodon with a Russian religious order on Wednesday on the first day of the Moldovan leader's official visit to Moscow.

"His Holiness gave me the Order of St. Sergius de Radonezh, in the second degree, for the active support shown for the public initiatives of the Orthodox Church in Moldova," Dodon wrote on Facebook.

Tens of thousands of Orthodox Christian believers are expected to arrive starting on Thursday in the eastern Romanian city of Iasi for the country's largest and most well-known pilgrimage dedicated to St Parascheva, deemed the protector of Moldova and Bukovina.

Many Romanian Orthodox Christians believe that the relics hosted by the cathedral in Iasi have miraculous healing powers.

The Arab Republic of Egypt plays an important role in Romania's strategy to develop relations with states in Africa and the Middle East, being in fact Romania's main trade partner in the region.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, who is on a two-day visit to the Kingdom of Spain, met on Thursday with President of the Government of Spain Pedro Sanchez; the two officials discussed economic exchanges, road and rail infrastructure cooperation and Romania's bid to join the Schengen, the government said in a release.

A mid-year Romanian government budget overhaul that cut funding for institutions including the presidential administration to increase spending on a large Orthodox cathedral in central Bucharest have increased tensions with the country's president.

Romania and Georgia are planning to get to know each other better and to learn more about each other's history, to mark some of the important moments for the two countries and to develop bilateral economic cooperation, Romania's Ambassador to Georgia Radu Liviu Horumba told an interview granted to AGERPRES.

Ambassador of Armenia to Romania Sergey Minasyan states in an interview granted to AGERPRES that, in his opinion, the Armenian community in Romania enjoys a "privileged position" and is integrated within the society, the Romanian people's tolerance can set "a good example for many other countries."

The Holy Light from Jerusalem will be brought on Saturday evening aboard a special aircraft by a delegation of the Romanian Patriarchy, headed by Vicar Bishop of the Archbishopric of Bucharest Timotei Prahoveanul.

The Holy Light will be offered at the Resurrection mass by Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel to the clergy and believers present at the Patriarchal Cathedral.

Romania says it will issue 14 working and diplomatic passports to clergy of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia, which is canonically subordinate to the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church in the former Soviet republic is split between the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, which is subordinate to the Moscow Partriarchate.

Thousands of Christian Orthodox pilgrims from Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine were expected to gather on Thursday in a village in southeastern Romania to hear a mass dedicated to the Apostle St Andrew, Romania's patron saint.