Valuing and helping the elderly are expressions of spiritual and social maturity

in the life of the community

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church proclaimed the year 2023 as the Homage Year of the Pastoral Care for the elderly and the Commemorative Year of Hymnographers and Church Chanters.

The care for the elderly, for children and for the poor shows the degree of civilization and the depth of Christian living of a people. From this point of view, we are particularly concerned about the state of social abandonment and disinterest towards the elderly (parents and grandparents), which we often see in today's society.

The traditional human community has always been concerned with the elderly, considering them not a burden, but a source of blessing and wisdom, but also of merciful love, through their participation in the education of children and young people.

Thus, Holy Scripture tells us about the respect that the Jewish community showed to the elderly. In the Old Testament, respect for the elderly was transformed into a commandment that everyone had the duty to fulfill: "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20, 12), or: "Before the gray man, stand up, honor the face of the old man and fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19, 32).

He who did not respect his elderly parents was seen as a blasphemer: "He who forsakes his father is like a blasphemer and cursed by the Lord is he who angers his mother" (Ecclesiastes 3, 16).

The New Testament clearly shows us that the wisdom of the elderly depends on their closeness to God through prayer and the virtuous life they live. Thus, the righteous Simeon was not only a learned man, but also a constant prayerful one, enlightened by the Holy Spirit to recognize the Messiah in the Baby Jesus: "This man was righteous and God-fearing, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him" (Luke 2, 25).

The righteous Simeon will carry in his arms the Word of God become flesh and presents Him as "Light for the discovery of the Gentiles and glory for Your people Israel" (Luke 2, 32).

We understand, in this sense, why the Righteous Simeon becomes a model and protector of the elderly: he was learned, righteous, God-fearing, patient, full of faith and hope.

The bodily weakness of old age is covered by the strength of wisdom, the wealth of knowledge, the beauty of gentleness and kindness. In this sense, St. John Chrysostom says: "The weakness of the body does not in any way harm the strength of faith. The adornment of the Church is the hunchbacked gray hair united with the winged faith. The Church particularly enjoys it"[1]. Old age must also be understood as the age at which we approach the end of our earthly journey, when the Lord Jesus Christ leads us to the house of the heavenly Father (cf. John 14, 2).

Unfortunately, today, there are many old people who live in a lot of loneliness, isolation from the community, feeling somehow useless to it or, moreover, traumatized by their own aging, they even reach despair.

That is why the Church is called to think of new forms and current pastoral methods, getting closer to the needs and expectations of the elderly. At the same time, work must also be done on raising and educating young people in order not to marginalize the elderly, not to abandon them and isolate them in social assistance centers, because young people and elderly people need each other. More precisely, the elderly needs to be comforted and encouraged, and the young need the elderly’s wisdom, patience, and powerful prayer.

The elderly, through their spiritual maturity, can help a lot to preserve Christian values in our culture, for the harmony of society and the family. Therefore, the Church will help the elderly to overcome the lack of confidence, sadness, and isolation, which prevent the elderly from participating actively and with hope in the life of the community.

Of course, in addition to shepherding the elderly, the Romanian Orthodox Church already makes important efforts to help the elderly, through various social centers, actions, and philanthropic programs.

Currently, 21 day care centers, 54 residential care centers and 52 home care services operate at the level of the Romanian Patriarchate, all intended for the elderly.

Also, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church proclaimed the year 2023 as the Commemorative Year of Hymnographers and Church Chanters. If the year 2022 was dedicated to prayer and hesychasm, as a spiritual work of preaching the unceasing prayer of the mind and heart, this year, 2023, we look at prayer, accompanied or supported by church singing, psalmody itself becoming community prayer.

This has its origin in the Psalms of the Old Testament, as Saint Andrew of Crete, one of the great hymnographers of the Church, says: "David, sometimes, signified the chant, writing it as in an icon"[2][2].

The chants contained in the worship books of our Church are the creations of hymnographers inspired by the Holy Spirit and help us understand the scriptural text as part of the Holy Tradition. The texts of the hymns that are chanted in the services of the Orthodox Church deepen and explain the theological richness of the Word of God. Church music is the Gospel chanted.

In this sense, Father Dumitru Stăniloae said about hymnographic language that: "God is so great that only poetry can try to express Him"[3][3]. The theological and spiritual depth of the liturgical texts is given by their permanent watering from the Holy Scriptures and from the writings of the Holy Fathers of the Church who meditated long and deeply on the Word of God.

The theology expressed in the church hymnography is one of the richest in meaning and, at the same time, enlightening for the believers of our Church, therefore it must be used more in the sermons and catechesis of our days.

Hymnographers such as Saint Roman the Melod, Saint John Damascene, Saint Andrew of Crete, Saint Cosmas of Maiuma, Theophanes the Confessor and Joseph the Hymnographer, Casiana and others are composers of church music of great beauty, from the point of view of form, but also of great theological depth.

Liturgical hymns have been chanted on the territory of our country since the beginning of Christianity, and the art or the practice of singing was taught by great teachers and composers both in schools founded by princes, such as the St. Sava School in Bucharest, or in monastic schools, as former school at the Putna Monastery.

We cannot overlook the psaltists or the composers of the liturgical chants of our Church, who were not simple composers or performers, but true creators of culture and national language, such as: Filothei Sin Agăi Jipei, Macarie the Hieromonk, Anton Pann, Ștefanache Popescu, Ioan Popescu-Pasărea and others.

The Commemorative Year of Hymnographers and Church Chanters thus becomes an occasion to commemorate those who labored through their work, inspired by God, to compose church chants and interpret them, for our advancement in the knowledge of God.

And the Homage Year of Pastoral Care for the Elderly urges us to multiply our activities to help grandparents, offering them concrete support as a sign of valuing them and of communion between generations, between young people and parents or between grandchildren and grandparents.

† Daniel

Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

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[1] St. John Chrysostom, in vol. Sermons on royal feasts and speeches of praise to the saints, transl. from Greek and notes by Rev. Prof. Dumitru Fecioru, Ed. of the Biblical and Mission Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest, 2002, p. 559

[2] "The Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete", 7th Canticle, Thursday, in the 5th Week of Lent, in: Triode, Bucharest, Ed. of the Biblical and Orthodox Mission Institute, 2020, p. 427.

[3] Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Marc-Antoine Costa de Beauregard, The Small Dogmatic. Dialogues at Cernica, translated by Maria-Cornelia Oros, Sibiu, Ed. Deisis, 1995, p. 143.