International Orthodox Youth Day

2023

This day of celebration gives us a good opportunity to reflect on a generation that represents the present and the future but also on a blessed age – the youth. Marked annually on February 2, the International Day of Orthodox Youth was established in June 1992, during the 14th General Assembly of Syndesmos - the World Organization of Orthodox Youth.

The Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada, through all the actions carried out within the Department of Education, promotes, and stimulates the actions and involvement of young people at the level of the parishes and monasteries as well as the diocese, in volunteer activities and in the interaction with the elders of the place. This year the Diocese of Canada has two parishes - Boian and Windsor - which celebrate 125 and 105 years of existence respectively. The young people of the Diocese of Canada are invited and exhorted to discover the values and treasures of wisdom that those who set out to build churches and communities leave behind.

At the same time, our exhortation is directed towards a deep education, towards the valorization of faith and culture which are the bases of a thorough education.

The true man, the man who lives with and through Christ, is a deep man, strongly anchored in the values of truth, faith, and culture.

Approaching the older and wiser in your communities, caring for the lonely or abandoned, gives the young people of our diocese the opportunity to discover and assimilate values that are not necessarily written in books but that contribute decisively to their formation. We encourage volunteer actions and active involvement in supporting programs that address the community where they live.

It is not enough to have talent. Determination and perseverance are needed too in everything that means the life of the community where we live.

In a beautiful speech addressed to young people, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel referred to the exhortation of St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans: "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Romans 12, 6-8).

Be therefore diligent in learning, thirsting for knowledge, and worthy of respect and upright in faith.

We congratulate and encourage young people now on the International Day of Orthodox Youth, in this moment of celebration of joy and we urge them to choose as their spiritual landmarks models the people through whom God works.

Search for the builders of souls, builders of consciences, models of education and profound wisdom. We wish everyone divine light to inhabit their soul and mind.

Happy anniversary to all young Orthodox!

Department of Education