Places and people who bear witness

by word and deed in the past and in the present

Thursday, February 23, the HG Bishop Ioan Casian paid a special visit to the area of Onești and Târgu-Ocna. The hierarch was welcomed at the Onești Deanery Centre by Rev. Fr. Ioan Bârgăoanu - dean and by the priests of the administration.

The event started with the visit of the centre and the presentation of offices, social spaces with adjacent spaces, chapel, etc. by Fr. Bărgăoanu. He also spoke about the rich charity activity that the deanery performs with the most deprived or with the sick in the city. The hierarch met a few official guests at the event. There was talk of the role of the Church in society, about the role and involvement of believers in the life of the Church and the help they can bring to their fellow citizens.

The day continued with a visit to salt-mine Târgu-Ocna and the underground church that has as protector Saint Varvara, the protector of the miners. The hierarch was welcomed by Fr. Elisei Roncea the parish priest who made a brief presentation of the place. After visiting the salt-mine and the church, those present met the director of the administration of salt-mine who spoke about the economic situation of the area and about possible plans for the future.

Then the Church of St. Emperors Constantin and Elena close to the Penitentiary in Târgu-Ocna was visited. In its cemetery were buried countless martyrs from the communist prisons. Among the best-known persons who suffered in this penitentiary are Valeriu Gafencu, Fr. Gherasim Iscu, Fr. Ilie Lăcătușu.

The day ended with the visit of the Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in the city of Onești. The priest Constantin Alupei spoke about the history of the founding of this place of worship.

It was a blessed day in which the hierarch saw the rich work that the priests and believers in Onesti and Targu-Ocna area do at different levels and had the opportunity to go through the places that were marked by the confessors of the faith.