Youngest Romanian bishop urges young people in diaspora to ‘be bridges, not walls’

“You are the heart of the Church scattered throughout the world, like the seed of the Gospel carried to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8),” Assistant Bishop Iachint of the Pacific of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand told young Orthodox Christians on Wednesday.

Marking International Youth Day , the youngest hierarch of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasised that, although young people live in different social and cultural contexts, they remain united by faith in Christ and by the same fundamental values: “meaning, love, truth and a future worth living”.

“You, the young Orthodox Christians of the diaspora, are living proof that it is possible to live in a different context, in another country, with another language and another rhythm of life, and yet have the same faith, the same Liturgy and the same hope.”

Family at the heart of young people’s lives Assistant Bishop Iachint of the Pacific explained that the family is the place where love, prayer, forgiveness and self-sacrifice are learnt and lived: “This is where our message meets the theme of the Orthodox Youth Meeting in Bucharest .”

“St John Chrysostom calls the family a…