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ITO 2026: Presentation of the National Project "St. Ilie Tesviteanul" youth activity center (Full text)translated

September 3, 2026 · 1 min read

The youth activity center "St. Ilie the Tesvitean" - a national project of the Romanian Patriarchate realized with co-financing from the EU, was presented on Wednesday, at the National Cathedral in Bucharest, during the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO) 2026, by the project coordinator, Fr. Dr. Florin Marica, Patriarchal Counselor at the Theological-Educational Sector of the Patriarchal Administration.

Full text:

Presentation of the National Project Center for youth activities "Saint Ilie Tesviteanul" Your Eminences,

Reverend and Reverend Fathers,

Dear Assistance,

Dear young people,

Speaking in front of 2,400 young people, I must admit, is a special responsibility. Therefore, I will not try to tell you what it means to be young. Instead, I would like to talk to you about what the Church wants to build for you, young people, and especially with you. And I think there is no better place to talk about building, about faith and about the future than where we are tonight: the National Cathedral.

We are in a space that our ancestors wanted and held for a long time as an ideal.…

Source: Агентство Basilica (română) · Read the full story →

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Radu Nistor

I am very glad that the project bears the name of Saint Elias the Tesvitean, who was a man of courage and sincere prayer. Priest Florin Marica clearly said that the Church wants to build something together with young people, not just for them, and that seems to me to be the most important. I hope that such activities reach us in Craiova, because many boys and girls from the parish would need a serious place to gather.

Larisa Tudor

Yes, I also liked how Father Marica emphasized this part with "together with you". Saint Elijah really was a man of action, not just words. Here in Sibiu, at the neighborhood parish, I saw some young people who got involved in a glass painting workshop last summer - maybe they would get something similar in Craiova, concrete, not just speeches. Do you think such a center would work here in Transylvania?