Southampton Romanian Orthodox Parish -Sf. Calinic de la Cernica

Un loc unde te poti uni cu Dumnezeu si e într-un loc cu adevărat splendid

The Romanian Orthodox Parish Church Saint Calinic from Cernica is a place to call home!Biserica Sfantul Calinic de la Cernica din Southampton este Biserica romanilor de acasa!Cristina P

Un colt de Rai unde poti intalni oameni minunati, iubitori de rugaciune si de Dumnezeu!

A beautiful church with history embedded in its walls where people gather with joy and trust to pray together ,celebrate and recall what matters most in life.O biserica frumoasă , monument istoric unde oamenii se adună cu bucurie ca să se roage împreună.Să sărbătorească împreună și să se gândească la ce este esențial în viață.

Beautiful church, lovely community’s use it!

It is essential to have the Church, that home of Christians! It is where we find peace of mind and the meaning of our lives.Când știm că avem Biserică și un părinte care să slujească in ea cu tot sufletul pentru noi avem identitate și uniune ca popor și bucuria de a te simți acasă.

An important place, which offers the local Romanian community the chance to experience and carry over their cultural beliefs through generations.

I want to explain in a few words what our Church and our beloved priest mean to us, the Romanian people, christian orthodox community.I came here in 2016 after I had lived one year and six months in the Yorkshire area (Cottingham village near Hull). It was a difficult start for me; when I came here in 2015, I left my parents, my friends, and the most important, my Church from Brasov city, for a new and unknown adventure.Our lives are connected strongly with our priest and Church. Each Sunday, we are traveling from Fareham to Southampton (40..50 min drive) to be present at Divine Liturgy to socialize with other Christians, which became our friends over time. It is a natural and robust community, with more than 30000 Romanian citizens in this area (Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, Winchester, Portsmouth, Havant, Waterlooville, Bordon, Alton and other surrounding areas). Of course, not all come in once at the church, but we had between 150 and 200 people at each Divine Liturgy mass. Each Sunday, we have different people attending the religious services, which are not always the same. Every time, new faces, young or middle-aged men and women, young children, and toddlers, all gathered for the Holy Communion with genuine joy and hope.At the end of each religious service Sunday, priest Ovidiu is held by people for discussion, personal problems, confessions, different humanitarian activities, helping others in need with food, money, and moral support, all this together as a second Liturgy after the Divine Liturgy. Each year on Christmas, we have a Shoes Box campaign, sending presents to different Romanian communities not as lucky as we are here. Every month we have a fundraising campaign for families in need across the region, people who lost their beloved ones, lost their job, or have financial difficulties; all they have a place in our church, no matter what religious beliefs they have.Let's not forget about baptism (Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into Christianity); we had hundreds of them in a few years. We need to consider the age of our community; most of them are young, healthy 25 - 30 – 40 years old adults, who came here for a better life, and of course, came with all their religious beliefs. We had a few wedding ceremonies and funerals as life's cycle continued around us.The Church has been the core around which the Romanian community formed and developed; young families moved to this area to be closer to the church, take their children to Sunday school, and ensure they didn't forget their native language. There are no words to describe how important the church is for us, young and old, community, prayer, candle lighting, listening to the choir byzantine chanting, communion, etc.The Church has a cultural part; we had concerts on Christmas, lent chanting, Sunday chats over a coffee, just a hug or a handshake from a known face all had their part in our community.Please remember that our community is among the fastest growing ones in the region, in Southampton and Portsmouth alone; there are over 30000 Romanian citizens, but the parish extends to Salisbury, Alton, Petersfield, Fareham Winchester and so on.We all work and contribute to the well-being of our community. We are nurses, carers, cleaners, builders, lorry drivers, taxi drivers, delivery drivers, and factory workers. We have uni teachers, scientists, doctors, and engineers, and all of us bring our part to the community.

Biserica Ortodoxa Romana hrana pentru sufletele romanilor iubitori de Dumnezeu!