Diocese: Romanian Episcopate
Deanery: Atlantic USA Deanery
Address
2 Winter St
Manchester, Connecticut 06040
Mailing address:
c/o 239 Wells Rd
Wethersfield, CT 06109-2927
Website: holytransfigurationct.org
Parish Contacts
Directions
General Location
Holy Transfiguration Romanian Orthodox Mission is located east of downtown Hartford, near the intersection of Rt 44 and Rt 83.
Schedule of Services
9:30 AM Matins and Confessions; 10 AM Divine Liturgy in Romanian and English followed by Fellowship Hour.
Sunday Morning
Parish Background
In November 2000, a group of Romanian Orthodox Christians headed by Mircea Pavel addressed the Romanian Orthodox Christian Episcopate of America with their wish to establish a Romanian Orthodox Mission in the Hartford area. A meeting presided by Fr Constantin Tofan took place in order to establish the Mission. His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel gave his blessing and confirmed its identity as the Holy Transfiguration Romanian Christian Orthodox Mission of Hartford. In March 2001, the Diocesan Center solicited the American Embassy in Bucharest for a “religious worker” visa for priest professor Nicolae Stoleru so that he may carry out the pastoral duties of the Mission.
Following Holy Pascha 2001, the first Divine Liturgy was carried out by Fr Nicolae Stoleru in the Athenos Hall of St George Greek Orthodox Church in Hartford. Next, a mission council was organized and Adrian Pavel was chosen as its first president. Having obtained the title of nonprofit organization, the mission council is currently working on finding a proper place of worship to rent or buy. This task, however, is a most difficult one since the financial means of the mission council are not sufficient.
During its first year the parish was involved in several activities. Fr Stoleru and a number of faithful represented the parish at the annual Congress at The Vatra in Grass Lake, MI in June and at the Deanery Conference near Philadelphia in October. In addition, the Ladies Auxiliary, a local chapter of ARFORA, was established in September 2001 with Vasilica Pletoianu elected its first president, The local youth organization (AROY Chapter) was established in January 2002 with Stefan-Florin Stoleru as its first president. The most important act of the mission council during the first year was setting up festivities for the celebration of the parish feast of Holy Transfiguration on August 6.
In December 2001, on St Nicholas Day, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Mission shared toys and sweets to the parishioners’ children. On Christmas, after the Divine Liturgy, the Mission choir performed a Christmas carols concert. At the time, the mission priest visited parishioners’ homes for the first time. In January 2002, the Church Assembly elected a new Mission Council with its president Elena Cupceancu. Pascha and the Patronal Feast (August 6) brought a distinguished spiritual atmosphere and opportunities for communion.
Mission Representatives spent the annual Diocesan Congress at the Vatra, Grass Lake, MI (end of June) and the annual AROY Conference in Cleveland, OH (end of August).
Currently the membership of the mission numbers around 45 families and over 60 members. The priest, together with the mission council, ladies auxiliary and faithful have placed their full efforts in maintaining the religious community and will continue to struggle in order to raise funds needed for acquiring a proper place of worship.