What do priests risk who ask parishioners for money for funerals or marriages. Are cash contributions mandatory?

Many parishioners do not know that priests are forbidden to ask for money for funerals or marriages. Those who do can be complained about and risk even being left without a parish. God's servants can only receive financial aid voluntarily offered by believers.

Priests can be sued if they ask parishioners for money PHOTO Adevărul

According to the Hunedorian Messenger, priests are not allowed to claim money and if they do, they expose themselves to serious consequences. The spokesperson of the Romanian Patriarchate, Vasile Bănescu, says that those who ask for money for funerals may lose their parish.

Sanctions in this situation range from simple reprimands, periodic checks, to disciplinary removal from the parish or even excommunication in extreme cases. This synod decision is intended to ensure financial transparency, to prevent the financial exploitation of grieving families and to avoid possible abuses, the quoted source says.

Likewise, the monetary contributions requested by the churches are not mandatory, but only represent financial aid offered by believers willingly, situations in which priests ask for money abusively are excluded.

Parishioners must find out from reliable sources about these “fees”, and when misunderstandings arise, the respective priest can be complained to the Romanian Orthodox Church ([email protected]).

The priest who wanted to stop a funeral took a selfie at the grave. What the deceased's daughter says

Recently, a scandalous funeral took place in a cemetery in Gura Solcii, Suceava county. An Orthodox priest lay down on the ground in front of the funeral procession, and shortly after took a selfie right at the grave of the deceased.

In a reaction to what happened, the representatives of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuțil specified that, in fact, the Orthodox priest would have slipped.

“Father slipped and fell. He didn't want to protest, he simply slipped away, that's where the world's reaction started, and the father threw a fit, probably because of the situation, threw a fit“, claims Flavian Sava, the spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Suceava and Rădăuţi.

The relatives of the deceased claim, however, that the priest wanted to stop the funeral ceremony organized in the Pentecostal rite. A video of what happened also appeared on social networks.