Romanian Patriarchate marks March 9 as day of remembrance for anti-communist political prisoners

On March 9, Romania commemorates both the Feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the Day of Remembrance for Anti-Communist Political Prisoners from the period 1944–1989.

Each year on this date, Romanians have a moral duty to remember those who resisted the totalitarian communist regime, confessing the Orthodox faith against state-imposed atheism. Many were imprisoned in labour camps and prisons, where they endured unimaginable suffering, and some ultimately faced death.

The year 2026 has been proclaimed in the Romanian Patriarchate as the Solemn Year of the Pastoral Care of the Christian Family and the Commemorative Year of the Holy Women in the Church Calendar—including myrrh-bearers, martyrs, nuns, wives, and mothers. In this context, on February 6, 2026, the Church proclaimed the canonisation of 16 Romanian holy women.

Among them are the Venerable Martyr Eulogia of Samurcășești, who fell asleep in the Lord on December 19, 1949, after being brutally beaten by a group of communists because she preached the Christian faith, and Saint Blandina the Confessor of Iași, who endured more than 15 years of deportation in Siberia while living in Bessarabia, following orders from the Soviet communist authorities.

On this day, the faithful pray for the repose of all Romanians who sacrificed their lives, overcoming torture and death through their love for Christ and their steadfast confession of the Christian faith in the face of the totalitarian communist regime.

These Romanian defenders of the faith—luminous examples of courage, dignity, steadfastness in faith, and love for the nation—are remembered by the Church with reverence at every Divine Liturgy, alongside the heroes of all times and places who sacrificed themselves for the defense of the homeland, and for the freedom, unity, and dignity of the Romanian people.

Romanian Patriarchate Press Office

Photo: Basilica.ro

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