March 9 marks the Anti-communist Political Prisoners’ Day in Romania.
Memorial services have been held today all across the country for the rest of the souls of those who suffered under the atheist regime of communism, who have defended the faith in God and the dignity of the Romanian people.
The Parliament of Romania adopted Law no. 247/2011 on the declaration of March 9 as Anti-communist Political Prisoner’s Day. The law was published in the Official Gazette of Romania No 864 of 8 December 2011 and regulates that each year on March 9, the feast day of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, the fighters against communism be commemorated in Romania.
At the proposal of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, during its working session of 28-29 October 2015, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church declared the year 2017 as a Commemorative Year of Patriarch Justinian and of the defenders of Orthodoxy during Communism.
