Anti-communist political prisoners were commemorated on Monday in Timișoara in an event that coincided with the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
The memorial service was officiated by Fr Timotei Anișorac, eparchial vicar, at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Timișoara, marking the Day of Anti-Communist Political Prisoners from the 1944–1989 period.
Former political prisoners, former deportees to the Bărăgan Plain, relatives of those commemorated, clergy and parishioners attended the event, together with seminarians from the Saint Anthimos the Iberian Theological High School and theology students.
The commemorative events were organised by the diocesan centre in cooperation with the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Romania.
Courage of the confessors in communist prisons
Fr Timotei Anișorac highlighted the courage and sacrifice of those who suffered under the communist regime.
“Between 1944 and 1950, more than 15 hierarchs, over 1,500 Orthodox priests, 700 Greek-Catholic priests and ministers of other denominations suffered and were imprisoned in communist prisons. They were taken away and tortured, while their families endured hunger and humiliation,” he said.
The eparchial vicar stressed that despite persecution the prisoners kept their faith. “When the heads of families were imprisoned or deported, with no hope and without anyone knowing what future awaited them, they did not lose their hope in God,” he said.
“After this dark period of the Bolshevik, communist and atheist regime passed, we see that they, with a serenity seemingly drawn from the Kingdom of God and the lives of the saints, left us a testament: not to seek revenge. They chose to pray, as the Saviour taught us, for their enemies and for those who persecuted them,” Fr Anișorac added.
The Romanian Revolution began in Timișoara on 16 December 1989, with protests that later grew into nationwide anti-communist demonstrations.
Photo: Metropolis of Banat
