Political Prisoners

Patriarch Daniel blesses reliquary of St Constantine Sârbu ahead of local canonisation ceremony

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel blessed a large reliquary made for the holy relics of Priest-Martyr Saint Constantine Sârbu on Wednesday. “Priest-martyr Saint Constantine Sârbu was loved by the faithful during his lifetime, and after his death his memory remained alive in the hearts of those who had known him,” Patriarch Daniel said. “When his remains…

Oct 22, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Lower Danube Archbishop commemorates victims of communist labour camp at Salcia

Archbishop Casian Crăciun of Lower Danube on Monday commemorated the martyrs of the Salcia labour camp in the Great Brăila Island, where hundreds of anti-communist political prisoners died in suffering. The memorial service was held in connection with the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and Romania’s National Day of Remembrance for anti-communist political…

Mar 13, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Blessed are the persecuted: May 14 – Remembrance Day for Communist Prisons Victims

On Wednesday, Romania commemorates the Day of Remembrance for the Martyrs of Communist Prisons, established by the Romanian Parliament in 2017, in honour of those who lost their lives due to inhumane treatment and torture in communist-era prisons. Those arrested by the communist regime were not only former politicians but also wealthy peasants, intellectuals, students,…

May 14, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian confessor of faith and U.S. missionary Fr. Roman Braga remembered 10 years after passing

April 29 marks ten years since the passing of Archimandrite Roman Braga, a confessor of faith during communist Romania and later a spiritual father and missionary in Brazil and the United States. Father Roman Braga was born on April 2, 1922, in Condrița, Bessarabia, as the seventh child of Cosma and Maria Braga. He completed…

Apr 29, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu

Romanian Patriarchate commemorates anti-communist political prisoners on March 9

March 9 marks both the feast day of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the National Day of Commemoration for Anti-Communist Political Prisoners from the period 1944–1989. On this day, we especially remember the Romanian freedom fighters who opposed the totalitarian communist regime, endured imprisonment in labour camps and prisons and bore witness to…

Mar 5, 2025Aurelian Iftimiu