Romania on Monday remembered the 40 holy martyrs of Sebaste and people who were persecuted by the communists who suppressed faith.
‘On 9 March, we celebrate the remembrance day of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the Day of Commemoration of Anti-Communist Political Prisoners from 1944 – 1989 period,” the Romanian Orthodox Church said in a statement.
“Each year, on this date, we have the moral duty to remember the Romanians who fought against the totalitarian communist regime, confessing the Orthodox faith against atheism and who were imprisoned in camps and prisons, enduring unimaginable suffering, some of them even facing death,’ a statement from the church press office said.
The Romanian Patriarchate has proclaimed 2026 the Solemn Year of Christian Family Pastoral Care and the Commemorative Year of the Holy Women in the Calendar – myrrh-bearers, martyrs, nuns, wives and mothers. –
On 6 February, 16 Romanian Holy Women were canonized. Saint Martyr Evloghia of Samurcasesti, who died in 1949 after being brutally beaten by a group of communists for preaching the Christian faith and Saint Confessor Blandina of Iasi who, was deported to Siberia for more than 15 years from the Republic of Moldova by the Soviet communists were among those canonized.
‘The Romanian fighters for the faith, shining models of courage, dignity, steadfastness in faith and love of the nation, are remembered by the Church with esteem and devotion at every Holy Liturgy, alongside heroes from all times and places who sacrificed themselves for the defense of the homeland, the freedom, unity and dignity of the Romanian people,’ the statement said.
On March 9, Romanian Christians celebrate Mucenici, the feast of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste, Roman soldiers whose martyrdom in 320 for the Christian faith is recounted in traditional stories about martyrs. They were killed near the city of Sebaste in modern-day Turkey.
It is a traditional holiday that coincides with the start of the agricultural year. In Moldova, a sweet is made from dough, soaked in honey and sprinkled with chopped crunchy walnuts.
In the Muntenia and Northern Dobrogea regions of Romania, dough is boiled in water with sugar, cinnamon and crushed nuts, symbolizing the lake where the martyrs were cast to die.
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