Book helps Romanian Christians mark anniversary of communist takeover

Published: 2008-03-19

BUCHAREST, Romania (CNS) -- Christians in Romania are marking the 60th anniversary of the country's communist takeover with resolve and a book commemorating their persecution. "Sixty years ago, by law, the communists tried to destroy the church," recalled Archbishop Ioan Robu of Bucharest. "They confiscated our property, jailed our priests, closed our seminaries and schools, shuttered our printing operations, threatened to arrest -- then expelled -- the Holy See representative to Romania, and instituted an atheist ideology. "Instead of burying us, the church is thriving today, but we remind ourselves constantly about what we lost," the archbishop said in the book's introduction. As part of a commitment to remember the communists' suppression of religion starting in 1948, several Romanian Christian churches produced "The Martyrs of Christ in Romania Under the Communist Regime," on sale for the past 10 months. The 812-page book is a joint project of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Latin-rite Catholic Church and evangelical churches.

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