"Adevarat c-a inviat!"” “

The Romanian Catholic Church is celebrating Holy Week with traditions that are the same for all the faithful, even if celebrated in different weeks according to the three different rites (Latin, Byzantine, Armenian) into which the Church is divided. The young, in particular, have accepted the witness given by all those Latin and Greek-Catholic bishops who suffered martyrdom under the Communist regime: the Catholic Church in Romania shall rise again. We’ve recorded the testimony of Oana Tuduce , a youth of Romanian Catholic Action, on the country’s Easter traditions. According to recent data, of the 21,698,181 inhabitants of Romania, 86% consist of Orthodox Christians, almost 6% of Catholic Christians (of which 1% members of the Greek-Catholic Church), 3% of Reformed Calvinists and the remaining 5% of eight other confessions. There are 12 Catholic dioceses and 1,770 parishes in Romania. 1 cardinal, 19 bishops, 1,475 priests and 211 religious work in the country. The young, Church of the future. Palm Sunday in the Romanian tradition, like that in the Czech Republic (cf. Sir, no. 25, p. 6), is called “Sunday of Flowers”. On this day the altars of all the churches are adorned with flowers as a sign of love and salutation for Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem. Good wishes are exchanged and celebrations held for all those men and women who are named after flowers (e.g. Viorica, Florin, Florina, Florica). It’s the Sunday that heralds Holy Week, and hence the last day on which the faithful eat meat and other produce which will not be eaten again until Easter. For Romanian Catholics (of Byzantine or Romanian rite), and particularly for the young, this Sunday represents the moment of diocesan meetings with the bishop. In our diocese of Oradea, the young Catholics of Byzantine and Greek-Catholic rite meet their bishop, Msgr. Virgil Bercea, in a different place each year: so an opportunity is provided to get to know the territory of the diocese well, and the youth groups and associations that work in it. These meetings are moments of formation and preparation both for the world meetings of youth with the Pope (World Youth Days) and for the national youth meetings (INTC), held every two years. This year’s INTC was held in Oradea and attended by some 3000 youth. It was a meeting in preparation for the WYD with the Pope in Cologne, in Germany, in 2005. It was also an important witness for the Romanian bishops: the young are the Church of the future and the continuers of the course begun so many years ago by all those Latin and Greek-Catholic bishops who died in Communist prisons with the certainty that one day the Catholic Church in Romania would rise again. Three rites, one tradition. Easter is celebrated with great intensity by the Romanian people. In the Church of the Byzantine, Greek-Catholic rite, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, better known as the “Great Week”. During this week no meat is eaten and, from Ash Wednesday, no sweets or dairy produce either. During the Easter Triduum a fast is kept and the faithful participate in all the liturgical celebrations. The young prepare moments of meditation and penance. During the great Vigil of Saturday, all the families bring the dishes they have prepared for Easter to church, so that they may be blessed. At the end of the celebration of the Resurrection, the faithful take up the so-called “pasque” – a cup with pieces of bread soaked in wine, as a sign of brotherly love – and joyfully exchange the traditional Romanian Easter good wishes: “Christ is risen!”, to which the reply is given “He has risen indeed!”. On the night of the Vigil, as a rule, families meet together, according to an ancient tradition, to eat the food that has been blessed: the painted eggs, the lamb, the wine, the Romanian spirits made from grapes, and the sweets specially prepared for the occasion. After a week of fasting, the families give thanks for this moment of peace and sharing. Even though, Easter is celebrated in three different weeks in the three respective rites of the Romanian Catholic Church (Latin, Byzantine, Armenian), the Easter traditions are the same for all the faithful. Besides, the meaning of Easter is epitomized in the greeting exchanged by all Romanian Catholics: “ Cristos a inviat! Adevarat c-a inviat!” (“Christ is risen! He has risen indeed!”).