ecumenism" "
“All the major Churches suffered under the Communist regimes in our countries”; and “it’s important to familiarize the young generations with this history”: that’s how the spokesman of the patriarchate of Bucharest of the Romanian Orthodox Church explains the meaning of the list of the martyrs who died for the Christian faith under the Communist regime. It will probably be published in 2004. “It’s an ecumenical event of great importance he continues , because the list will comprise some 120 Orthodox, 50 Roman Catholics and 20 Protestant, as well as 150 martyrs of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church, of the eastern rite but faithful to Rome, which was banned by the regime in 1948”. The collection of the documents is following precise criteria to identify “the acts of martyrdom”. They include, explains the spokesman, “violent death or death in prison caused by lack of food and water, or as a result of torture”. “An important and promising terrain for cooperation and dialogue between the Churches”: that’s the comment on the martyrs’ list by Archbishop Ioan Robu, president of the Romanian Episcopal Conference. According to a survey conducted in March 2002, 87% of the 21.7 million inhabitants of Romania declared they belonged to the Orthodox Church; approximately 6% said they were Romanian Catholic or Greek Catholic; and 1% Protestant.
