Churches to remember Romanian heroes on Ascension Day

The bells at the Romanian Christian Orthodox Churches will be tolling today at noon, as a sign of remembrance, appreciation and gratitude to the heroes who sacrificed themselves for the nation, faith and country.

According to a statement released by the Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate, the holy liturgy in the Christian Orthodox churches today remember the Romanian heroes, soldiers and fighters from all times and from all places who sacrificed themselves on the battlefields, in prisons, in defence of the homeland and the ancestral Orthodox faith, for the unification of the nation, the freedom, unity and dignity of the Romanian people.

"Through their sacrifice, the heroes contributed to the affirmation of the dignity of the Romanian people, expressed in winning independence, defending freedom and achieving the unity of the Romanian state. For that reason, the National Cathedral of Bucharest is dedicated to the memory of all Romanian heroes. It is named the church of the Ascension - Heroes Day, and its patron saint is the Holy Apostle Andrew, the Protector of Romania."

The commemoration of the Romanian heroes on the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord was decided by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Christian Orthodox Church in 1920 and later consecrated by two other synodic decisions of 1999 and 2001, when the day was proclaimed a national church holiday.

Under Law 379/2003 on war graves and memorials, the 40th day after Easter, the feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, was proclaimed Heroes Day as a national holiday of the Romanian people.