Ascension of the Lord – Day of the Heroes, National Feast of the Romanian People
The Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate informs:
In the Romanian Orthodox Church, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord (13 May 2010) is the day dedicated to the remembrance of the heroes of the nation.
On this day, the Romanian heroes, soldiers, and fighters of all times and places who sacrificed themselves on the battlefields, in labour camps and prisons for defending their homeland and ancient faith, for the completion of the nation, for the freedom and dignity of the Romanian people will be remembered in all the Orthodox cathedrals, churches and monasteries in the country and abroad. Remembrance services will be also celebrated after the Divine Liturgy at the cemeteries, roadside shrines and monuments built in the honour of the heroes of the nation.
As a result of the decisions of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church taken from 1999 till 2001, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord was consecrated as Day of the Heroes and as church national feast too. At the same time, Bill 379/2003 concerning the war commemorative graves and monuments proclaimed the 40th day after the Holy Easter, the feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, as national feast of the Romanian people.
