Just wanted to share this video entitled Prisoners of Light, about the persecution of Christians under Ceausescu's communist Romania. I often will hear people say things like, "During communism we had to meet secretly..." or "During communism we only had one Bible for the ENTIRE church." But certainly many faced quite intense persecution for their faith under his brutal rule. Informative and eye-opening, for sure.
2 comments:
There is a common misconception around westerners that the Ceausescu ruled Romania during all of the communist period. Romania was occupied by the soviets in 1945 and Ceausescu ruled only since 1965.
The worst period was from 1947-1964 when the soviet army was still present in the country. It's in that period when almost all the country intellectuals were killed or imprisoned and the Greek Catholic church interdicted. All the bishops and one cardinal were imprisoned and only one bishop made it.
Almost all those who survived ~20 years of unimaginable torture were freed by 1964. They were still harassed by Securitate but it was way better than prison.
If you have the time and curiosity search "Memorialul durerii" on video.google.com !
Thanks for your comment!
I'm not sure what other westerners think or know, but all I know about communism in Romania I learned from Romanians. So I did know that Ceausescu was only from the mid-60s. And people have mostly shared with me about how during Ceausescu the Christians (and by that I specifically mean Protestants/Evengelicals) faced persecution and had to worship in secret. However, I think maybe no one had ever clarified that worst part of the imprisonment and torture had come earlier, pre-Ceausescu (e.g., for people like Richard Wurmbrand and perhaps others in the video), so I perhaps blended the two together without realizing it. Thanks!
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