In this week’s News from the Orient, produced in collaboration with L’Œuvre d’Orient: The Church marks the International Day of Eastern Christians, Pilgrims visit a prison in Romania, and Syria honours St Rita.
In this week’s news from the Eastern Churches
International Day of Eastern Christians
On Sunday, May 25, the Church marked the International Day for Eastern Christians. Faithful from the Latin Church were invited to pray for their Eastern brothers and sisters, who are often minorities in their homelands. A solemn Mass was held at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, presided over by His Beatitude Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldeans, and attended by numerous bishops and priests from Eastern Churches. Similar events were held in Poland, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Pilgrimage to Sighet, Romania
Around 2,000 people took part in an annual pilgrimage in memory of the martyrs of Sighet Prison in Romania. Participants departed from the former prison—now a Memorial to the Resistance against Communism—and walked to the Cemetery of the Poor, the unmarked resting place of many who died in detention. Three Greek-Catholic bishops, who have now been beatified, died at Sighet, though their remains were never recovered. The pilgrimage concluded with a Divine Liturgy celebrated in front of a Greek-Catholic church under construction.
Saint Rita Honored in Syria
As every year, on May 22 Christians in Syria celebrated Saint Rita of Cascia, the patron saint of hopeless causes. A 14th-century figure, she is revered for her faith despite her suffering—after a life marked by hardship, she entered religious life and received a mystical wound on her forehead. In Syria, where believers also endure hardship and attempt to hold fast to hope, her story holds deep significance. The day was marked with Masses, the distribution of roses, and processions—a powerful symbol of perseverance and hope.
