PS Varlaam Ploieșteanul at the vigil in honor of St. M. Mc. Dimitrie: Martyrdom is a permanent reality in the Churchtranslated

"Martyrdom is a permanent reality in the Church, because this is the sign under which the life of Christ's Church unfolds in the world," Patriarchal Vicar Bishop Varlaam Ploieșteanul emphasized on Sunday evening.

His Eminence officiated the vigil service in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius, the Fountain of Peace, at the exterior altar of the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest.

Starting from the Savior's words, "If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you", the hierarch explained the history of martyrdom in the Church.

"This prophecy of the Savior referred not only to the generation of the Apostles, but to the whole history of the Christian Church on earth. Because the true sons of the Church, being chosen by God from the world, the world hates what is not its own."

In this sense, the Most Reverend Father Varlaam Ploieșteanul showed the martyrdom that St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, St. James, son of Zebedee, as well as other Christians received from the Jewish authorities, as well as from the Roman emperors: "There were many edicts, to which a lot of Christians fell victim."

The persecution does not stop either...