Thousands of Romanians lost their lives as a result of the communist persecutions in Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and the Herța region following their occupation by the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Yet the wound was even deeper: millions of Romanians were forced to cease speaking their language, to refrain from teaching their children that they were Romanians, and to no longer praise God in their churches.

Only at the Last Judgment will we fully understand their martyrdom. Until then, books like this open windows towards their sacrifice and pave the way for us to kiss the wounds they received for all of us. By defending the Romanians of Bessarabia, they defended the entire Romanian nation.

Just as 20 de ani în Siberia (“Twenty years in Siberia”) by Anița Nandriș-Cudla, Radu Mărculescu’s Pătimiri și iluminări din captivitatea sovietică (“Suffering and Illumination during My Soviet Captivity”), or the testimonies gathered in the volume “Să nu ne răzbunați” (“Do Not Avenge Us”) by Monk Moise from the Oașa Monastery, this book speaks not only of the persecuted and the heroes, but also of the true initiators of the repression.

This edition reproduces the first one published by the Putna Monastery in 2018 – the Centennial Year of Romania’s Great Union – and benefits from several additional texts of testamentary value written by its author.