Mons, Belgium: Commemorative service for the Romanian soldiers
On Thursday, May 28 2020, Orthodox Christians worldwide celebrated the Ascension of the Lord. In the Romanian Orthodox Church this feast day is also a commemoration day of all the heroes of the nation.
In Belgium, this occasion was marked at the Military Cemetery in Mons, where a commemorative service was served by Rev. Fr. Gabriel POP, from the staff of the Representation of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions, near the tombs of the 8 Romanian soldiers buried there in 1914, during The First World War. The service was attended by Her Excellency Mrs. Andreea PĂSTÂRNAC, the Ambasador of Romania to the Kingdom of Belgium, as well as by military personnel from Romania's National Military Representation to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), headed by Major General Constantin-Adrian CIOLPONEA.
The religious service was followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the tombs of the soldiers who perished in fight for their country in this part of the continent.
The Military Cemetery in Mons was established in 1914 and comprises the tombs of more than 500 soldiers, most of them British or Germans, which have fallen during the fight that took place in the area in August that year.