Cultural event at the Resurrection Cathedral – News from Mures, Targu mures News

The “Resurrection of the Lord” cathedral in the Tudor Vladimirescu neighborhood hosted a special cultural-religious event on Sunday, March 31, 2024, the second Sunday of Great Lent. After the Holy Liturgy, the launch of the book with the title “Pink Blanket. Imprisoned in Communist China”, written by Marius Balo and recently published by the Litera Publishing House in Bucharest.

At the end of the service, Father Protopope Răzvan Șulea thanked the participants, and Father Lect. university Dr. Oliviu Botoi, cultural adviser of the Alba Iulia Archdiocese, delivered a short homily on some ascetic and mystical themes from the work of Saint Gregory Palamas. The counselor father introduced the theologian and writer Marius Balo and explained the main themes of the book from the perspective of Christian morality.

The author recounted his own unjust prison experience in Communist China and delivered a lecture on the spiritual significance of suffering and injustice in the context of today’s world.

Marius Balo (b. 31.01.1981) is a theologian and writer, passionate about the English language and literature. He studied theology in Cluj-Napoca and New York and was a teacher in China, where, under an accusation that he considers false, he was in detention. In Chinese prison he began writing prose, many of the pages from that period forming the basis of this novel, his publishing debut. The novel presents the story of a Romanian teacher who is arrested in China. This autobiographical book is a testimony of freedom, love and hope in a Kafkaesque universe, according to the information provided by Prof. Alina Bexa.