By Kostas Onisenko
Following the tragic incident that took place in the country on January 31, 2021, many Romanians are calling for the Orthodox baptism practice to be reformed.
In particular, a 1.5-month-old baby died while being baptised. The tragic incident occurred in the city of Suceava, in Romania.
The baby’s heart stopped beating and despite the efforts of the doctors after a few hours the baby passed away.
The Romanian Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the incident, the findings of which are awaited by the Romanian Patriarchate in order to take a position on the matter.
Shortly after the incident became known, Romanians began an online petition calling for a change in the baptism ritual.
As the organizers of the petiton point out, their goal is not to stop baptism in general but to be done in a safer way in order to avoid such tragic incidents in the future. By Friday morning, about 60,000 people had signed the petition.