“Archimandrite Haralambie Vasilache shone with many qualities”
Archimandrite Haralambie Vasilache had won the love of all through the purity of his life and thoughts, which he presented as an Eucharist transformed into an outpouring of spiritual light, as he also presented some of them in his recently published book, which he also entitled, in a quite remarkable way, “The Altar of Romanian Spirituality”, in which he presents the Bread of Life in the Word of Life. […]
Immediately after Patriarch Nicodemus fell asleep in the Lord, on 26 February 1948, the new Patriarchal Lieutenant Justinian, three days after his funeral, gave the order to hand over the priesthood of the Antim Monastery in Bucharest to Archimandrite Valerian Zaharia… And since he didn’t say what I was going to do, I personally tried to go to the Balamuci hermitage near Bucharest, which accepted me, but the order was given not to accept me. I tried the same thing at the Căldărușani monastery and the same thing happened. I also applied to the hermitage at Târgoviste, but I was not accepted there either. I spoke to Bishop Joseph of Argeș to receive me in the monastery of Trivale or Stănești in Argeș, he said yes, but the next day he told me that he would not receive me in his diocese. Now there was only the monastery of Neamțu. I also had a brother, Archimandrite Haralambie Vasilachi. A categorical order from the Patriarchate now reads: “Not together. One in Neamt, the other in the diocese of Hues, in the hermitage of Vovidenia”.
The faithful of the Antim monastery – 300 of them – went to the Minister of Religious Affairs and then to the Patriarch to ask to remain in Bucharest. Both had the same will: “That the outbreak of the mystical movement in Bucharest be extinguished…”
We both went to Moldavia, I to the monastery of Neamț, and Brother Haralambie to the hermitage of Vovidenia, near Huși, where Bishop Grigorie received and sent him. The departure from Bucharest was ordered on the night of Palm Sunday in 1948, when the dark clouds were in a frenzy and the week of the Holy Passion was in full swing.
In Huși, Brother Haralambie – illustrious student of the city’s seminary, famous preacher of the Metropolitanate of Iași and of the Antim Monastery, and former abbot of the Neamț Monastery – became a spiritual centre for the faithful of the city. Soon, one night, Bishop Grigorie gave the order to load him on the bishop’s ox cart and take him to Dobrovăț Monastery, in the furthest part of the eparchy. From there, for the same reasons, he was taken to the hermitage near Crasna. And from there to the village of Tupilați, as parish priest, where he soon came to be equally revered by all the surrounding villages. From the bishopric he received a dispensation and from there he was sent to his native village as a simple citizen of the village. […]
ARCHIMANDRIT MITHROPHOR HARALAMBIE VASILACHI shone with other qualities. He kept the money given to him with the rubbish under the broom in the corner of the house. If someone came to ask him, he would send them there to get what they needed… Apart from the hours of service, from which he was never absent, he would spend hours in private prayer in the cell, until midnight. During the day he devoted himself to reading and writing. Dozens of manuscripts were taken from him, manuscripts of Christian spirituality, philosophy and even profound studies of Christian psychology. A study on the Eucharist was a rare example of a deep understanding of this mystery.
The question of Christian love, of youth, and all the great themes of Christian morality he presented with a rare finesse of understanding. “The Altar of Romanian Spirituality” was only the beginning of what he would write later… Wherever he went, in Iași, Bucharest, Cernica, Neamțu, Pocrov and in prison, he was a respected and sought-after confessor for hundreds and thousands of believers.
In 1962, in prison, he gave up his soul, claiming to be innocent. His remains now rest in the monastery of Cernica, where the good Christians took them and buried them in 1970.
May God reward him forever!
(Pr. Vasile Vasilache, From Antim to Pocrov. Testimonies and Confessions, Detroit, Michigan, USA, pp. 23-24, 41-42, 60-61)