Arsenie Papacioc – a heavenly man, a perfect monk

In the summer of 1942 I was transferred with other young men to Vaslui Prison. There was no cell regime here, the building had been designed for a normal school, which, after being abolished by Charles II in 1938, had been converted into a prison. The dormitories were the former classrooms, with wooden bunk beds where 25-30 people could sleep.

This was also where they worked. Opposite the prison was the Vaslueț Valley. In this valley we had opened a brickworks to build a fence around the prison to replace the barbed wire fence. […]

On this site we spent the whole day kneading the earth, discussing and then pouring bricks into moulds. It was here that I met the enlightened Macedonian Anghel Papacioc, now the abbot of the nuns’ monastery in Techirghiol under the name of Monk Arsenie Papacioc. It all began like this:

One day, while he was talking to some young people, I approached him. At one point he said something that prompted me to intervene with words of encouragement: Nae Ionescu said the same thing. That was the beginning of my approach to Anghel Papacioc, to whom I owe much of my spiritual experience and whom I still thank for his patience and understanding of my weaknesses. I have known dozens of priests and men of the spirit, but I cannot say of any of them what I can say of him: He was and is an enlightenment. He remains a mountain of wisdom, patience, kindness, purity of thought and intention, clarity and humility, a true model.

When he spoke of himself, he spoke with tears in his eyes so as not to fall into the trap of pride and self-praise. A man from paradise, a perfect monk.

Vaslui was a great school of education, unity and enthusiasm, especially thanks to the presence of the Bădia Anghel Papacioc.

(George Popescu – Under the Sword of the Knights of the Apocalypse, Majadahonda Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997, pp. 9-10)