At the hospital in Constanța
As soon as I arrived at the hospital in Constanța, I entered an atmosphere where I felt again the value of human dignity. The doctors and nurses in the hospital treated us like people, like any suffering person who goes to a hospital to be cured. There were two or three guards at the doors of our rooms to keep an eye on us so that we couldn’t go anywhere, but at the same time no one could enter except the doctors and their assistants. For two weeks we had excellent medical treatment, the doctors were very fatherly, the food was dietary but very juicy, the lights in the windows gave us the right comfort.
We felt that God, in mysterious ways, had delivered us from the bondage of the dam, had brought us out of the fire and water, and now had healed us. Our Lord Jesus Christ heard our prayer on the way of this suffering; He brought us out of this heavy bondage into which men had cast us.
Among those taken to hospital in Constanța was Engineer Stoicescu, the former head of customs in Constanța, with one of the biggest responsibilities in the city and port on the Black Sea. The whole city knew, but especially his wife, who desperately wanted to visit him. This was not possible, because there were two or three carabinieri at the door of each room where the prisoners were held, searching everyone who went in or out. Only doctors and helpers on their list were allowed in. The control was very strict. Nevertheless, some doctors and the hospital management of the time found their way in, disguising engineer Stoicescu’s wife as a nurse. And so, with emergency equipment in hand, she and the other nurses went to see her husband, who was being savagely beaten. And he, on the verge of death, to see his beloved wife. In the presence of the consulting doctors and the sisters, they whispered words of comfort to each other. I felt that above this scene of humanity, faith, love and sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ himself was present, who had prepared the hearts of the people for a meeting between the sick and imprisoned man and his ostracised wife.
Jesus, who said, “He who visits the sick and the prisoners visits Me”, was of course present to receive this visit first. Yes, Jesus Christ was in the dungeon and in the hospital with all of us!
(Arhim. Dr. Vasile Vasilache – O altă lume. Amintiri din închisorile comuniste, manuscris, pp. 34-35)