Bp. Bartolomeu Anania (en)

Memories of Metropolitan Bartholomew Ananias

The reluctance of knowing him One day, of a particular year, I went to the Patriarchal Cathedral to worship the holy relics of St. Dimitrios the New. It was a day when the Holy Synod was in session. Metropolitan Bartholomew had come down from the Patriarchal Palace and was getting into his car. Several faithful went to receive his blessing, including me. It was the first time I had seen His Eminence Bartholomew Ananias up close, as they say. – What a voice he has! He must be a very strong man, said a woman who had just received his […]

For Archbishop Bartholomew Ananias generosity was a non-negotiable trait, being part of a code of spiritual elegance

It is not the purpose of this text to praise the personality of the Archbishop of Cluj, founder of the Romanian Bible and of countless literary works. I leave the light and dark contours of Archbishop Bartholomew Ananias’ biography to the historians who will write about the fate of the Orthodox Church in the last century. My undiminished memory of him is interwoven with an undiminished respect and gratitude for a representative of the high clergy who knew how to be a man first and then a bishop. Did not Blessed Augustine, when he spoke of his episcopate, say: “I […]

Father Anania – preacher at “Aiud University”

The use of the Morse code was one of the forms of struggle and resistance against the indoctrination and nullification of our souls, as the enemies wished. During a St. Nicholas celebration, Father Ananias was asked to speak in Morse code about the meaning of the feast. For many months, every Sunday, Father Ananias had to preach to the inmates of Aiud by banging on the radiator pipes. Until he was caught and isolated in the “neagra” or “alba” (the solitary confinement cell). (Pr. Contantin Voicescu – A Confessor of the Fortress. Byzantine Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002, p. 98)

“His life was that of a martyr”

Bartholomew Ananias, Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crișana and Maramureș, one of the great friends of Bessarabia, has gone to be with the Lord. He encouraged the actions of the Democratic Forum of Romanians in the Republic of Moldova, sending messages of blessing for all its important actions. On the 17th and 18th of May 2008, he invited the leaders of the Forum – the late Andrei Vartic, Vasile Șoimaru and myself – to his residence at the Nicula Monastery. We stayed with him for an evening and half a night, then, at a late hour, he took us to the […]

“Hieromonk Valerius Ananias understood the call and accepted the sacrifice”

The regime had planned the early release of all politicians. To this end, it had sent Colonel Crăciun here with his secretaries. First came re-education, at least total self-disclosure, as in Pitești, if not a change of beliefs, followed by amnesties and pardons in 1964. This included the physical restoration of the survivors. I was lucky. Since I only knew Aiud from the cells and hospital rooms, I don’t know what went on in the ward where he put us. It was a large courtyard surrounded by buildings, some of which overlooked the courtyard. In one part of the courtyard […]

His Eminence Bartholomew – a Church’s soldier tested in tough battles

When I first became interested in theology, the only possible source for magazines and some books was the Patriarchate Publishing House. I befriended the “girls” in the warehouse and got the magazines for free. But for books I had to get the permission of the Father Director of the Biblical Mission Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church. I think that’s when I first saw Father Bartholomew. He intimidated me with his massive stature, his extreme seriousness, almost severity, his strong voice, his pointed way of being. I was very impressed by his retreat to Văratic to study the translation of […]

Metropolitan Bartholomew. The confessional courage of an archpriest

Metropolitan Bartholomew’s life was one of constant turmoil, before and after 1990. I knew him intimately after 1990. Therefore, in what follows, I will try to give a testimony of Metropolitan Bartholomew’s service to the Church after the events of 1989. After the death of Patriarch Justinian, Archimandrite Bartholomew Ananias withdrew from all administrative responsibilities and found a quiet place in the Văratic Monastery. From here he followed the developments in the country and the Church under Patriarchs Justinian and Theoctist. For more than a decade, his main preoccupation was biblical commentary and literary work. The liberation of the country […]

Metropolitan Bartholomew Ananias, “the man without deceit”

I was a lay student in Bucharest in the 1970s, and my sister, who went to school in Sighetul Marmației, told me that a wonderful play was performed there: “The Star of the Bison”. Moreover, the author was a priest, and not just any priest, but an archimandrite who was on mission in America at the time. The name stuck in my mind and when I had the chance I bought some of his books. When I became a priest, reading Valerius Ananias’s writings was a real spiritual joy. In the spring of 1990, during my first ordination, the parish […]

Metropolitan Bartholomew or the price of freedom

Fact: Archbishop Bartholomew is not a role model. Why not?! In a world where half-measures pass for measures, where mercenarism (including ecclesiastical mercenarism) passes for cleverness, or hides behind hypocritical humility or selfish modesty, where any formula is good if it doesn’t bother anyone and suits as many people as possible, in which the idea of a career implies the total renunciation of freedom of thought and courage of opinion, in which competence is the ultimate criterion for public office, just as any critical attitude is promptly rejected – well, in such an age, the years Bartholomew Valerius Ananias spent […]

“You should talk to him about culture, morality and monastic life.”

Whenever [Mother Olga Gologan] heard of a good confessor, she would invite him to Bistrița. So many of the spiritual elite of the time passed through Bistrița. Fr. Arsenie Boca came around 1942. He stayed for a while, received our confessions, spoke to us and explained many of the teachings of the Holy Fathers. […] Fathers Arsenie Papacioc and Constantin Galeriu also visited us and we made much use of them, and in 1946 there was a “team” from Bucharest who practised the prayer of the heart: Father Sandu Tudor, Father Ghiuș, Father Sofian, Father Felix. [Among the guests was […]

“You have to know, Your Eminence, that to give your bread, in those circumstances, to another, was a sign of total dedication”

One day, from where we were, all the doors (of the prisons Aiud) were opened: many were in bed, others could only be brought in on stretchers. […] And, … only when they opened, during Passion Week, the bean slots. And from a time when they only gave us just some watery soups, it came to the moment when they gave us a big bowl full of fresh roast pork, during Passion Week: What’s this, gentlemen? Are you Romanians? You know very well, all Romanians, that today is Good Friday, so far you have given us some watery soup and […]

Father Ananias was a natural orator, endowed with great percussive power

Amnesty decrees began to appear again from 1964. But our T.B.C. section remained, even though, as sick people, we should have been among the first to benefit from these decrees. Here and there they left us, but it was as if they didn’t know. We were on a par with the “Zarca”, from which hardly anyone left. One day Father Ananias came to me and asked me to contribute a satirical and humorous column to a literary meeting that was being held with the approval of Colonel Christmas. I gladly accepted, because such a proposal honoured me, it was perhaps […]