Fr. Benedict Ghiuş (en)

Father Benedict Ghiuș – on enduring suffering with gentleness

Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș is one of the “mysterious” figures of Romanian Orthodoxy. Although he lived most of his life in the midst of crowds, he managed to hide himself with discretion and modesty, and to live permanently as a true monk. For this reason, there are few testimonies about his life, the only consistent information being found in his criminal record since his arrest and conviction in the “Burning Bush” conspiracy. In fact, most of the information presented below comes from this file. Father Benedict Ghiuș was born on 21 October 1904 in the village of Domnești, Pufești commune, Vrancea […]

“Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș, an Orthodox of deep moral and spiritual purity”

There [in Balta Mare of Brăila] I had the opportunity to meet and get to know not the miner, as the Party would have liked, but Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș, an Orthodox of deep moral and spiritual purity, but at the same time a theologian of great finesse and high erudition. To say that he was an improved monk – but how many are not today, especially when adulation becomes a perfidious form of survival, even in the humility of the Church – to say that he was erudite or dignified would be to risk noting trivialities.

Memories of Father Benedict Ghiuș, from prisons and the Burning Bush

I met Fr. Benedict Ghiuș in the autumn of 1936, when he was a hieromonk and, on his way from Chișinău to Strasbourg-France, stopped at the monastery of Cernica to visit the monastic seminary, where I was then in the fourth grade. He joined our class with the Father Superior of the Seminary, Archimandrite Chesarie Păunescu. Father Benedict was young, civilly dressed, with the beginnings of a beard, a gentle face, blue eyes and a pleasant, clear voice.

Father Benedict Ghiuș, the spiritual father

I don’t know when, where or under what circumstances my father met Fr. Benedict Ghiuș. I only know that for me he was a living and pregnant presence, who entered my consciousness as a member of the family since my childhood. Why? He was the confessor of the whole family, including my own, and, in full agreement with my father and mother, he took care of my religious education in the spirit of the true faith. He would often come to our house to have long conversations with my father and their friends, or to eat with my family. I […]

The greatness of Father Ghiuș

There were other recently convicted clergymen in the Security Service van with me. After a short drive, we drove down a steep hill and stopped. My pulse quickened. I was back in the underground prison of Jilava! Voices were shouting: – Bring them down!

Father Benedict – a perfect icon of the Romanian Orthodox monk

Around 1943-44, I was in the Antim Monastery in Bucharest when a young archimandrite arrived who was said to have studied brilliantly in the West, in Strasbourg, and was now in a hurry to defend his doctorate in theology at the University of Bucharest. He was Father Benedict Ghiuș. Of medium height, with a light beard, modestly dressed, he regularly attended the services of the Antimus Oblate community. He played the pew, had a melodious, warm voice and a way of singing that attracted attention. Even the simple responses to the ecumenical : “Lord have mercy”, “Lord give”, he sang […]

Father Benedict – a great Orthodox living man

I had heard about Fr Benedict Ghiuș from Mihai Urzică long before I saw his face for the first time, and he held him in high esteem, as did most of the people involved in the Church. Of all the things Mihai had told us, I remember only two or three that are notorious. Father had spent many years in political prison under the Communists. For a long time he had been one of the most spiritual and brilliant fathers of the Romanian Patriarchate. Michael also told us how, at one point after his release from prison, he had considered […]

Father Benedict Ghiuș’s visit to the labor colonies

It was the summer of 1947; Valeriu Gafencu was talking to a priest near the church.[1] It was Father Benedict Ghiuș.[2] He was then young, with clear, penetrating eyes, a monastic calm, soft in his coherent speech. He was studying the religious and historical monuments of the diocese of Sibiu and their condition. Gathering us and other brothers, Father spoke to us from heart to heart about the life of Christ, which he had recently translated, “bread and water” for our souls, hungry and thirsty for the divine gifts. He also told us of the great difficulties the Church is […]

Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș – “his personality concentrates all that is beautiful and holy in Romanian Orthodoxy”

A luminous figure, a gentle soul, a man of perfect balance, both confessor and theologian, perhaps a little naive, Archimandrite Benedict gave prestige to Romanian monasticism through his participation in the resistance of the faith, his confession in prison and his martyrdom. Although modest, he is still the most beautiful figure of our clergy. He was a frail monk, weak in body but pure and upright in soul. He was a man of great culture and a great confessor. In the “Burning Bush”, a circle of monks and lay intellectuals dedicated to the prayer of the heart, Father Benedict polarised […]

“If you sat for an hour with Father Ghiuș, you would come out completely purified”

The spiritual fathers I have known in my life and who have influenced me are almost all in the cemetery… Among them, Father Benedict Ghiuș, a lesser known confessor, occupies a place of honour for me because he was a man of rare spiritual intimacy. He did not expose himself. He was elected Bishop of Argeș, more or less against his will, because Nichifor Crainic nominated him. He was the confessor of the “Burning Bush” movement in the monastery of Antim. It was to him that we made our confessions, he gave us the blessing to begin the prayer of […]

“Father Ghiuș was a distinguished personality”

Many interesting people used to come to our house and discuss with my father new topics that were unknown to me. […] Among the most outstanding people I met at that time were Father Benedict Ghiuș, my father’s assistant at the university, Ștefan Todirașcu and, above all, the poet Vasile Voiculescu. Father Ghiuș was a distinguished personality, a man with beautiful features, I would say classical, which spread around him an aura of peace, of reconciliation with himself and with others. He spoke softly, with a slow voice, had an immense culture and a language of rare elegance. All in […]

Father Benedict Ghiuș – Smile and Light

I remember a Romanian monk, Father Benedict Ghiuș, from the monastery of Cernica, near Bucharest. He had been practising the prayer of the heart for a long time. One Sunday I was celebrating Liturgy in this monastery with some monks. Father Ghiuș, who was very old, accompanied us and sat on a chair in the corner of the altar. The sun did not enter the church, so it was quite dark. At some point, a soft light began to spread from the corner where Father Ghiuș was sitting. Without spreading to the whole altar, this light surrounded the smiling and […]

Father Benedict Ghiuș – “A man of a formidable spirituality”

Costion Nicolescu: How did you discover Orthodoxy? Father Marc-Antonie Costa de Beauregard: (…) The Romanian Church also helped us a lot in the beginning. I travelled to Romania, I met Romanian spiritualists, I met Father Benedict Ghiuș when I was in the monastery of Cernica… A man of immense spirituality! He was a man of culture and he gave me a lot. Sometimes we sat without talking, but a spiritual force flowed from him like flowing water, like a spreading light. I tried to ask him some questions, but I had the impression that he wasn’t very interested in them. […]

Father Benedict’s attitude towards Catholicism

In Paris, the Russian Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint Denis has been in existence for a year, with students from many nations and denominations. Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș, Doctor of Theology, Assistant at the Department of Mysticism at the Theological Faculty in Bucharest, was invited by the Romanian Government, apparently at the suggestion of the Russian Patriarch, to go to Paris for the academic year 1947-1948 to teach one of the religious sciences at the above-mentioned Institute. Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș accepted the invitation. I asked him what his attitude towards Catholicism would be – knowing that the mission of the Institute […]

Father Benedict, the enlightened face of a monk with a philokalic vocation

Very little has been written about the theological and spiritual treasure contained in the Orthodox Church’s liturgical books, compared to their value. It is difficult, however, to find any justification for this neglect, for the hymnography of the Church remains the most comprehensive representation, through the power and colour of the inspired Word, of the sacred history of our salvation from sin and death through Christ, as well as of the divine-human nature of the Church. […] However, since God does not allow the precious pearls of His Church to remain dull for long because of people’s lack of attention, […]

Father Benedict – “he endured everything with gentleness, like a Saint”

Father Benedict Ghiuș was good. Very good. – He was a great man. He was a saint, he was gentle and kind. He ended up in the monastery of Cernica. – I was the only one who greeted him when I passed his door. I always greeted him because he was in the cell with Father Stăniloae. *** In prison, Father Benedict Ghiuș behaved best. – He struggled a lot spiritually and he died very well! (Fr. Dimitrie Bejan – The Joys of Suffering. Evocări din Trecut, Vol. II)