Father Adrian Făgețeanu, small in stature but big in heart

In one of the brigades working in Năvodari, under the direction of the engineer Ion Nicola, a skilled, dynamic and soulful builder, I noticed, before I met him, a small man of stature, with a gentle smile, with eyes that always look down, as if hiding from the world, with something mysterious in his being, and who commands respect, a sincere and enthusiastic respect, transparent even in the way young and old pronounce his name: Father Adrian Făgețeanu.

The young people introduced me to Father Adrian and I felt at ease with him: his words were few but comforting. After a while, the priest, who felt that the poems I knew or wrote had an influence on those of my age, urged me to strengthen my faith: in the hours when I felt empty and desolate, I would recite a short prayer in my mind: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” which I repeated like a grain of amber passing along a prayer rope.

Much later I would learn that this was the “prayer of the heart” of the hesychasm practice, and that Father Adrian Făgețeanu, after finishing a first sentence, had been a member of the mystical group “The Burning Bush”, which existed around the Antim Monastery in Bucharest until 14 June 1958, the date of the arrest of its members, when the group became a lot for investigations and trials. […]

I had the joy of speaking with His Holiness, Father Adrian Făgețeanu, in Brașov in October 1991, at the Second Congress of the A.F.D.P.R., who, smaller in stature, seemingly withered by the years, but still great in soul, made the reconstruction and restoration of the monastic life of the Piteștean Monastery the theme of his life. The man resanctifies the place…

(Gheorghe Stănescu – Jurnal din prigoană, Venus Publishing House, Bucharest, 1996, pp. 108-110)