Father Arsenie is arrested again

Here is the first of the former acquaintances who have now arrived in Aiud. The monk Arsenie Papacioc, released in 1946, was back. A sculptor by profession, he had made some very beautiful gates before his release, proving that he was a talented sculptor.

Very faithful and gentle, with a religious vocation that was evident before his release, I didn’t think that he would end up in prison ever again.

He now presented himself as a superior monk, with a beautiful life and a deeply Christian spirit. He had the notes of a chosen monk. He was a monk in Sihăstria, a beautiful monastery in Neamț County. Archimandrite Ilie Cleopa and he confessed to Patriarch Justinian Marina.

He had done nothing wrong. But one day the Ministry of the Interior came… Fr. Ilie Cleopa managed to escape through a window and they caught him as he was about to jump.

Together with him, they arrested about 18 of the highest figures of the Orthodox Church in our country, distinguished professors and monks. Among them were Professor Tudor Popescu, Dumitru Stăniloae, Archimandrite Benedict Ghiuș, the monk and poet Bartolomeu Valeriu Anania, Antonie Plămadeală, Sandu Tudor, now Abbot of Rarău with the name of Schemamonk Daniil, Nicolae Porsena, Hieromonk Sofian Boghiu, all exceptional personalities.

(Fr. Nicolae Grebenea – Memories from the Darkness)