Father Arsenius – comforter of the hungry in prison
About an hour later, towards evening, I was taken to a corridor just inside the perimeter of the Popovici villa.[1] (…) I was handed over to a guard dressed in the old uniform of the former policemen. (…)
– They gave me something to eat, and here came the monk Arsenios Boca, the one from Sâmbăta, he’s here too, he’s allowed to sit on the terrace, but he doesn’t work miracles here any more!
I don’t know how to interpret what the guard said. Shortly afterwards, Father Arsenios appeared, dressed in his monk’s habit, and placed an enamelled bowl on the windowsill, which he had taken from a cupboard, in which he put a few spoonfuls of green bean soup from a larger bowl. He also left me some small pieces of polenta and a wooden spoon.
He says: “Take this, son, and eat it! I’ll come back for the bowl and spoon. (…) The food served by Father Arsenios seemed blessed, it seemed to me like a last supper. It was tasty and very little. Later I learnt that the faithful women of Schei, together with others from Brasov, came to the gate and brought this food, which Father Arsenios distributed in turn, some to some of the prisoners, some to others, as he was allowed to do, since the prisoners lived only on this and the ration of bread, a quarter of a kilo. (…) Soon Father Arsenios came back for the bowl and the wooden spoon. I didn’t dare approach him because of the guard, but his presence was good for my soul. He was allowed to take the food to the people in the cellar.
(Luca Călvărășăn – History in Tears. Episode Târgșor and others, vol. II, Bucura Publishing House, Sibiu, 1998, pp. 34-36)
[1] The action takes place in the Securitate prison in Brașov.