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 going through, under direct attack from the Communists who are desecrating His holy relics. He was happy that we were taking care of this Orthodox relic. I asked him to remember us in his prayers. He embraced us with tears in his eyes and left in the same spirit in which he had arrived. Mr Trifan, who had been working in the fields, was very happy when we told him that Father Ghiuș had visited us, and a tear of sorrow came to the corners of his eyes. They were fellow countrymen.

(Virgil Maxim, Hymn for the Cross Carried. Abecedar duhovnicesc pentru un frate de cruce, 2nd edition, Antim Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002, p. 148)

[1] The action takes place in the labour colonies of Galda de Jos, where the detention regime, although harsh due to conditions of starvation and forced labour, was more relaxed in terms of religious rights and freedom of movement.

[2] Father Benedict was at liberty at the time, having been arrested 11 years later on the night of 13-14 June 1958.