Father Cleopa Ilie of Sihăstria in the Securitate documents
Such a subject has been raised before, but each time it seems to be inexhaustible as long as we find new testimonies in the archives of the former organs of repression. A less well-known period is that of Father Cleopatra’s return to his monastery of origin after his third refuge in the mountains and the amnesty for political prisoners in 1964. The Sihăstria monastery was threatened with demolition, but perhaps the wisdom of Father Paisie Olaru prevailed and the monastery was turned into a home for elderly monks.
In the 1970s, however, Sihăstria began to become a monastic settlement again, with pilgrims constantly seeking it out, a situation that gave the communist authorities pause for thought. They tried to minimise the spiritual importance of the monastery, both by forbidding young people to enter monasticism and, above all, by constantly monitoring it and even adapting it to modern, secularising times and the political course of the country. At the same time, because he was in constant demand by the faithful, Father Cleopa was marginalised, forced to receive no one and to remain only in his cell. He was watched by the Securitate to see if he was involved in “mystical propaganda”, especially as he had spoken out against “the science and culturalisation of the country’s citizens”, claiming that “theatre, television and cinema are harmful to the spiritual life of the faithful”.
As a result, the repressive authorities took the measure of “warning” Father Cleopa, so that a year later, the Securitate source “Neagu” noted: “Recently the priest has begun to calm down, in the sense that he no longer boycotts the eating of meat in the monastery, that telephones, televisions and other things have been installed. As for the sermons, he has been warned by the abbot of the monastery to preach what is appropriate, without distorting and illustrating parables and other quotations from the Gospel. In order not to have to preach at every service, the service in the church was organised by rotation with all the priests. However, he did not renounce his mystical ideas definitively and continued to maintain relations with the former leaders of the monastery: “Ioanichie Bălan, Caliopie Apetri, Oanele Victorin”.
A year later, in a characterisation of Father Cleopa by the Securitate, it was said: “He wrote a lot of mystical propaganda material. He is known to the local parishioners as a miracle-worker, the best confessor”; “he enjoys great popularity, with great influence among both monks and citizens, who have heard of him even from different parts of the country”; around him “well-known elements with political backgrounds – former legionaries, convicts, mystics”.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Ziarul Lumina)