Father Filaret Gămălău – put in chains for Christ
We were introduced[1] to a priest who had not yet been cut and dressed in the prison outfit. We could not believe our eyes. We were all overcome with emotion. A priest in priestly garb in the cell. The priest was not very tall, with a thick beard and ringlets of hair covering his thin shoulders. He looked like a creature from another world. In a low voice he told us that he was from the Securitate, that his name was Florin Gămălău – Filaret and that he was the abbot of the Durău monastery.
To the young men in the cell with heavy chains, he said: “Since the Romanian people have lived in these lands, the faith and customs inherited from our fathers have never been more desecrated and mocked than now. Never has the nation been more tormented and degraded, the Church of Christ more persecuted and crucified. We are living in times of apocalypse”.
Father then tells us how he was beaten for days and nights until he was half deaf, how the secret police grabbed him by the beard, twisted it and beat his head against the walls until his blood gushed. He also had broken ribs.
– And now the blows are still pounding in my head, my father said sadly, recounting in harsh words those cruel days. Broken, he sat down on the corner of the table and said: “Where are you, Lord? Hear our grief and end our pain!” Looking down at our chains, he continued: “The youth, on whose shoulders the future of the nation rests, is crucified in the chains of the red dragon. This is hard!” When things had calmed down, Father invited us to pray together. This was also our burning desire. We adjusted our chains so as not to embarrass ourselves and then knelt down.
Two days later, Father was taken out of his cell. A short time later he returned, shaved, dressed in Russian thick coats and with chains on his legs. His Holiness had also been sentenced to 25 years of hard labour. Now we were all in chains.
(Petru Baciu – Hidden Crucifixions. Testimonies, Vol. I, Buna-Vestire Cultural Foundation Publishing House, 2004, pp. 220-222)
[1] The action takes place in Suceava prison, 1950