Father Ilie Imbrescu, a promoter of Christian Romania

Ilie Imbrescu was born on 26 April 1909 in Dalboșeț, Caraș County, in the family of a Banat priest. In a letter to his wife dated 1 April 1945, Ilie Imbrescu wrote about his origins and his nationalism: “[…] I am the son of a priest. I was born in the valley of Almăjului – the Romanian “valley of song” of Banat. I grew up amid the harmonious sounds of the choirs, brass bands and folk games of the peasants whom my father tended. […] Since then, the “madness” of song has accompanied me everywhere and always, because I love my homeland, my bride country and my mother Church”[1].

In 1915 he attended primary school in Hungarian, then secondary school in Caransebeș.

On 15 October 1926 he enrolled at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Cernăuți, where he became acquainted with the political currents, especially the nationalist one, which were taking shape more and more. Here he was active in the Cernăuți Student Centre, whose president was the priest Professor Domițian Spânu, one of the most respected theologians of the time.

After graduating from the university on 24 November 1930, the young Imbrescu was unanimously elected president of the Cernăuți Student Centre,[2] but he was not to stay in Cernăuți for long, as he returned to Banat to take up a teaching post at the Theological Academy in Caransebeș and to enrol for his doctorate. However, he spent a year in Sibiu as a teacher at the Archdiocesan Boarding School, from where he went to Bucharest to study for his doctorate. There he was elected to the executive committee of the National Union of Christian Students in Romania (UNSCR).

The moment that marked the future priest Imbrescu most was 24 January 1933. More precisely, on the occasion of the Unification Day, the students, led by the priest Nicolae Georgescu-Edineț, parish priest of the Church of St. Anton-Curtea Veche and confessor of the Bucharest students, wanted to place a cross on the tomb of the Unknown Hero. The Minister of Defence, Nicolae Samsonovici, forbade the gesture, arguing that “the tomb is a symbol not only for Christians, but also for those who sacrificed themselves for the Romanian country.”[3] The students’ initiative was motivated by the fact that the Tomb of the Unknown Hero had been arranged, but the cross was missing.

After the consecration, in a procession of more than 2000 believers led by the priest Nicolae Georgescu Edineț, the cross was taken to Carol Park by the young Traian Puiu, as a delegate of the initiators, and by Ilie Imbrescu, from the Executive Committee of the UNSCR. “I was allowed by the goodness of God to carry the cross of the hero of the nation, but, as is well known, we were stopped at the gate of Carol Park and severely beaten by the police and the army, on the orders of the government of the time. I was trampled on and then, also from the blow of a gun, I got a broken rib. My head escaped without a wound.”[4] – says Imbrescu in his book.

Five days later, Imbrescu, a theologian, was to represent the Bucharest Student Forum at the events organised by the Cernăuți Student Centre in support of the crucifixion. The Cernăuți police report of 30 January 1933 states that Imbrescu brought “greetings and sincere thanks to the students of the capital for the solidarity of the students of Bukovina in this national Christian act”. The same theologian “called for the solidarity of all the students and our Romanian people in Bukovina in the fight against the foreign religions and the sectarians that plague the country”[5].

In 1933, Imbrescu tried to publish in the “Student Word” an appeal entitled “The Association of Sexual Abstainers”, in which, among other things, the theologian Imbrescu said “Because our country is being undermined, among many other calamities, by the moral cancer of lust, supported and diabolically spread by pornographic publications, libertine films and by the ‘science unjustly called’ (1 Timothy 6:20) of Freudianism, which has made a monster of ‘psychoanalysis’ and ‘psychotherapy’, a group of Christian-Romanian students, on the initiative and insistence of our colleague Ilie I, decided to form the Association of Sexual Abstinent Students. Imbrescu, a doctoral student in theology, have set up an “Association for Sexual Abstinence Until Marriage”. The aim of this association is to “reawaken the moral sense and to preserve full physical health through abstinence until marriage, and at the same time the most beautiful and Christian school of will and dignity”. However, in order to be published, the title of the appeal was changed to “For a Clean Life” and the name of the association to “Association for the Cultivation of Christian Virtues”[6]. In Bucharest, in November 1933, the young Ilie Imbrescu joined the Legionaries.

Imprisoned for belonging to the Legionaries

On 7 January 1934 he married Elena Avram, and on 12 February 1934 he was ordained a priest by Bishop Gherontie Nicolau of Constanta, in the parish of Echișcea, in the district of Caliacra (Cadrilater). From there he was assigned first to the parish of St George in Balchik, then to St. Mary of the Sea in the same town. Because of his membership in the Legionary Movement, Ilie Imbrescu was expelled from his doctorate in 1936[7].

As a prominent member of the Legionary Movement in Caliacra County, after the death of the lawyer Cola Ciumeti, Ilie Imbrescu became a Legionary Commander[8]. In this capacity, he took part in the elections of 20 December 1937, on the lists of the “All for the Country” party, for which he came third, without entering parliament[9].

After the establishment of the dictatorship of King Charles II, the state authorities began to implement a wide-ranging plan of repression against the Legionary Movement. The first to be targeted were the leading Legionaries, including the priest Ilie Imbrescu from Balcic, as the Legionary leader of the county of Caliacra.

Thus, on the night of Florii (16-17 April 1938), by General Order no. 25.218/16 April of the Minister of the Interior, Armand Călinescu[10], Pr. Ilie Imbrescu was searched by the chief of police of Balcic and a sergeant. The purpose of the police raid was to find unlicensed weapons and propaganda material in order to bring him to trial. Subsequently, the priest and his family were detained at his home on Palm Sunday by a team of two gendarmes, according to an “order from the Ministry of the Interior”. This was order no. 25246/16 April 1938, issued by the same minister: “After the search of the Legionnaire of the district [free place, n.n.], you will place a guard of two gendarmes and an agent at his residence and he will be forbidden to leave the house or to communicate with anyone outside until further orders […]”[11].

On 19 April 1938 – Passion Week – Fr. Ilie Imbrescu was taken under guard to Bazargic, then to Râmnicu-Vâlcea and imprisoned in the Miercurea Ciuc camp. Finally, Father Imbrescu, together with all the clergy arrested on the night of 16-17 April, was imprisoned in the Sadaclia Hermitage, Tighina County (Bessarabia)[12].

Even if the detentions at home and then in the camps were carried out on the grounds of national security and against the Legionaries, it is worth mentioning here the hardships that priests in general had to endure at the hands of the state authorities. In this respect, the description given by the priest Imbrescu is relevant. While he was in Miercurea Ciuc, and because he did not receive any spiritual assistance during his detention, Father Imbrescu, together with other detained “Legionary priests”, submitted a complaint to the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in which he described the behaviour of the police towards the clergy, the illegality committed by the state authority towards the “Legionary priests”, the violation of the sacred canons recognised by the state itself which committed the abuses, etc[13].

Priests treated as dangerous criminals

From Father Imbrescu’s notes we also learn how priests who were considered Legionaries were treated in these troubled political times: “We were besieged in our homes, searched and arrested, all of us ‘Legionaries’, on the night of Palm Sunday of the same year [1938, ed.] We thus truly entered the ‘Week of the Holy Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ’. On Wednesday of that week, some of us met at the Gendarmerie Legion in Râmnicu-Vâlcea, where we were brought under guard from different parts of the country. Two other groups were taken to the monasteries of Tismana and Dragomirna, while we were taken to Miercurea Ciuc. We were taken there on Good Friday itself and had communion on the train. On Holy Saturday we disembarked and were taken to the “camp” in Miercurea Ciuc for internment. There, too, after most of the legionaries had confessed and received Holy Communion, we celebrated Holy Resurrection as best we could, because the Good Lord was kind enough to give good thoughts to the priest from Tulcea, ȘIonț Vasilian, who received Holy Communion “for the sick” at His Holiness. After a month, those from Tismana and Dragomirna were also brought there. […] In August, after much suffering and terrible anguish of soul, I entered the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

[After the priests and other Orthodox Christians from Miercurea Ciuc had been transferred to the new camp in Vaslui, only three priests remained in Ciuc. On Friday, 11 November 1938, we were awakened early in the morning and called to the camp headquarters. Without knowing where we were going, we were taken into the custody of heavily armed policemen and put into a gendarmerie truck used for transporting convicts and prisoners. We were taken through the mountains, via Târgu-Ocna and Mărășești, then Cosmești and Bârlad, to Vaslui. There we were taken to the railway station and put into a “wagon-truck” which, to our amazement, contained thirty other Orthodox priests. Under strict guard, we were transported by train all night in a state of neglect. In the morning we were shouted at according to the list of a colonel accompanying us, and the sergeant on duty strip searched us. As soon as we were in line, we were disembarked at the Cioc-Maidan station in the Tighina district, where we were met by strong gendarmes with rifles in their hands and escorted to pre-booked wagons into which we were loaded, four to a wagon. The surrounding peasants, the owners of the wagons, were kept at a great distance, probably instructed to follow us from a distance, as the driving of the horses was entrusted to one gendarme at a time. A procession of wagons was formed with the priests arrested and carried under the guard of the gendarmes, in pedestrian formation in two ranks, on either side of the line of wagons, with their weapons loaded and in position for attack; Then other rows of gendarmes on horseback, also armed like the pedestrian ones, flanked them on either side of the procession; a colonel, a major and a captain on horseback commanded the eighty or so gendarmes escorting thirty-three priests, forgotten by the majors of the Church and mocked by the rulers of the Romanian state.

(…) After an hour and a half’s walk, we found ourselves in front of the monastery of Sadaclia, founded by Metropolitan Gurie. The church of the monastery was dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. After disembarking and being handed over to the captain in charge of the “priests’ camp” – the hermitage, like the other camps, was surrounded by barbed wire and closely guarded by gendarmes – we consoled ourselves with the illusion that we had a church and could celebrate Liturgy, unlike the eight months we had lived up to that point. It was Saturday when we arrived, and the next day we were able to celebrate Mass for the first time in so long. But this comfort did not last long, because after a few days the hermitage church was closed and we were not allowed to celebrate Liturgy. After a few more days, all our Bibles (…) and all our prayer books were confiscated, and of course all the other books were confiscated from each of us, because we were arrested at home. This is how the thirty-three Orthodox priests were kept, to which the hieromonk Isihie Antohi was added two days after our arrival.

To the terrible hunger of the soul they added the hunger of the body, for shortly afterwards we were given a ration of five lei a day, the best of which was beetroot soup. But even our sleep they took care of, for all night long the guards shouted certain sound signals every five minutes, which turned all reality into dreams and death wishes, assuring us that only in hell could it be worse than here. And since there is such an insurmountable gulf between hell and heaven, we too had no contact with the outside world or our families, in any form of living speech or writing”[14].

Followed by the Securitate even in the Church

On 20 December 1938, the priest Ilie Imbrescu was “conditionally released from the concentration camp” in Miercurea Ciuc and kept under constant surveillance by the Securitate, and on 14 January 1939 he returned with his wife to Balchik, where he was forced to join the “National Renaissance Front”, the only party founded by King Charles II[15].

Because of his political background, he was regarded with suspicion by the state authorities. The Securitate always referred to him as a “former legionnaire on parole”, kept an eye on him and suspected him of any circumstance that could “threaten” the security of the state.

All the Legionaries were under surveillance, and the priest even received the “attention” of the police during the sermons he preached at religious services, such as on the occasion of the Transfiguration in 1939. The text of the sermon was obtained by local Securitate agents and sent to the Regional Inspectorate “for information” on 17 August 1939. The Balchik Securitate commissar said: “It has been established that the priest Ilie Imbrescu, a former legionnaire, no longer carries out any actions contrary to the state order and is exclusively engaged in the service of the Church”. In fact, the text of the sermon was given to the Securitate commissioner by Father Imbrescu himself. According to the rule imposed by the police authorities, the Servant of God, even if he did not read the text of this sermon, had to keep within the “decent” limits of speaking to the faithful[16].

Nevertheless, Imbrescu was to be persecuted according to the methods at the disposal of the Securitate. Thus, on 11 September 1939, the head of the Balchik police station reported to the head of the Bazargic police that three days earlier, “in accordance with the orders given on the occasion of the conference, the house of Father Ilie Imbrescu, a former legionary commander […] was searched, but no compromising documents were found”. The search was carried out on 8 September 1939 (the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary), as Imbrescu mentions in his book[17].

In September 1940, after the capitulation of Cadrilater, Father Imbrescu and his family took refuge in Bucharest. Ilie Imbrescu was appointed Inspector of the Hr. for Religious Affairs[18], a position he held until 11 February 1941. At the same time, the Archbishopric of Bucharest authorised him to serve in the church of Icoanei in Bucharest[19].

Resistance of the BOR hierarchs to the reform

In his capacity as Inspector of Religious Affairs, and together with other legionary theologians (Liviu Stan, George Racoveanu), he initiated a far-reaching programme of reforms in the Church, aimed at rationalising the work that this institution had to carry out. Thus, through several articles published in the newspaper “Cuvântul” and in the magazine “Însemnări sociologice” by Professor Traian Brăileanu, Fr. Imbrescu emphasised several ecclesiastical issues that needed to be resolved quickly, such as the appointment of priests and bishops, the uniformity of worship, and theological education at all levels[20]. In fact, all these questions had been hotly debated and demanded a solution since the inter-war period. However, the initiative of the Legionaries was categorically rejected by the high hierarchs, mainly because of the political behaviour of some Legionary leaders, but also because of the rejection of General Ion Antonescu.

It was also during this period that Pr. Imbrescu published his book Apostrofa unui Teolog. The Church and the Legionary Movement (ed. Cartea Românească, 1940), in which he outlines a series of struggles, attitudes, characters, dogmas and theologies, the orthodox mystical plan of Legionary life, “messianism” and “missionaryism”, “the call” and “the future destiny of the nations”, etc.

After the events of 21-22 January 1941, the priest Ilie Imbrescu was investigated following anonymous reports that he had rung the bells on the “night of the rebellion” to encourage the “rebels”. He was released on 26 March 1941, after his investigation and that of the Prefecture of the Capital Police.

On 11 March 1941, Bishop Gherontie of Constanța submitted to the Holy Synod the book Apostrophe of a Theologian. The Church and the Legionary Movement, as well as the journal “Sociological Notes”, Year IV, No. 7, of 1 December 1941, in which, on pages 17-21, there was an article entitled “Deciphering a Meaning”, signed by the priest Ilie I. Imbrescu, with the mention that “both in the book and in the article, this priest, through his apostrophe, attacks the entire Holy Synod, declaring it heretic, atheist, fallen from grace, anti-Christ, etc.”[21].

Taking note of what had been reported, Patriarch Nicodemus submitted the matter to the Permanent Synod, which, in its meeting of 12 March 1941, noting the serious accusations against Pr. Ilie Imbrescu, a former priest of the Church of Balcic and currently employed at the Church of Icoanei in Bucharest, and taking into account the fact that the said priest is canonically dependent on the Diocese of Constanța, decided: “The Archdiocese of Bucharest will revoke the assignment of the priest Ilie Imbrescu in Bucharest and will ask him to go to the Diocese of Constanța, which will take the necessary measures to discipline him”[22]. This Synodal decision was communicated to both the Archdiocese of Bucharest and the Diocese of Constanța, as well as to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and to the priest Ilie Imbrescu.

In view of this Synodal decision, the priest Ilie Imbrescu wrote several times, starting on 26 March 1941, to the Archdiocese of Bucharest and the Bishopric of Constanta, as well as to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, stating that his statements had been misinterpreted and had led to misunderstandings, and asking to be maintained as a priest working in the parish of Icoana in Bucharest. In a memorandum to Patriarch Nicodemus dated 1 May 1941, for example, he stated that he regretted anything that could be interpreted as an offence against the supreme ecclesiastical authority and the Holy Synod, and that he “under no circumstances understood myself to be in opposition to the Supervisor of the Holy Orthodoxy”, and with regard to his book The Church and the Legionary Movement, he stated that “I did not write it in bad faith, nor with the intention of attacking the Hierarchy or of polemicising with individuals”[23].

Taking note of these statements, on 10 June 1941, Bishop Gherontie of Constanta informed Patriarch Nicodemus and the Ministry of Religious Affairs that “I have pardoned the priest Ilie Imbrescu for what he wrote, which would constitute an offence against the supreme ecclesiastical authority”, and proposed that “since the diocese of Constanța is overcrowded with refugee priests, he should be reassigned to the church of Icoana in Bucharest”[24]. This proposal was also supported by the Ministry of Religious Affairs[25].

On 9 July 1941, Patriarch Nicodemus replied to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and to Bishop Gherontie that “we cannot accept the proposal of the Most Holy Bishop of Constanța, because we have too many refugees and the priest Ilie Imbrescu was not used in Bucharest, but was only allowed to take Communion while he was working at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. He belongs to the diocese of Constanța”[26]. This was followed by a new memorandum from Father Imbrescu, dated 19 August 1941, asking for his “reassignment to the church of Icoana or to one of the churches with vacancies in the capital”,[27] and a new intervention from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, dated 20 September of the same year, in which it is stated: “Considering the difficult material situation in which he and his family are living, after not having received any kind of salary for months, we have the honour to ask you to kindly order the placement of Father Ilie Imbrescu in a vacant budgetary parish, equivalent to the one he had before taking refuge, in the knowledge that the Ministry will recognise this placement”[28]. However, Patriarch Nicodemus maintained his previous position and replied that “Father Imbrescu, being a member of the Eparchy of Constanta, must be addressed there”[29].

This exchange of addresses, notes and letters continued until the end of the following year, during which Fr. Ilie Imbrescu found himself in the difficult situation of having nothing to live on with his family, as no parish could find a place for him.

Starving

Faced with these failures, priest Imbrescu will look for a job at the Directorate of Labour in August 1941, or at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in April 1943, and after clarifying his canonical situation, he will serve at the church Boteanu, where the parish priest was priest Marius Constantinescu, or Stavropoleos, where the parish priest was Dumitru Iliescu-Palanca[30].

Because of his relations with other Orthodox clergymen, considered “legionaries” by the authorities, the priest Imbrescu continued to be under surveillance by the Securitate. In the context of a wave of arrests of Legionaries ordered by Marshal Ion Antonescu, Father Imbrescu was arrested again.

On the orders of the Minister of the Interior, his house was searched and he was arrested by the Prefecture of the Capital Police. At the suggestion of the Special Intelligence Service, he is included in the list of Legionaries interned at Tg-Jiu between 26 and 31 December 1942, although some sources indicate the Tismana Monastery as the place of detention, together with Dumitru Iliescu-Palanca and Spiridon Cândea. He was imprisoned from 26 December 1942 to 8 April 1943[31].

After the liberation, through the intervention of the Ministry of Culture, Cults and Arts, the priest Ilie Imbrescu was integrated into the Boteanu Church[32].

A liturgist with the zeal of an apostle, and above all a good orator, he was appreciated for his sermons. He spoke clearly, in an understandable way, with a warm, sonorous and pleasant voice, with a lot of weight and reason, proving himself in some difficult situations to be a good psychologist, who knew how to calm agitated spirits, imposing obedience and respect. Thanks to him, the Boteanu Church was full of people and became a centre of Romanian Christian spirituality in Bucharest in those years. He continued to publish articles in the newspapers and church magazines that continued to appear in the early post-war years.

Involved in the anti-communist armed resistance

After 23 August 1944, Fr. Imbrescu continued to be persecuted for his activities as a member of the Legion, and as part of the purge of state institutions, he was imprisoned in the Slobozia political prison camp from July 1945 to August 1946[33]. While in the camp, Imbrescu wrote to his family “that I am more innocent than ever and that my being taken from my home and brought here can only have one meaning: God wanted us to go through this ordeal”. He concluded his letter by saying: “The only hope I have is, as always: The Good Lord” and encouraged the family: “The Good Lord and the Blessed Mother will not abandon us and will bring us out of our present difficulties”[34]. After his release, he will be reintegrated into the community of Boteanu.

However, in January 1948, Father Imbrescu became involved in an anti-communist resistance group called “Salvarea Neamului” (Salvation of the Nation), which had emerged in the autumn of 1947[35] on the initiative of several former cuzist politicians. The activity of the resistance group would only take shape through the co-optation of as many members as possible, some of whom took the oath of allegiance before the priest Imbrescu, with their hand on the cross.

On the night of 26/27 March 1948, the Securitate, on the orders of Alexander Nikolschi, arrested all the members of the resistance group after a thorough search. After long and tortuous investigations, the members of the group were tried on 16 June 1948. At the trial, Fr. Imbrescu did not call any witnesses in his defence, but requested the presence of an official representative of the Church so that he could be tried first according to the canons.

On 1 July 1948, with sentence no. 1025, the Military Tribunal, Section I, Bucharest, sentenced the members of the resistance group “Salvarea Neamului”, Fr. Imbrescu to 10 years’ hard labour for the “crime of plotting rebellion”, and to 15 years’ hard labour and 10 years’ civic disgrace for the “crime of organising and participating in political formations of a fascist nature”[36].

The following year, on 18 November, the Sibiu Securitate authorities asked the General Security Directorate for permission to admit Father Imbrescu to the local hospital for an urgent operation. Bucharest replied positively only on 24 November, but it was too late. On 19 November 1949, Father Imbrescu died of TB peritonitis[37].

There are some fears about the death of Father Imbrescu, from the suffering in prison caused by the punishments he received, with his imprisonment in Aiud prison, to the cause of death. Some testimonies claim that the priest received very harsh punishments because he sang or even served in prison, aspects that unfortunately are not reflected in the documents of the criminal file, but are found in the testimonies of contemporaries.

His opera

Ilie Imbrescu, disciple of divine grace, apostrophe of a theologian. The Church and the Legionary Movement, Bucharest, Cartea Românească, [1940];

Ilie Imbrescu, Descifrarea unui sens, in “Însemnări sociologice”, year IV, no. 7, 1 December 1940, pp. 17-21;

Ilie Imbrescu, Poezii din închisoare, Bucharest, Editua Bonifaciu, [2000], 141 pp;

Ilie Imbrescu, articles in “Cuvânt Studențesc” (1933), “Axa” (1933), “Năzuința” (1933), “Țara Noastra” (1934) or “Cuvântul” (October 1940).

A less known part of Ilie Imbrescu’s life is his literary work. Our priest liked to write poems in different moments of inspiration. Many of them were confiscated by the Securitate from the house of the priest Professor Dumitru Stăniloae. After Fr. Imbrescu’s death, his wife gave the poems to Fr. Răduleanu (a friend of Ilie Imbrescu) for safekeeping, and they eventually reached Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae.

Fr. Imbrescu’s literary work can be divided into several historical periods. The first period is 1938-1940, when he wrote poems in Balcic, in the camp of Miercurea Ciuc (9 November 1938), in Craiova (21 July 1939) or in Cluj, the package of poems being called “Gift from the Gift. Verses”, accompanied by the biblical passage: “Out of the treasure of the heart the mouth of man speaks” (Luke 6:45), and the first chapter is entitled “The Return of the Freemason”. The second stage is represented by the period 1941-1945 and continues this literary package with the chapters: “Youth”, “My Child” and “Battle”. During this period, Imbrescu wrote poems while he was in Mehadica at Christmas 1941 or in Bucharest, most of them from 1941.

The last and most important period is the one in prison. Fr. Imbrescu’s poems have a strong theological, even mystical character, expressing in depth the author’s religious experience behind communist bars. The paper used is either the letters he received from his wife, or those containing lessons in English, communist doctrine or even notebook pages, which probably circulated in the prison. The poems were written in Jilava on 21 July 1948, then in Aiud from 2 and 3 August 1948 until 24 May 1949. From the 22nd of May 1949, Father Imbrescu seems to have begun a new chapter entitled “Steps of Grace”, sensing the approaching moment of his passage into eternity. Some poems are reworked and thus have more dates[38].

From the priceless collection of Fr. Imbrescu’s poetic creation, we reproduce below the poem “Mystical Sadness” (chapter “Steps of Grace” 5), written on 27 May 1949, in which the author expresses a profound theological confession in the Communist dungeon: 

“Ancestor of the dead, Adam,

He circumscribed us in grave nonsense,

When, virtually, in him we were

Living forces in paradise.

He separated us from God,

By the disfigurement of sin,

The icon of the Face in me

And the likeness was trampled.

Without grace the seedling,

A daily reminder,

Are the tears that fall

Between being and not being.

Every day I endure

The immensity of death’s grave nonsense,

But I carry Adam dead in me…

May Christ give me immense support”[39].

Bibliography:

Unpublished sources: AAB, files 2/1940; 22/1941; 2/1943; ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 324, vol. 2, 11, 12; file 447, vol. 3; Documentary fonds, file 74, vol. 6; ANIC, Ministry of the Interior-Diverse fonds, files 5/1930; 1/1933; 3/1933; 19/1938; 47/1938; 48/1938;

Imbrescu family archive – documents from Elena Imbrescu and those returned by CNSAS.

DUMITRESCU-BORȘA, Ion, Cal troian intra muros. Memorii legionare, [Bucharest], Ed. Lucman, [f.a.].

General works: CARAVIA, Paul coord., The Imprisoned Church. Romania 1944-1989, INST, Bucharest, 1998;

“Cuvântul”, year XVI, no. 1, 14 October 1940; no. 8, 21 October 1940;

IONIȚOIU, Cicerone, The Golden Book of Romanian Resistance against Communism, [f.l.], 1995;

MANEA, Vasile, Orthodox Priests in Communist Prisons, 2nd edition, Patmos, 2000;

“Monitorul Oficial”, year CV, no. 301, part I, 30 December 1937; year CVIII, part I, 27 September 1940.

(Adrian Nicolae Petcu* and Gheorghe Vasilescu** – Rost Magazine, no. 27, May 2005)

 

* Assistant Counsellor, CNSAS, Research Service.

** in charge of the Archives of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

[1] Imbrescu family archive, letter of 1 April 1945 from priest Ilie Imbrescu to Elena Imbrescu.

[2] Ilie Imbrescu, Church and Legionary Movement, Bucharest, Cartea Românească Publishing House, 1940, p. 20. See also the letter of 1 April 1945.

[3] “Curentul”, 26 January 1933, in ANIC, Ministry of the Interior-Diverse Affairs fonds, file 5/1930, f. 30.

[4] Ilie Imbrescu, Church and Movement…, pp. 43-44. “Lupta de la mormântul sin cruce”, year I, no. 1, 1 February 1933, Bucharest, p. 4 (in ACNSAS, Penal fonds, file 447, vol. 3, f. 66). The newspapers “Curentul” and “Calendarul”, no. 280, dated 26 January 1933, reported this event in detail.

[5] National Central Historical Archives (hereafter ANIC), Ministry of the Interior-Diverse Affairs fonds, file 1/1933, f. 39-39v; Ibidem, file 3/1933, f. 69.

[6] Ilie Imbrescu, Church…., p. 45-46.

[7] ANIC, Ministry of the Interior-Diverse Affairs fonds, file 19/1938, f. 73-74; ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 324, vol. 11, f. 22; Ilie Imbrescu, Church…, p. 57-58, 106.

[8] Ilie Imbrescu, Poezii din închisoare, Bucharest, Bonifaciu Publishing House, [2000], p. 6.

[9] Ibidem; “Monitorul Oficial”, year CV, no. 301, part I, 30 December 1937, p. 9718, 9720, 9741.

[10] ANIC, Ministry of the Interior – Miscellaneous, file 47/1938, f. 1. [11] Ibidem, file 48/1938, f. 1. [12] Ilie Imbrescu, Church – …., p. 11-16. [13] Ibidem p. 12-14.

[14] Ilie Imbrescu, Church…., p. 80-82.

[15] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 324, vol. 11, f. 35; vol. 12, f. 236, 279. [16] Ibidem, f. 223. [17] Ibidem, f. 266; Ilie Imbrescu, Church…, p. 125.

[18] “Monitorul Oficial”, year CVIII, 27 September 1940, part I, p. 5590.

[19] Archive of the Archdiocese of Bucharest (hereafter AAB), file 2/1940, f. 69-71.

[20] “Cuvântul”, year XVI, no. 1, 14 October 1940, p. 2; no. 8, 21 October 1940, p. 1; “Însemnări sociologice”, year IV, no. 7, 1 December 1940, pp. 17-21.

[21] Archdiocese of Bucharest Archives, file 22/1941, f. 441-442.

[22] Ibidem, f. 455-456.

[23] Ibidem, f. 476.

[24] Ibidem, f. 511.

[25] Ibid., f. 514.

[26] Ibid., f. 523.

[27] Ibid., f. 554.

[28] Ibid, f. 559.

[29] Ibid, f. 562.

[30] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 324, vol. 11, f. 55-61, 95-247; vol. 12, f. 172.

[31] Ibidem, vol. 12, f. 167-168v, 176; Idem, Documentary fonds, file 74, vol. 6, f. 35. [32] Archbishopric of Bucharest Archives, file 2/1943, f. 231.

[33] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, vol. 11, f. 20; vol. 12, f. 221.

[34] Imbrescu family archive, letter from Ilie Imbrescu to Elena Imbrescu dated 25 July 1945. In the same letter, Father Imbrescu speaks, without any lack of modesty, of “my attitude as a fighter for the Christian and Romanian ideal”.

[35] These were: Nichifor Robu, deacon Ion Popescu-Măzăceni, Nachiu Apostol, Istrate Micescu and others.

[36] ACNSAS, Criminal fonds, file 324, vol. 2, f. 193-208.

[37] Ibidem, vol. 11, f. 82; 281-285.

[38] The poems in prison were published by Xenia Mămăligă. Regarding the last date, on which Imbrescu wrote, Mrs. Mămăligă claims June 29, 1949 – the feast of St. Peter and Paul (I. Imbrescu, Poems…, p. 13). The poems in prison were kept in an envelope with the letterhead of the Ministry of State Security, bearing the inscription: “In this envelope are the original poems of the legionary Ilie Imbrescu, which he wrote in detention with mystical-dysmatic, legionary content” (Imbrescu family archive, Manuscripts fonds returned by CNSAS, f. 166).

[39] Imbrescu family archive, Manuscripts fund returned by CNSAS, f. 186 – written by the priest in prison; f. 212 (typed and confiscated from the home of Prof. D. Stăniloae). The poem is signed by Fr. Imbrescu with “I.I.I.”.