Father Mihai Mitocaru’s suffering for his imprisoned son

In the courtyard of the Piatra Neamț prison, on the right were the offices and on the left a long corridor with cells. In the first one lived 4 or 5 women, common law prisoners, who worked in the kitchen, and in the next one myself, Pamfil Sălăgeanu and Mihai, the youngest son of the priest Mitocaru. The priest’s child, about 10 years old, was taken from the street when his father and brother were arrested, dressed only in a shirt, shorts and sandals on his feet. On 8 November, the feast of the archangels Michael and Gabriel, the guard opened the door of the priest’s cell to take him out into the courtyard to fetch water. Mihai Mitocaru, who had been called to the telephone, was left alone and opened the window of our cell to see his child.

His eyes filled with tears, he called him to kiss him. It was the first time they had seen each other since their arrest. The child began to cry sobbing, calling for his father, while trying desperately to cling to him with his hands through the bean slot. I watched from behind as the little boy desperately tried to feel his father’s warmth, to kiss him, but all in vain. They couldn’t touch.

Neither of them could because of the protective metal system of the visor. Finally, overwhelmed with helplessness, the father told the boy to touch the tip of his tongue with his own…

– Happy birthday, dad!

– Happy birthday, son!

I witnessed this painful encounter helplessly, with tears, with groans, with so much suffering in my voice… I turned round and, raising my arms to the sky, which I could not see but could sense, I called out to God:

– Why, Lord? Why are you letting this happen, Lord? Why are you doing this? Why, Lord?…

(Grigore Caraza, Aiud însângerat, edited by Adrian Alui Gheorghe, 5th edition, Tipo Moldova Publishing House, Iași, 2013, pp. 45-46)