Father Nicolae Grebenea – a life of a valiant fighter, martyr and confessor

It’s difficult to portray Father Grebenea in a few words. A fighter, a man of historical character, a writer of mystical and religious character, Father Grebenea combines all these faculties, and hence the difficulty of writing the word that His Holiness asked me to place at the beginning of his book. Much can be said about Father Grebenea, because he is a man who has lived the life of a courageous fighter, with a religious, moral and spiritual creed, a martyr and a confessor.

I met him in difficult times, in the monastery of Cavnic.

I believe that all the places sanctified by the world of prisons between 1948 and 1964 can be considered as monasteries of the most profound ascetic character and orthodox life. Aiud, Gherla, Pitești and the other prisons, all these places are our points of great weight, in addition to the sanctuaries and monasteries of the monks. We must never forget that they are a testimony for the future of our sufferings, tears and blood…

For the generations up to 1941, we can speak of Father Nicholas as a great guide and participant in the struggles and conflicts that our country experienced after the First World War. Our youth had to choose between the corruption of the ruling parties, the fascist, Nazi and communist influences on the one hand, and the legionary trend on the other. We chose the latter. There were great battles, especially with the corrupt world of democracy and the Carlist dictatorship.

During the years he spent in prison, he was at the top of his game, keeping up the spirits and morale of a youth a little confused by the hardships of prison and the communist extermination programme. Had it not been for Radu Gyr, Vasile Voiculescu and even Nichifor Crainic through their lives and “writings”, which only saw the paper after their release from prison, there would have been much discouragement among the imprisoned youth and many falls. And the fact that there was a Father Grebenea or a Traian Trifan in the Aiud militia was a great encouragement to fight and sacrifice against the minions of darkness, seen and unseen.

Father was a pillar for all, both those who died and those who managed to get out and survive. The communists were amazed at the way Father managed to deal with the various situations they put him in, both during his years in prison and afterwards. The prisoners knew that “if Father Grebenea said so, we must do so”. For example, I took part in the strike organised by Father Grebenea in the Baia Sprie camp, which ended with the dispersal of the colony to the other prisons in the country.

After 1964, the very fact that he was always attacked and followed, that not a month or two went by without him being called to the Securitate, to Piatra Neamț, to Roman or to other investigation centres, not because he was so dangerous, but mainly because they were afraid of his shadow, because he amazed the investigators with his honesty and openness, I think this is very telling of what Father Grebenea meant… For the love he has for the truth and for God, for his holiness, it is all one: that he speaks to the greatest enemy of his life or of the life of his nation, the Father is the same – open, pure, beautiful at heart, elegant in his response, of the highest academic level, fair in all things – both with his enemies and with everyone else. He is the man who embodies the words of the Apostle Paul: “It suffers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails”. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8)

From the way in which he conceived the life of those times, and in which he has continued under all regimes up to the present day, we can say that Father is currently crowning one of the most beautiful lives of Christian life and struggle. We can learn a lot from Father Grebenea. First of all, his perseverance in the truth, his courage, his justice, his fairness, his discipline in thinking and his deep religious conviction…

All the Legionary literature that has appeared in recent years is a miracle for me, because in 1950-60 nobody thought that these testimonies would ever appear again. Whether the Legionary phenomenon is understood or not, it will never remain outside our Christian and national history. If there is so much anger against this phenomenon today, it is only the wrath of the devil against God’s elect. As for those through whom this battle is waged, God forbid that they should be judged with those who died for the Church, that is, for Christ and for the nation.

(Fr. Justin Pârvu – Foreword to the volume “Memories from Darkness”)