Father Sofian Boghiu the Confessor
In 1967, when I was a student in Bucharest, I came to Plumbuita Monastery. A kind and faithful old lady told me that “years ago Father Sofian was the abbot there and now he is in Antim Monastery”.
I went to Antim and saw him: he was “gentle and lowly in heart”, as Christ wants us all to be (Matthew 11:29). I met him many times after that, when I was a layman, a priest, a doctoral student and a bishop. In time, I learned that Father Sofian had also gone through the ordeal of the Communist dungeons and confessed Christ.
Father Sofian was born on 7 October 1912 in the beautiful and faithful land of Bessarabia, in the commune of Cuconeștii Vechi, Bălți County, of parents Ioan and Alexandra Boghiu. The third of six children, he was baptised Sergei.
After primary school, showing a real vocation for study and spiritual life, he became a brother in the monastery of Rughi. He was then 14 years old. He then enrolled at the school for church singers in the monastery of Dobrușa. In 1932, after graduating from this school, he was sent to the monastic seminary of Cernica, where he remained for 8 years.
In 1937, while still a seminarian, he was ordained a monk in Dobrușa, taking the name Sofian. On 6 August 1939, Tit Simedrea, Bishop of Hotin, ordained him a hieromonk in the Cathedral of Bălți. After graduating from the seminary in 1940, he returned to Dobruja. The sad events that followed, the occupation of Bessarabia, forced him to seek refuge in Romania, together with the abbot and 16 other monks, at the Căldărușani monastery.
In 1940 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, graduating in 1945. In 1942 he also enrolled at the Faculty of Theology, graduating in 1946. He was transferred to Antim Monastery and ordained a hieromonk by Archbishop Atanasie Dincă in 1945. For two years he taught painting at the monastic seminary in Neamt (1950-1952), then returned to Antim Monastery as a priest. From 1954 to 1958 he was abbot of Plumbuita Monastery.
Now, in 1958, the ordeal begins. Father Sofian’s work, like that of other men totally dedicated to the service of Christ, did not please the authorities. On 14 June 1958, arrest warrant no. 23/B was issued “against the aforementioned Boghiu Serghie Sofian”, and it was ordered “that all the organs of the public forces arrest the aforementioned Boghiu Serghie Sofian and take him to the M.I.A. Bucharest prison, in accordance with the law”. He was arrested, investigated and tried, as were the other members of the “Burning Bush” movement. The long and arduous investigation began on 14 June 1958 at 10 a.m. and ended at 2 p.m. It would continue for days. The search was on for a convincing and powerful charge. The most practical and serious accusation was that of belonging to the Legionnaries.
In the meetings of the “Burning Bush” Movement, the concerns were primarily spiritual. It is natural that this sometimes led to political statements. What man with a great soul could be indifferent to the installation of an atheistic and tyrannical system? We know that these meetings after 1948 were of a conspiratorial nature.
The great merit of the members of the “Burning Bush” was that they also thought about the future. As such, they were concerned with young people. The file of Father Sofian Boghiu states that he “received instructions from the co-defendant Teodorescu Alexandru (Sandu Tudor) to educate a group of students who came to the church “Plumbuita”, of which he was the prior. For this purpose, the defendant Boghiu Sofian organised a secret meeting in the monastery, which was attended by a group of five students who had attended the religious service led by Văsâi Gheorghe, to whom he spoke not only about mystical-religious issues, but also about political issues, trying to instil in them distrust in what they had learned at the university and to incite them not to take part in the political-cultural life taking place at the university”. This concern on the part of Fr. Sofian.
During the inquiry, Father Sofian admitted that “I told these students that, in addition to their studies in the Faculty, it would be good to take care of their spiritual preparation by studying certain books and materials of a religious nature, which are not allowed in the university and in schools in general”.
It was also inconvenient for the authorities that not only opinions but also books and manuscripts were exchanged at the Burning Bush. Most of them were religious, but in contradiction with the Marxist doctrine they wanted to impose. The file states that “in 1957, the defendant Boghiu Sofian received from the defendant Dubneac Felix a notebook with legionary poems which, after reading, he gave to the legionary Zamfiroiu Grigore”. These were poems written by Radu Gyr in prison.
The investigators persisted in asking about this notebook and about Zamfiroiu Grigore. He worked at Plumbuita monastery and was usually in contact with the abbot. The priest explained that “after obtaining the materials in question, Zamfiroiu Grigore was commissioned to install these tiles in the church, a work that took about two weeks and was carried out in November 1957”.
The secret police were also interested in the relations that Fr. Sofian had with Sandu Tudor, in the monastery, according to the priest: “From 1947 – when Sandu Tudor settled in the Antim Monastery – until 1948 – when he left Bucharest, we lived together in the same monastery and attended the services together. During this period we also worked together in the association “The Burning Bush of the Mother of God”, an association founded in 1946 and led by Sandu Tudor.
The activity of the “Burning Bush” continued in secret after 1948. Father Sofian tells us: “From 1956, when the monk Sandu Tudor came to Bucharest, he also came to Plumbuita Monastery, where he held services. Between 1956 and 1958, I came into contact with Sandu Tudor about five or six times in Bucharest, and once in 1956 in Slatina Monastery, on the occasion of the entry into monasticism of the monk Andrei Scrima, now in India”.
Besides the meetings of the members of the “Burning Bush” at the “Plumbuita” monastery, he also took part in the meetings at the house of Alexandru Mironescu. He also visited him on other occasions: “I remember once asking for the address of Father Scrima in India and writing a church calendar there and sending it to him”.
The investigation ended with Father Sofian Boghiu being found “guilty”. The Military Tribunal, with judgement no. 125 of 8 November 1958, “in the name of the people”, sentenced “Boghiu Serghie Sofian to 16 (sixteen) years of hard labour and 10 (ten) years of civic degradation, for the offence of Art. 209, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code and Art. 58, paragraphs 2-5 of the Criminal Code. The total confiscation of his personal property is ordered…”.
He will serve his sentence in three prisons: Jilava, Aiud and Sălcia. In the Sălcia characterisation certificate it is stated that “he worked in the vegetable sector with an average percentage of 80-100% of the norm fulfilled… he did not avoid work, nor did he have any other deviations from internal order…”. His behaviour in this formation was satisfactory”.
In 1964, following the general amnesty decree, Father Sofian was released. From 1965 to 1967 he worked as a painter at the Biblical Institute and was parish priest at Plumbuita Monastery. From 1968 he returned as Prior of Antim Monastery until 14 September 2002, when God took him from the earth.
Father painted churches and wrote, but above all he formed the spirit and comforted. When asked what the 19 main characteristics of Orthodoxy were, he replied: “Humility and love! The ones that the Saviour recommends: “Learn from me, for for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls“. Our Lord Jesus Christ urges us here to try to acquire humility and love, which are the attributes of God. Therefore, I believe that it is with these two virtues that we can begin to describe Orthodoxy”.
(Andrei, Archbishop of Alba Iulia – An Icon of Souls. Testimonies about Father Sofian Boghiu, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009, pp. 15-19)