Father Sofian – Teacher of Prayer

What impressed me about Fr. Sofian, ever since I arrived at Antim Monastery more than 60 years ago, was the attentiveness with which he read the homilies of the faithful. He almost identified himself with the needy person who asked him to pray for them or their loved ones. He met each one with great understanding and love, and took on their pain.

I was also in the ”Burning Bush” convent. I did more of Martha’s work than Mary’s, but I noticed in Fathers Daniil and Sofian their eagerness to learn the prayer, silence and awakening of the spirit from Father Ivan Kulighin. From that time on they grew and remained firm in this interior work.

Sometimes it seemed to me that Fr. Sofian was exaggerating when he gave alms, or when he extended the time of confession until after midnight, giving help, pieces of advice, encouragement to everyone… I was very fond of him, he was my confessor from ’46 to ’47. He welcomed me back into the Antim community with joy after my imprisonment and always gave me wise pieces of advice, always tempering my rebelliousness and my quick temper. I believe that God received his diligence and the prayers in which I was also commemorated and in which I hope to be commemorated even now. May God place him among His saints… And may our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ enlighten us to pray for him, for ourselves and for our fellow men, as he has always taught us…

(Fr. Adrian Făgețeanu – An Icon of Souls. Testimonies about Father Sofian Boghiu, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009, p. 49)