Fr. Roman Braga in the spiritual struggle against communism
A native of Condrița Lăpușnei, he was born in 1922 to an Orthodox family. He began his theological studies in the seminaries of Cernica, Bucharest and Chișinău.
In 1947 he graduated from the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest and a year later enrolled for doctoral studies. His approach to authentic Christian life began at the age of 12, when he entered the gates of the Căldărușani monastery. But his vocation as a fighter would take shape during his university years, when he was looking for a way to confront the communist ideology.
He researched Sandu Tudor in Antim, at spiritual conferences held by Orthodox monks and intellectuals. It was Sandu Tudor who convinced him that communism could only be fought with spiritual weapons. At the same time, the young Braga was involved in the group of theology students who could not accept the installation of the communist regime in Romania.
Together with other colleagues such as Antonie Plămădeală, Nicolae Bordașiu and Paul Munteanu, he drew up a manifesto entitled “Christian Brothers”, in which he urged Romanians to fast on the Saturday of Passion Week, which fell on 1 May.
On 9 July 1948 he was arrested and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He was sent to the Black Valley peninsula, to the “priests’ brigade”, where he worked for 582 days.
He was released on 27 July 1953.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Lumina Newspaper)