When I was in prison I was very ill. I had tuberculosis in both lungs and four vertebrae were affected by tuberculosis. I also had intestinal tuberculosis, diabetes, heart failure, hepatitis and other illnesses I can’t even remember. I was close to death. On my right was a priest called Gherasim Iscu.
In the next bed, Archimandrite Gherasim gave his soul. He had come from the Canal, where he had been one of the pillars of the resistance, in a grave condition. On the evening of the Nativity, he was taken to heaven. He was unwavering in his faith. Having nothing to wear, for his clothes were wet with sweat, Valerius offered his own clothes, keeping father’s for himself. – These are my monastic clothes! he said excitedly. Bury me in them!
In February 1951 I arrived at Târgu-Ocna, a prison sanatorium for prisoners suffering from tuberculosis, who were brought here from prisons and various labour colonies, some in very serious condition. Here I met some of my old friends from Aiud, Jilava and other prisons. I was happy to see them again, but saddened by their state of health, such as Valeriu Gafencu, Gicu Jimboiu, Gili Ioanid and others.
Dialogue with Ioan Iscu, grandson of Father Gherasim Iscu: – Professor, why did you give up being a lawyer to become a teacher? – It was not a deliberate renunciation. There was a period in my life when I was searching for meaning and I wanted to give my life content, and slowly the desire to get closer to God crystallised in my mind. In order to get closer to God, I thought it would be appropriate to attend the Faculty of Theology. Immediately after the revolution, we were visited by all sorts of people from the neo-Protestant denominations who […]
Many Orthodox priests distinguished themselves in the fight against the most terrible political ideology that took over Romania after 1945. Some of them are well known, others may be forgotten by us today. It is our duty to remember them by the deeds with which they defended their country against the Soviet occupiers. Many of them knew the blows that communism dealt to the Christian faith through missionary activity across the Dniester. Among them was Father Gherasim Iscu, a servant who sacrificed himself for the Christian faith and his people. He was born on 21 January 1912 in the commune […]
Richard Wurmbrand is a name that is still little known in Romania. But those who chose the path of exile before 1989 know of the worldwide fame of the Lutheran pastor, who was born in Romania to Jewish parents and later converted to Christianity. The organisation he founded, the Christian Mission for the Communist World, now known as the Voice of the Martyrs, was and is one of the most important and influential in the world in investigating and denouncing abuses of religious freedom in various countries around the world. Richard Wurmbrand, who went to the West in 1965, testified […]
From Gherla we went to Târgu Ocna with chains on our legs and handcuffs on our hands, all of us with sentences of more than 10 years. There they kept us in chains for another week and then took them off. Here we had other problems. Snitching, as it was called in prison, was in full bloom. A lot of people died without being treated, just because they didn’t want to betray others, that is, to put others in prison. I knew names… but I no longer remembered them. I only remembered that a sick monk-priest, who was being watched […]
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the fiery voice of the angel were to say to us at this moment: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? They are not here in the kingdom of death. They are in the kingdom of life.” […] Did Father Gherasim Iscu die? In the last hour of his existence here, he told the one who cared for him: – Tonight I will pass over. Please wash my face a little and, if you can, cut my nails. I don’t want to leave an unkempt body here. Then, staring intently at […]
