Hieromonk Pimen Bărbieru – the gentle “fool” of Christ
In 1955, the so-called “TB sanatorium” prison in Târgu-Ocna had the privilege of keeping behind its bars the famous hieromonk Pimen Bărbieru, abbot of the hermitage in Cetățeni commune, who was sentenced to 25 years of hard labour for having taken the oath of sacrifice of Colonel Arsenescu’s fighters and on some occasions hiding them. He had arrived with a large group of terminally ill people […].
When he arrived, Father Pimen weighed about 40 kilos, had suffered from haemoptysis several times and could barely feed himself. Communicative, gentle, with a lively conversation, full of confidence in the future, he used his good mood to help the M.I.A. doctor, Aurelian Narcea, who put him back on his feet and stopped the progression of his illness. Doctor Narcea, who had become too conspicuous for his colleagues and superiors in the Security Service, later resigned for fear of being arrested himself and went to work at the Pretorium near Breaza.
Abbot Pimen – brother of the former abbot of the Cernica monastery – was playing a dangerous game in Târgu-Ocna, that is to say, talking about the cheerful spirit of some clerics. One day he came out to report and asked the platoon leader, Hârțan, to bring him some petrol. The ranger was stunned. He asked him what he wanted it for.
“I’m going to take some straws from a mattress, make bundles in the four corners of the cell, sprinkle them with petrol and set them on fire.”
– “Why?” insists the other.
“To drive out the devils that haunt this place!” – bursts out the monk in earnest, barely containing his laughter, for he was staring straight into the eyes of the sergeant, and it was clear to all present that this was the devil.
“You are mad! You want to burn down the prison and take me down!” – he shouted at him.
After threatening him with “solitary confinement”, the platoon leader left. “What on earth possessed you to make that joke?” – Mr. Vasile Cristea asked him. “What if he had punished you? He insulted you. He called you crazy.” – “He has to believe that about me. If they think I’m sane and they catch me praying and worshipping God, they’ll throw me into the “black hole” (solitary confinement), while they let the madman get away with a lot because he’s you know a madman”.
For the same purpose, when the prisoners were taken for a walk in the yard, Father Pimen would stop unexpectedly and begin to look up at the sky, so that all the militiamen would raise their heads to see what caught his attention. They would look back at him, staring at nothing, and say in amazement: “What are you looking at, you bandit?”
– “I’m waiting for the angels to come down and chase the devils away,” he would reply, glaring at the devils disguised in uniforms in front of him.
With this trick and God’s help, Father Pimen was finally released.
(Mihai Rădulescu, The Orthodox Doctors under the Slabs in the Shackles of Communism, ch. 11)