Holy Liturgy, Confession and Communion in Aiud

Dialogue with Father Gheorghe Calciu on the celebration of Liturgy in prison:

– What was the spiritual life like in Aiud at that time? Father Justin Pârvu says about the generation that survived the prisons that “we were actually defeated when we came out of prison because we could not maintain the same spiritual level”. Do you agree?

– Of course you do. No question. Then we spread out. Look, to tell you about it, in Aiud I spent some time with Father Teodor Beju. I was at the Zarca and Father Beju was brought in from the mine, he was very ill. He had had an operation because he had a lot of problems with his intestines. They had found some spots on his intestines, but no doctor could tell him where they came from or if there was any chance of a cure. Well, Father Beju was a great spiritual help to me. He was deeply religious. He had been to Baia-Sprie and had participated in all the services, all the activities there.

– When did you meet him in Aiud?

– It was around 1961. The mine had closed and he was taken to Aiud. It was an extraordinary spiritual revival for me. Now, of course, I had passed through Pitești, all that experience was over, I had been to Casimca, there, with Costache and Marcel, but I still had enough pain and enough confusion in me. And Father Beju came immediately, with extraordinary courage, and began to hold services, to preach God. It was a small cell of six people. We were all believers. But he brought this revival of faith and even began to minister. He’d serve the Liturgy, or Vespers, or the Matins, he’d have some Communion put in his shirt…

– How did he celebrate the Liturgy, what were the stages?

– In general, he seldom celebrated the Liturgy. He would sit on the bed and we would sit in our places or walk around so that it would appear to the supervisor that we were doing the usual cell things.

During this time we listened to the priest saying what he knew by heart from Liturgy. We listened, walked around and responded in a low voice “Lord have mercy” or whatever we had to say. Then he would give communion with what he had in his shirt cuffs. He would take out a very small crumb and break it up even more so that we could all share. And apart from the encouragement it gave us, the grace of Holy Communion strengthened our souls very much.

– You confessed too, didn’t you?

– Yes, of course we did. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and so were we, as if we were talking to each other. Because we were being watched, we were at the Zarca. But once the guard caught us. That is, he suddenly entered the cell, realised that it was a job and punished Father Beju, who had already come from the mine with a file. We were not punished. And Father Beju, after finishing his punishment in solitary confinement – I think he spent seven days, I don’t remember exactly – came back more cheerful and brave. Then they left us alone. They caught us sometimes, but they didn’t hurt us.

– How long did you stay with Father Beju?

– About a year. I don’t know what happened to him after the liberation. We lost track of him completely. Later I heard that he had died…

(Fr. Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa – The Life of Fr. Gheorghe Calciu According to His and Others’ Testimonies, pp. 70-71)