“It was not I who took the real shower, but the sergeant who accompanied me.”
One of the main concerns of the Securitate in relation to the prison regime was to imbue the relationship between guards and prisoners with hatred (the hatred that underlies communist ideology). There should be no human connection between guards and prisoners. All our relations with the guards were regulated in detail by a cold, inhuman and cruel set of rules, the main purpose of which was to dehumanise the bonds between us. And yet, to our great joy, humanity and sometimes even Christian love broke through the armour of hatred. It is with great joy that I recall those extraordinary demonstrations which showed that, however professional the organisation of hatred may have been, humanity came to the surface.
I would like to give some examples that I remember.
On one of those days, a priest, I dare say with saintly behaviour, the Orthodox priest Iovan from the Vladimirești monastery, was introduced to our cell in Jilava. We were very happy because he gave us the opportunity to meet. “Anyway,” he told us, “today all the 20 inhabitants of cell 14 in the Jilava dungeon, even if not all of them are aware of it, the path of their lives has changed radically, from death to life, since we have given them Holy Communion”.
According to the rules, which were not really followed, this time the new cell member, Father Iovan, was taken to the bathroom for a general cleaning and disinfection. Iovan said to me, “Do you know what I did?” “Took a shower, I can imagine,” I told him. “I didn’t do the actual bathing, the sergeant who was with me did. When I got to the big empty bath, the sergeant got down on his knees and said to me, “Father, forgive me my sins!” “In the name of Christ I gave him absolution and when I came back I saw a truly happy man”.
(Pr. Matei Boilă, Graces Illuminating, Galaxia Gutemberg Publishing House, Târgu-Lăpuș, 2004, pp. 49-50)