Passion Week at the Cavnic mines with Liviu Brânzaș, 1953

Passion Week has a different echo in prison than in freedom. Where there is no suffering, the world is overwhelmed by the material preparations for the feast. Here, in the kingdom of pain, everything is focused on living the religious meaning.

The journey through the gallery to the depths is accompanied by the singing of religious hymns. The hymns “God is with us”, “Holy God” and others resound in the underground vaults.

The pilgrims walking in line, carrying lamps that flicker in a play of light and shadow along the darkened galleries, look like pilgrims on their way to a land full of mysteries. This is how the Christians of the early persecutions passed through the mysterious labyrinth of the catacombs. The political miners of today are the best brothers and sisters of the prisoners and martyrs of that time, for their souls also rise to heaven from the depths of the catacombs.

On Good Friday, the black fast is observed. Nothing is eaten and no water is drunk, even though hard work is being done in the depths of the tomb, in tropical heat in many places. It’s all right! On the day when the Heavenly Master endured for us, we must also endure!

(Fr. Liviu Brânzaș – Ray from the Catacomb)