The prayer life (en)

In the prisons, we were so tightly guarded and restricted that our thoughts could only rise upwards, vertically, toward God. …And naturally, in times of great trouble, people pray with all their strength. In the prisons, the trouble was truly immense. The prayers of the prisoners were received by God. I call it “received” because they were strengthened through it, so that, despite all the misery and cruelty inflicted upon them, they experienced a serenity and joy that could come only from above—from God. These prayers, uttered in the harsh confines of the prisons, were perhaps akin to the prayers […]

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I arrived on the morning of 27 November [1951, Oradea Securitate cellar n.n.]. It must have grown cold outside, for the temperature in the cellar suddenly dropped, and I could not sleep all night. By morning, I had draped the blanket over my back and began pacing the cell—five steps forward… back again… five steps… and back… hour after hour. The shock of the cold was intense. Cold would become my greatest physical torment in prison. Hunger, though painful, was an enemy I could endure more easily thanks to a balanced basal metabolism. But the cold—crippling and dehumanising—struck at the […]

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God, God, Most Holy Mother, help me! Lord, do not abandon me—help me endure this harrowing trial. I felt my strength slipping away, and in my despair, I cried out to God: Help me, Lord, and preserve my sanity, lest I lose my mind like the robots who torment me. (I could not understand them.) I realized that if I became like them, I would comprehend their cruelty. That is why I poured out the full strength of my soul, begging to be saved. My prayer was simple and brief: Lord, have mercy on me!Lord, remember me!Blessed Virgin, protect me! […]

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We were four prisoners in a cell on the ground floor of Aiud prison: Iustin Pârvu, Father Cocâlnău, Father Mihai Lungeanu, and myself, Pătrașcu Vasile. I had just returned to the cell after three days of isolation—a strict regime in which for two days we received no food and on the third day only a small portion, spending nights on the cold floor even in December. Back in the cell, we rose and Father Iustin Pârvu blessed two chalices: one representing our Lord Jesus Christ, and the other the Annunciation, which we all knew by heart. It was Christmas Eve. […]

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Left alone, I continued to fight the great enemy that is the cold. I wrapped the blanket around my back and walked around in it. The blanket was dirty and almost transparent with age. Wrapped in it, I looked like a monk. I said to myself, “See, I have put on the rough robe of a monk! In this form, my intention from last summer to go to Neamț Monastery has been fulfilled.” I had also shared this intention with Father Petru Plumbaș, the new parish priest of Finiș. I consider this cell to be the cell of Neamț Monastery […]

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Prison creates unique conditions. The cell becomes a place of prayer and sustenance, a setting for asceticism, isolation, and the denial of worldly goods and pleasures. It offers an opportunity to live in poverty, purity, and chastity, and a chance to place one’s trust entirely in God’s care and will. Obedience requires a superior—often a confessor—whose guidance one follows, a gift from God manifest in the presence of priests. At the same time, one submits to the programme imposed by secular authorities, an act of divine pedagogy in which personal will is consciously subordinated to the divine will. Is this […]

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Father Dimitrie Bejan speaking to a group of fathers: Beloved Father Dumitru, in the name of Jesus Christ and for the glory of God, a group of fathers from the surrounding area asks that you give us some helpful words and spiritual guidance—may they serve as encouragement to all of us on the path of salvation. – Tell us, what more have you learned in life from the great school of suffering that you experienced so long ago? – The point is that when you are in suffering, you accept it as redemptive, as ordained by Christ. In this way, […]

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In prison, prayer was the only nourishment, the sole reason to survive. Within the penitentiary walls, a regime of extermination prevailed—first and foremost through unbearable hunger. We were parched, weakened, and sick. More than once, I was confined in the cooler, where death seemed inevitable. We wore only thin coats, and though the cold of winter was relentless, summer held its own dangers. The cooler was a small, cement cell, five metres high. Sitting was forbidden; one could only rest on the floor from ten in the evening until five in the morning, otherwise one had to keep moving. Even […]

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I must say that most of the conversations I had about prayer — the ones that laid the very foundation of my spiritual life — took place in prison. It was there that I spoke with people whose long years of imprisonment had opened within them a deeper and more personal relationship with our Saviour, Jesus Christ. These were not necessarily clerics or monks, but men who, through suffering and profound self-examination, had reached a spiritual depth close to that of the great fathers of the Church. Gafencu, Oprișan, Virgil Maxim, and so many others became for us models of […]

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On the Living Power of Prayer Do not make of prayer a routine. Move your soul. Stir your heart. Let yourself be filled with the trembling power of prayer. I am certain that many of you pray — I too have prayed. And I believed I knew how to pray… until I went to prison. But once I entered prison, I realized I did not know prayer at all. If your soul does not tremble, if the thrill of faith does not pass through you from head to toe, then you are not truly praying — you are simply repeating […]

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Dialogue with Father Gheorghe Calciu on Facing the Hardships of Prison through Prayer The “Black” was a dark cell containing only a single full tin can, which was never emptied. We used it as it was, to avoid walking across the cell, but everything was filthy — smeared with dirt and urine, even across the floor. We remained there for seven days [this was just one of many times Father Calciu was held in Neagra – n.n.]. Food was given only once every two days: a little tea and a few cakes. There was no light; you didn’t know where […]

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In those days, movement within the prison was not restricted for us. One could move freely from one floor to another, from one cell to another; one could leave or enter a cell or a ward without being asked where one was going or who had given permission. The only guard within the cell was the goose—the prisoner assigned as a watcher—and in each ward there was only a single guard. At the main gate, one man alone stood watch in the guard corps. Gâlea, the head guard, slept inside the prison for a week at a time, dozing both […]

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O Lord, Merciful Jesus, who suffered for the whole human race and forgave all those who repented of their sins, grant that none of those who hate and persecute us may suffer harm on our account in Your judgement. But turn their souls to the knowledge of the truth and give them true repentance, so that through them also Your Most Holy Name may be glorified. And grant that we may confess You, the true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the glory of Your Name and the salvation of our souls. Amen. (John Ianolide – Return to Christ. […]

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