Priest Gheorghe Calciu – “A symbol of holiness”
In the narrow circle of the communist political elite in the middle of the century, there were two currents: Ana Pauker wanted to use violence to eliminate opponents, and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej wanted to use labour. The dungeons, camps and ‘re-education’ of the 1950s were the expression of Ana Pauker’s policy of hatred and murder.
When she ordered the Marxist-Leninist ‘re-education’ of the political prisoners in the Pitești prison, she did not believe in her ideal formulation, but cruelly wanted to exterminate the ‘class enemies’ by force. She did not believe in the ideal definition of class enemies either, but in the political definition of all opponents. In general, communists do not believe in any communist principle in its pure and ideal definition, but only in its political substrate and ascent.
“Re-education” meant terrorising the prisoners themselves until the “revolutionary shock” through which “communist consciousness” was transmitted. Torture was relentless, horrific, irresponsible and inescapable. There was no right to death, only to a monstrous life. A few prisoners agreed to make this start, then the avalanche grew, each victim became a murderer of his friends. “Sincerity” was proved by absolute denunciation, then by absolute self-defence, and finally by absolute “commitment” to be “re-educated” and to “re-educate” all the “enemies of the people”. Mutilated, the people finally became “revolutionaries”. It was a madness from which no one could escape. Everyone had their fall in the so-called “re-education shifts”. The faith, the ideal, the nation, the family, virtue, honour, heroism and, in the end, humanity were mocked. Everyone was a guinea pig. Some succumbed easily, others after unimaginable suffering.
It was there that the young medical student Gheorghe Calciu was tortured. The results on the spot were complete, but in a wider perspective they overturned all expectations. Thanks to the physical and mental torture he endured, thanks to the intelligence with which he saw the world, thanks to the inner strength he possessed, Gheorghe Calciu studied theology and became a priest after his release. It is a much more tragic process of the soul than that of the apostle Paul, who contributed to the murder of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen. His case is not unique, but even if it were, it would be enough to nullify and discredit forever the principles of atheistic materialism.
We know the evolution of this man’s soul, as well as his overwhelming sufferings, and we humbly kiss the wounds of his soul and body, because this man has been through hell, has been tormented by Satan, has faced the Antichrist, because all these forces of evil have incarnated in people and led to tragic events.
During the first part of his imprisonment, Gheorghe Calciu, then a young doctor of twenty, was tortured until he was physically and mentally destroyed, so that, like a rag, like a robot, like a trained animal, like a terrified madman, like a non-man, in a total reversal of all that he had been, hating all that he had been, he was forced to mock all that was holy in him and to become a beast conditioned by the science of historical materialism. […]
Young Calciu suffered – along with many others, not only in Romania, but also in the USSR, China, Vietnam, etc. – dehumanisation through conditioned reflexes. There, people behaved like demons, like madmen, like hallucinations. There God was removed from man and replaced by Satan, there human nature itself was mutilated and overthrown.
The minds of these people were first disturbed, then frightened by torture and overthrown by despair – for there was no way out or end, everything was dominated by the triumph of the revolution of the international proletariat. […]
So the student Calciu endured this madness presented to the world as the “socialist revolution”. But out of the darkness he saw the light of Christ and decided to serve Him.
Tormented by what had happened, he decided to become a priest when he was released. As a priest, he chose to speak the truth. He – and others – understood the spiritual basis of this world’s conflict, he – and others – dedicated the rest of their lives to Christ, convinced by experience that He lives, that He is the only salvation. And nothing hurts these people more than the spiritual inability of the century to see reality.
Although his priestly choice seems to be paroxysmal, almost incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it, Father Calciu is a balanced man and his message is as authentically evangelical as it is serene and optimistic, because this man is born again like no other and cannot be diminished in the least. In him Christ is bubbling, burning, glowing, with the intensity that comes from the most terrible persecutions.
Those who have experienced “re-education” tremble at the strength of the soul of the man who dared to face the beast that had enslaved him again, inner resorts that ordinary people cannot reach – and which are not described in world literature, except perhaps in apocalyptic descriptions of hell. He came out of hell and had the courage to face it again. Although he knew that he was in for trouble, he put his hope in Christ. The torment, the pain, the terror had penetrated his bones, his mind and his soul through re-education, but the priest Gheorghe Calciu tore them out of him, aware of the prospect of facing them again. Man flees from the repetition of a little suffering, and he was again confronted with the infinite horror of hell, for there the horror acquires eternal breadth and abysmal depth.
There Christ had been martyred and he had to bear witness to Him. Fr. Calciu received Christ alive, divine, powerful, and thus he was able to overcome the terror imprinted in his being and in his soul. Fr. Calciu had seen Satan through “re-education”, but he had also seen Christ through faith. All the torment caused by the atheistic communists produced martyrdom and sanctity. In the material world, he experienced the reality of his impoverishment and then his divinisation. Christ speaks through him. He was dead in Christ through profound repentance and humility, but alive through grace and truth. He could not remain silent. He had a duty to confess to people both the satanic horror of atheism and the Christic splendour of faith. Fr. Calciu does not theorise, he lives. He has lived atheism to the point of ashes and faith to the point of incandescence. He has been enslaved by terror and liberated by faith. Hate was overcome by love. In his life, matter became transparent and he saw through it both Satan and God. For him, life is a mystery, man is king, the world is freedom. His experience is at once mystical, rational, human, historical and material. It is not only Christian spirituality, but life, the world and history itself that are born through Father Calciu.
But Satan cannot bear such people. Father Calciu denies the foundations of atheistic materialism, so he must be destroyed. Father Calciu reveals the methods of communist torture, so he must be destroyed. He is not a politician, yet he denounces communist politics; he is not an economist, yet he destroys the myth of communist life; he is not an ideologist, yet his faith has invalidated communist ideology. And he could not be forgiven for this.
Even his brother priests betrayed him, like Anna and Caiaphas, and handed him over to the Pilate of this age for judgement. Now the methods of re-education are being applied to him again.
The reaction of the Communists against him is harsh and merciless. They do not want to take his life, but to kill his soul again. They want him to admit “sincerely” that the re-education was the work of the Legionaries and not of the Communists, that he is a reactionary and not a priest of Christ, an enemy of the people and not a man of humanity – and Father Calciu cannot do this.
He will not do it freely, but forced? Several times he has been brought to the brink of death and then brought back to life on the same condition: to admit his guilt. It’s a miracle he lasted three years in the second round of re-education. The man’s powers of resistance are limited, and the forces tyrannising him are considerable. All the tortures of this century pale in comparison to those suffered by the priest Gheorghe Calciu.
But in the cell where he lies, he is surrounded by the fire of the Holy Spirit. There is so much love in him that it melts away all enmities, but just to see how much goodness his enemies have, they beat him when he loves them, condemning themselves to unrelenting wrath. The priest Calciu prays for his enemies and his prayer burns them. His faith destroys every evil spirit, for to him goodness is a tormenting necessity. Fr. Calciu forgives all the tortures he suffers personally, but he tortures the enemies of man, the enemies of truth, the enemies of Christ. He gives battle to the heights and depths of the powers, to the beginners and masters of darkness. We see it as one of those spiritual peaks of great intensity, few in number, through which God works in the world and the world is saved.
The communists have the proof of their impotence in the priest Calciu. He is the most serious problem of international communism and the most luminous example of the Christian faith. Fr. Calciu defends man, life and the world like the Son of God himself. All the communists of the world are responsible for the terror they have inflicted on Fr. Calciu, just as all the believers and all the people of humanity are tributes to his grace and his martyrdom. The Communists do not know whether to kill him, to “re-educate” him or to free him – they are afraid to free him, but they should be more afraid of martyring him. Whatever happens to Fr. Calciu, he remains a martyr of Christianity and a symbolic example of humanity.
The priest Calciu is also a harrowing example of the rupture between two worlds. He left behind a wife and children who were also martyrs. He left a gap in the Christian clergy and another gap in humanity, but all this is insignificant compared to his personal suffering. He chose the path of the most sacred madness that has ever occurred in history, without which the revival of Christianity would not be possible. There are many like him, though not all have the strength of his faith, and all await salvation. It is time for people to rediscover the cult and practice of martyrdom.
Unfortunately, however, Christians have lost the meaning of the cross and are no longer in solidarity with their martyrs. They have abandoned their faith, their heroism and their honour, but if they do not wake up, they will be end up worse than Fr. Calciu.
If Christians and people knew that they would end up in “re-education”, they would storm the dungeon where the priest Gheorghe Calciu is being tortured and free him. Mankind should not panic because of cancer, famine, pollution, war or even slavery, but panic and risk everything to avoid the conscience determined by the laws of historical materialism. When humanity understands that communism is essentially Satanism, it will be able to destroy it. When people solve all their problems through holiness, then an era of happiness will begin in the world.
If people at least partially understood the holiness and importance of a man like Father Calciu, steps would be taken to save his life. But Christianity has been content to defend him platonically, and people do not believe what is happening. But the more abandoned he is, the greater he is.
This priest of Christ, full of the power of the Spirit and the Word, with a profound missionary conscience, symbol of sanctity, proof of humanity, victory of freedom obtained through sacrifice, is a victim not only of the communists but also of their servants in the Romanian high clergy. The latter bear a responsibility that cannot be forgiven. Father Calciu is needed by the world and by the Church. Those who kill him are far more aware of the sacrilege they are committing than other persecutors. If the Christian world lets him die in Aiud, it will be like the people who tolerated Golgotha. Do not forget that he is a man!
(Ioan Ianolide – Return to Christ. Document for a new world)