Schemamonk Agaton – “His word was bright”
An exceptional figure was Sandu Tudor, who was tonsured in the monastery of Rarău with the name Daniel and then in the Great Schism with the name Agaton. He was a famous journalist, poet and publicist. Returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain, he founded the “Burning Bush” group at the Antim Monastery in Bucharest, a circle of Christian intellectuals dedicated to the prayer of the heart.
He had a cerebral understanding of the spiritual beauties of Orthodox mysticism and tried to live them, but he was unable to bring his whole being into harmony with life in the Holy Spirit.
He had a volcanic, impulsive temperament with an intimate mystical structure. A thinker and a man of action. An impetuous man who threw himself into monastic life with great vigour. He shone in words. He composed some wonderful akathists. But this activity was carried out under the rule of state atheism and was not forgiven. In 1958, all the members of the Burning Bush were arrested and sentenced. Father Agaton was imprisoned and died in Aiud.
(Ioan Ianolide – Return to Christ. Document for a New World, Bonifaciu Publishing House, Bucharest, 2012, pp. 326-327)