Teodosia Laţcu (en)

It was around October 1955. Since January I had been alone in a cell in the basement of the Ministry of the Interior (later the C.C. of the P.C.R., and after 1989, the Senate of Romania). I had become the subject of a staged investigation by the Securitate. (…) I was tortured for a day and a night, during which I fainted several times and was doused with water to recover. Unable to remain upright on the chair, I was tied to it. Towards evening I was taken to a cell where I could not sleep. I was an inert […]

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Zorica Lațcu – Poetry and Witness Zorica Lațcu’s poetry, recognised as valuable since the 1940s, only became widely known after 1990, the year of her passing. Her rediscovery was due to one of her great admirers, Father Teofil Părăian, the well-known confessor of Sâmbăta Monastery. In his countless conferences and dialogues across the country, he always found time to recite the verses of Mother Theodosia—the name Zorica Lațcu received upon entering monastic life. Born on 17 March 1917 into a family of Transylvanian refugees in Hungary during the First World War, Zorica spent her childhood and adolescence in Brașov. Between […]

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The appearance of Zorica Lațcu in my life was nothing short of providential, for she introduced me to the heavenly atmosphere surrounding the Brâncoveanu Monastery of Sâmbăta de Sus. There, the great priest and confessor Arsenie Boca blessed my sacred and gentle entrance into the mouth of hell that was greedily opening across the country. Zorica brought me to Sâmbăta and shared with me the very cell from which she herself had entered the monastery. Her physical handicap made Mother Theodosia a most radiant example of Christian life. Her example showed me that suffering, when accepted, embraced, and endured with […]

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There are providential encounters in a person’s life, without which that life would have been poorer, lacking in enlightenment, and perhaps would have taken a very different course. For me, such an encounter was the appearance of Zorica at a turning point in my life. It was she who said to me: – “It is only one step from the street to Pilate’s court. Never take that step, my friend!” Zorica possessed the rare gift of guiding others to God through her art. She created paths of compassion from one heart to another, forging a friendship that testified that those […]

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There are people for whom suffering becomes a permanent shadow in their lives—a shadow that does not darken, but rather illuminates, sweetens, and sanctifies the soul. For such individuals, suffering is intertwined with prayer, and solitude becomes an encounter with Christ beyond words or imagination. One of these remarkable souls was Mother Theodosia (Lațcu). From childhood, she was destined to endure suffering, born with a certain physical fragility. Yet she bore her cross with a serenity and fervor that only divine love can inspire. Indeed, love was the sole weapon she wielded throughout her life. Zorica Lațcu, as she was […]

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She was born in Mezotur, Hungary, in the family of the lawyer Ion Lațcu, who later moved to Brașov after the War of Rebellion. Between 1924 and 1928 she attended the elementary school and between 1928 and 1936 the “Princess Elena” high school, both in Brașov. Determined by her literary talent and encouraged by her family, the young Zorica Lațcu attended the Faculty of Philology, Classical Section, at the University of Cluj. In the autumn of 1940, when the north-west of Transylvania was ceded, she returned to Brasov, but was called to take up a position as a preparator in […]

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