The high humanity of Father Nicolae Grebenea
Of course, the unusual course of events keeps us far apart, even though we profess the same faith and serve it undividedly, so that although we should meet, even unwillingly, at short intervals, it happens that we do not see each other at all. Personally, however, I cannot reconcile myself, and I admit my guilt, with the distance that has led me not to cross my steps with those of Father Nicolae Grebenea for a long time.
It’s hard to accept that after spending so many years with a comrade in the same prison, and after laying your bones on the same mat with him, you don’t see him again, as if death itself had come between us. Especially after that, when we worked in the mine at Baia Sprie, we lived with the feeling of a common destiny until the end of our days. Since then, my father’s face has often appeared before me, as it did in 1952, before I was transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and then to Jilava, as a defendant in a new trial.
Let us not imagine that the prisoners, locked in the same room, live in perfect harmony, as relations between people should be, haunted by the same worries, prepared by the same enemy. Father Grebenea and I formed a seamless front, inspired by an indomitable spirit of coexistence with the rest of the Vietnamese. In addition to his great humanity, which complemented our bond as comrades with that of brothers in Christ, we overcame the hours of prohibition of any activity, not even to mend a rag of clothing, sharing our concerns in the most varied fields. I will always be grateful to Father Nicholas for the chapters of the New Testament, the prayers and the psalms that I learnt by heart from him.
I am fully convinced that in addition to his natural lifeline, he has been bestowed to suffering by a factor out with suffering beyond his control. I do not think I am wrong in saying that he is one of our fellows destined to creative suffering, interrupted only to be nourished by new powers. His book of confessions and memories – Memories from Darkness – is one of those works that help you to be a true Christian and a conscience dedicated to the truth. I am also convinced that he has an understanding of the Satanism of his time which, without wishing to meet it with reproach and rebellion, helps him to leave the punishment of evil to heavenly justice.
(Mircea Nicolau – Permenențe Magazine, October 2005)