The martyrdom of Father Ioan Berghian in Aiud Prison
In 2007 I had the joy of publishing in the Romanian Patriarchate, as co-author and coordinator, the work “Martyrs for Christ in Romania, during the Communist regime”. It was the result of a difficult work, especially because of the limited access to the Security Service archives, not from the CNSAS, but because of the lack of records that would lead the researcher to the appropriate sources. And among the 207 Orthodox martyrs identified was Father Ioan Berghian from Arad. At that time, the documentation was inadequate, as we could only draw up a biographical sheet on the basis of documents found by chance, without even knowing the exact date, place and circumstances of his death.
Recent research in the archives of the CNSAS has brought to light the main documents relating to the servant in question, namely the criminal file. Ioan Berghian was born on 15 May 1897 in Secășel, Târnava Mica County, in the family of the farmer Gheorghe Berghian (in the same locality as the future Metropolitan of Moldavia, Sebastian Rusan). After graduating in theology, Ioan Berghian received the gift of the priesthood and taught religion, listed in Petroșani in 1933. Later we find him teaching at the Moise Nicoară High School and the Commercial Girls’ High School, both in Arad. At the time of the cession of north-western Arad, Father Berghian ran a canteen for refugees from the Ardennes. On 17 May 1945, on the grounds that his philanthropic initiative was “legionary aid”, he was arrested by order of the pro-Communist government and later interned in the Caracal camp from 2 June to 29 August. After religion was removed from schools in 1948, Father Berghian was forced to teach physical education at a school in Grădiște, now a district of Arad. In October 1948, on the recommendation of his former pupils, Father Berghian was contacted by people with links to the anti-communist resistance movement, who wanted Romanian citizens to leave for Austria. Father Berghian’s role was to find accommodation for people on their way to the border. Two months later, the Arad Security Service launched a wave of arrests. Father Berghian was arrested by the communist authorities in Brad on 27 December 1948. On 2 January 1949 he was transferred to the secret security police in Arad, his house was searched and he was immediately sent to Bucharest for investigation. He was physically tortured and accused of “high treason” in a group of 22 defendants, some of whom had Legionnaire backgrounds and were heavily involved in the reorganisation of the Legionnaire movement at the national level.
In the Securitate investigation, Father Berghian is characterised as follows “intelligent, faithful, fanatical in his religion, carries out intense religious propaganda, has a hold on students and the faithful, and asks the faithful not to forget religion”. By decree no. 632 of 27 June 1950, he was sentenced by the Bucharest Military Tribunal to 15 years’ hard labour for “conspiracy against the social order” and a further 8 years’ correctional imprisonment for the crime of “high treason”, the heaviest sentence to be served. He was imprisoned in Arad, Bucharest-Uranus (January 1949-June 1950), Jilava (June 1950), Aiud (1950-1956 and 1958) and Gherla (1957-1958). In Gherla he received several sentences for confessing his faith. On 13 September 1957, the guard found “some bottles with various prayers written on them”, for which he was sentenced to five days’ solitary confinement. On 15 December 1957, the guard found him “kneeling in bed… writing on the bread, after which the Holy Mass began”, for which the priest received seven days’ solitary confinement. His confessional attitude in prison is confirmed in memoirs, as Liviu Brânzaș recalls: “Father Berghianu sets the tone for our daily spiritual life. He gave us religious talks and told us very interesting stories from his pastoral experience”.
Transferred to Aiud in a precarious state of health, he was admitted to the prison hospital on 26 May 1958. But Father’s body was failing. On 11 November 1958, at 9 p.m., he was pronounced dead. The diagnosis recorded in the medical report was “acute liver failure, cirrhosis of the liver with acute atrophy”.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Lumina Newspaper, electronic edition of 22 May 2014)