Archimandrite Gherasim (Iscu) On July 11–12, 2024, by the choice of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, sixteen saints of God who shone forth within the twentieth century had been canonized. One in all them is Archimandrite Gherasim (Iscu), Hesychast of the Communist DungeonsAnd then I noticed a miracle. I noticed how a half-dead priest, standing on the brink of dying, beckoned for 2 prisoners. Leaning on their backs, he slowly walked previous my bunk, sat down on the sting of the bunk of the person who had tortured him, and began stroking his head.
“>Archimandrite Gherasim (Iscu; 1912–1951), Abbot of Tismana Monastery, who will henceforth be honored because the Venerable Martyr Gherasim of Tismana, and his feast can be celebrated on December 26.
The creator of those strains, Ioan Ianolide, was additionally a nice confessor of Christ. He spent the very best interval of his life, from the age of twenty-one to forty-five, in jail for his religion and was launched when very disabled. Being persecuted, he secretly compiled memoirs with nice problem, an extract from which you, expensive readers, will have an opportunity to learn now.
It was the winter of 1951. The 
The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
“>Nativity of Christ was approaching. We had been within the jail sanatorium (Târgu Ocna), a contemporary sanatorium designed to decorate the horrible actuality of prisons. Native tuberculosis sufferers (consumptives), too, lived with recollections of the prisons of Pitesti, Gherla, the Danube–Black Sea Canal, salt mines and dying camps.
We had sufficient meals, however the bacilli nesting within the cavities of our lungs not accepted it. We had been allowed to exit into the courtyard, nevertheless it was surrounded by two rows of strictly guarded partitions. They didn’t beat us anymore, however they threatened to ship us again to Pitesti or to the canal for any pretext. There was a powerful non secular unity between us, however there have been additionally many stool pigeons who got here from Pitesti and different locations the place terror was being whipped up.
We had been at a sanatorium, however there was no drugs for us there, besides within the wall newspaper. There was additionally a feminine physician who stored us beneath commentary, however she was alone, and there have been lots of of sufferers, and two or three would die every single day. In a field, in the identical soiled field, all of the deceased had been taken to the frequent cemetery—and not using a cross, and not using a priest. We had been not allowed to hope even when somebody was dying. We had no proper to mild a candle, to carry out our thousand-year-old customized. We had no contact with our households and heard no information from the world. Solely as soon as each six months or as soon as a yr did we study some essential political occasion that had taken place…
The prisoners’ fort. The plan of the Târgu Ocna Jail hospital, 1856
We had been languishing there, locked in cells, with none hope of liberation, extra useless than alive, minimize off from the world and terrorized. Many had been bedridden and disabled. These had been stored in cells on the bottom ground, and we, who had been more healthy and lived on the primary and second flooring, organized a volunteer program to assist them. We did it with full dedication, to the purpose of emaciation. And the tuberculosis sufferers reciprocated the love with which we cared for them with the identical love, gratitude and kindness, refuting the hackneyed thought of the selfishness of consumptives, which had change into the speak of the city.
We fed them, washed them, cleaned up after them; in different phrases, we happy all their wants. Their hoarse, dry coughs had been heard on a regular basis, and so they had been echoed by the unusual hooting of owls. Their blood spitting was heartbreaking, typically unstoppable, tormenting each the sufferers and their inexperienced “orderlies”. We realized to find out how lengthy every of them needed to stay judging by their faces, smells, and basic tones with out any medical diagnoses.
Cells numbers three and 4 had been for “dying row” sufferers. Most inmates died in them. We had been on obligation there across the clock. And since I used to be listed as a partially match prisoner, I insisted on being on obligation in cell quantity 4 on Christmas Evening.
The environment of the city of Targu Ocna. Photograph: Cnipttirguocna.ro
The winter was serene, snowy, and never frosty. The hills round had been coated with white snow. The bells of the skete introduced the prayers of the monks to us, and with all our Christian breath we united with them in silent prayer. It’s inconceivable for soundless prayers provided up to Heaven by folks trapped between dying and torture not to be accepted. They had been heard in Heaven, they introduced Heaven right down to earth, and I consider God could have mercy on this world and people nice believing souls who languished in Targu Ocna Jail.
The brand new Magura Ocnei Skete, arrange in 1990-1997 on the location of the older one destroyed in 1964. Photograph: Zigzagprinromania.com
Fr. Gherasim (Iscu)’s blessed reposeand the conversion of a Jew to the Christian religion
At the moment, Archimandrite Gherasim (Iscu) was stored in cell quantity 4, together with a Jew—a former Soviet political teacher, and now a Zionist, and lastly, with Ion, my pal from Pitesti Jail, who was already very sick. On the precise aspect of the cell, 
A Up to date Confessor and Martyr for Christ: Valeriu GafencuAmong the numerous portraits of the confessors, one can be discovered specifically that’s recalled with reverence by all and is taken into account a saint: Valeriu Gafencu. Nicknamed “the saint of the prisons” by Father Nicolae Steinhardt in a very impressed second, Valeriu Gafencu was one of many extra spectacular figures who lived an admirable non secular life amidst jail situations.
“>Valeriu, my treasured brother, was mendacity on a bunk.
The situations of Ion and Fr. Gherasim had been essential. Valeriu obtained a bit higher, and after the same old prayer rule he was now making an attempt onerous to compose a number of verses as his testomony. He additionally wished to compose a particular Christmas carol in honor of Targu Ocna that night.
I quietly approached Fr. Gherasim who was mendacity together with his eyes closed. He was skinny, pores and skin and bone, like a ghost. He had gone by way of the Danube–Black Sea Canal the place they’d labored for sixteen hours a day, adopted by one other 4 hours of administrative workload. He had been despatched to a particular brigade for clergymen with a “fast extermination regime”. On the Canal, Fr. Gherasim had inspired his pals, helped many with their work and was obtainable to all who sought him as a priest.
He carried out the prayer of the center and possessed monumental non secular assets that allowed him to beat all adversities. However the stool pigeons knowledgeable on him a number of instances that he heard folks’s confessions, and for this he was crushed, stored in isolation, starved, and terrorized along with the same old basic terror. However man is manufactured from flesh and bones, the spirit can’t ignore the legal guidelines of life, and this ascetic, filled with virtues, contracted tuberculosis and was introduced, extra useless than alive, to Targu Ocna to die “humanely”.
Ioan Ianolide His presence within the sanatorium was felt by the talent with which he was capable of see by way of folks in spirit and strengthen them. He was a really sought-after non secular father. He gladly devoted himself to the inmates who sought him, though it exhausted him. He additionally gave hesychastic directions: not solely from what he had learn, but in addition from his wealthy ascetic expertise…
So, I got here as much as him timidly to see how he was feeling. He sensed me and opened his large, black, deep eyes:
“Is that you just?… I’m glad… And I used to be distant, in locations filled with greenery, songs and fragrances made of sunshine. It’s fantastic there. There’s a world on the market. Actually, it’s inconceivable to specific what is there. There may be a lot bliss there that even the enjoyment of seeing you is struggling in contrast between these two realms. I’ll depart quickly—possibly proper now, on Christmas Evening. And it is a reward from God. I don’t know thank Him.… I have no idea make folks really feel God and full pleasure… I’m satisfied of the existence of everlasting life—I’m already its partaker. I’m not afraid of the Judgment, for I’m dying with humble ideas and belief in God’s mercy and grace alone… The spirits of darkness rule over folks now, however don’t worry—Christ is shut, He’s testing folks; and folks must endure a lot.… The enemies consider that we’ve been defeated, however they deny God’s work in historical past and have no idea His methods…”
He stopped for a bit, took a deep gasp of breath, after which proceeded:
“Sometime there can be a pilgrimage web site right here… There are few of us right now, however there’s nonetheless religion on this planet, so the world can be saved. It appears inconceivable now, however other than human means, there’s Divine Windfall, and it’ll revive humanity. Be blessed! I’ve recognized folks right here, earlier than whom my thoughts humbles itself. Ask Valeriu to hope for me.… And you pray, too! I’m joyful that I’ve reached this hour.”
The city of Târgu Ocna. On the hill within the middle is the Magura Ocnei Skete. Photograph: Cnipttirguocna.ro
He spoke softly, however with such energy that it made me tremble. Then he closed his eyes once more and approached the threshold of everlasting life.
The Jew Jacob (Yakov), who occupied the neighboring bunk, listened to my dialog with Fr. Gherasim involuntarily but attentively. I touched his brow:
“Do you could have a fever?” I puzzled.
“No,” he replied. “I really feel effectively. There’s a world right here that I didn’t even know existed. In any case, it’s an absolute reverse to the world I come from. It’s a shock for me to seek out myself again within the Christian environment, which I’ve stubbornly rejected all my life: first with my materialism, after which with Zionism. Christmas Evening, which has all the time precipitated exasperation in my coronary heart, is charming me right now with its Divine actuality. As a result of what is going on right here is just not human or pure, however God’s work. A materialist, an atheist and a Jew is telling you this!… And my confession is just not some farce. Within the face of dying, folks change into honest and have an opportunity to see the reality. It’s possible you’ll be shocked by my confession, nevertheless it was slowly maturing in me, towards my will, as an unavoidable recognition of actuality. The true God is Christ!”
Saying these phrases, he burst into tears. He was deeply moved. I attempted to know him and really feel the dramatic second that he was going by way of. He was silent for a whereas. I sat down on his bunk and took his hand into mine. And I prayed in my coronary heart… What else may I do?!
I knew very effectively that I’d not be capable of perceive his psychological anguish, as a result of I used to be born a Christian and had lived as a Christian all my life, whereas he was a Jew, then grew to become a Communist, and now a Zionist. Such a soul goes by way of a horrible trauma each time it makes a brand new discovery in spirituality; and any further, his Christian testimony was a categorical reversal of his complete previous.
“Thanks for listening to me out,” he mentioned after some time. “We might change into brothers in Christ quickly!”
“Could God show you how to,” I answered him with feeling and rose to go to Ion.
Stunning flowers from prisons
It grew to become quiet, and I went as much as Valeriu. He was leaning towards the again of the bunk, together with his head bowed on his chest and his eyes closed, however for some motive it appeared to me that he was me. His blue eyes opened, large and shining, and enveloped me in heat. He smiled blissfully and mentioned:
“It’s good that I really feel you subsequent to me! I’m about to complete composing a good looking tune in honor of Targu Ocna.”
“Lie nonetheless,” I advised him, and sat down on a bench to maintain watch subsequent to him.
The Trotuș River flowing by way of the city of Targu Ocna. Photograph: Cnipttirguocna.ro
However he mentioned:
“You’ll be the primary to listen to my Christmas kolyadka (carol).”
On the financial institution of the Trotuș
Servants of God are singing,
Those that bear His yoke.
However their singing is soundless,
For it’s woven from nice struggling
And watered with tears.
Within the coronary heart of the servant
The Lord is getting ready a manger for Himself
On Christmas Evening.
Lilies are falling from the skies
Onto His new manger,
With dew dripping from the flowers.
There’s a child standing additional off
And looking out in perplexity
On the jail window.
Subsequent to the child
An angel sits down
And whispers to him tenderly:
“At this time Christmas has moved
From the palace to the jail,
The place the Lord is confined.”
And this child from the space
Got here to jail
To rejoice the nice feast.
Refrain:
Let youngsters come
To carry to Me from the backyard
White flowers of the feast,
White, white flowers!
He checked out me for a second, after which added:
“I dedicate this Christmas kolyadka to Fr. Gherasim. He’s the toddler to whom its ultimate verses refer.”
Valeriu was serene, vibrant and joyful. I thanked him for caroling for me. He smiled and withdrew into himself.
Such tranquility reigned within the air that I may hear the heavy respiratory of the sick inmates, the falling of snowflakes outdoors the window and my heartbeat. On this revolting combination of jail and tuberculosis a non secular vibration was clearly sensed, so every thing appeared otherworldly and miraculous…
Every so often I approached Ion and Fr. Gherasim who had been slowly fading away, getting nearer and nearer to dying. Jacob was awake. I discovered him together with his eyes open, however he didn’t inform me a phrase.
Icon of St. Gherasim of Tismana Late at night time, when daybreak was breaking, I noticed that I ought to put together a candle stub and a few matches. We had been strictly forbidden to make use of them, however I’d disguise them within the mattress feathers and use them very sparingly—just for a few minutes each time considered one of us handed away.1
Ion was the primary to fall into everlasting relaxation; he was like a child, a person with such a fantastic soul. His final gaze was very unhappy and full of affection. Perhaps there was prayer in it, or an instruction for us, or hope.
No sooner had I completed with Ion than Fr. Gherasim referred to as me. He opened his deep, sunken eyes once more:
“Let me have a look at you as soon as once more—my expensive ones, my youngsters, my brethren, my fathers!” He mentioned gently. After which he coughed and added, “I’m passing into eternity! God bless you!”
He took a deep, fast breath, cowered for a second, and fell asleep within the Lord. I closed his eyes.
I closed the eyes of lots of of individuals, and I do know higher how they died than how they lived. Maybe the second of dying says extra to create an individual’s portrait than his life.
Though it was a tough night time and I didn’t relaxation at all, I didn’t really feel fatigue, disappointment, or remorse. The actuality of life was imbued with the fact of immortality.
At instances I glanced at Valeriu. He was joyful, joyful, sitting together with his eyes closed, his head bowed on his chest and leaning towards the again of the bunk. He couldn’t relaxation that night time both.
After I completed getting ready the our bodies, he referred to as me with his look and mentioned:
“The Christmas kolyadka is over… These verses will most likely change into my testomony… Let’s stick with it the religion, to the limitless finish!”
Stillness enveloped our cell once more for some time. Prayer, like a celestial ladder, introduced down angels from Heaven to earth. Heaven was right here, Heaven was in all places.2
