George ENACHE

CHRISTIAN LIFE IN COMMUNIST PRISONS IN ROMANIA.

CASE STUDY: VALERIU GAFENCU

Abstract: The study aims to highlight the role played by Christian faith in
the life of political prisoners in Communist Romania during 1945-1964. Our
interest will focus on those "spiritual groups" which were formed in prisons and I
mention here only the one led by the young Valeriu Gafencu, who died in
prison.
These groups of prisoners were able, through Christian faith, to resist and
preserve national and spiritual values that the Communists wanted to destroy.
Through solidarity, these people have managed to save their own memory and
thereby their personal and national identity. Those who survived and left the
prison wrote their memories in order to keep alive for the next generations what
happened in communist prisons.
Some of these books have a strong message, talking about faith, solidarity,
spiritual and national identity. One of the most famous books is “Return to
Christ”, written by Ioan Ianolide, one of Valeriu Gafencu’s disciples. Therefore,
the second objective of our study is to put in evidence the destiny of this work in
the consciousness of the contemporary Romanian society.

Keywords: Christianity, Communism, Romania, prisons, “spiritual

groups”, Valeriu Gafencu

Just like Poland , Romania is one of the European countries with the
highest rates of religious faith. Religious faith was high even during Communism, in


“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, România.

This paper was presented at the International Conference „Solidarity, Memory and
Identity”, University of Gdańsk, Poland, 20-21 September 2012
(http://solidaritymemory.ug.edu.pl/en/programme/, Internet).

Analele Universităţii „Dunărea de Jos” din Galaţi, Seria 19, Istorie, tom XI, 2012, p. 207-222.
208 GEORGE ENACHE

spite of the persecutions directed at the representatives of religious cults or at

common believers.
The various mechanisms of fighting against religion are well-known, being
common to the area which had once been under the influence of Kremlin. It is
known that Communist leaders were claiming to respect freedom of conscience and
they motivated the massive arrests among clerics or believers on criminal grounds1.
In Romania, many clerics and believers were punished for their belonging to the
Legionary Movement.
This far right organisation, with a significant impact in inter-war Romania,
especially among the youth, with a message partly inspired from Christian ideas,
became an obsession for Communists due to its firm anti-Communism. Their
representatives stood a generalised repression which did not take into account
individual responsibilities. Moreover, the “legionary danger” would become a
convenient pretext for arresting and convicting many strong believers, qualified as
“mystics”.
In order to understand the origin of this “mysticism” - “legionarism”
relationship, and, mostly, the reality behind the Communist authorities’ claims, we
will embark upon studying the biography of one of the most remarkable spiritual
figures from the Romanian universe, Valeriu Gafencu, named by many of the
survivors of the Communist repression “the saint of prisons”.
Valeriu Gafencu was born on December 1921 in Sângerei, Bălţi department
(today pertaining to the Republic of Moldova). His father, Vasile Gafencu, was a
member of the State Council, an institution which governed the territory between
Prut and Nistru, known as Bessarabia, immediately after its separation from the
Russian Empire, and who voted, on March 27, 1918, the adhesion of Bessarabia to
Romania. Therefore, even from his family background, young Valeriu Gafencu had
been brought up along nationalistic principles, centred on asserting and promoting
Romanian identity in a territory subject to a strong denationalisation for a whole
century2.
Valeriu Gafencu publicly expressed his convictions since his high school
years. He was an active member of “B.P. Haşdeu” Reading Society of “Ion
Creangă” High School, Bălţi. This society also had a magazine, “Crenguţa” (Sprig),

1
George Enache, Adrian Nicolae Petcu, Patriarhul Justinian şi Biserica Ortodoxă Română
în anii 1948-1964 (Patriarch Justinian and the Romanian Orthodox Church between 1948
and 1964), Editura Partener, Galaţi, 2009, p. 28-38.
2
Silviu B. Moldovan, “Valeriu Gafencu”, in Martiri pentru Hristos din România în perioada
regimului comunist (Valeriu Gafencu - Martyrs for Christ in Romania during Communism),
Editura Institutului Biblic şi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, Bucureşti, 2007, p.
257.
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 209

in which young Valeriu published several short stories with a strong moral message.
In essence, Romanians were urged not to forget their traditions, not to give in to
deceitful things, to be diligent and, mostly, to have faith in God, the essential
element of an authentic life. 3
The message of the young student was not the only one of this kind in the
Romanian world of the time. Having passed through many hardships along the
history, Romanians felt that, after the constitution of Great Romania, they had been
given an extraordinary chance of self-assertion and this opportunity could be
valorised by “work, sacrifice and faith”. Among the political organisations of the
time, the Legionary Movement was the one to best exploit this feeling.
Built on the remarkable charisma of its leader (Corneliu Zelea Codreanu),
the Legionary Movement promoted an ideology which could be qualified as far
right. On the one hand, the Legion vehemently contested democracy which
“dissolves the soul of the Nation” and spoke intensely of the danger posed by the
Jews to the development of the Romanian nation, the anti-Semite side of the
Legionary message being unquestionable. But, unlike other similar political
organisations, which insisted exclusively on the idea that the “Other” is guilty of all
the nations’ misfortunes, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu spoke of the existence of certain
historical lacunae in the soul of the Romanian people, which must be filled, and this
was supposed to be the main direction of action of the Legionary Movement. This
idea, of looking into one’s own sins and fighting for removing them, had a special
echo especially with the young generation, inflamed with a heroic pathos at the
time4.
The values on which the Romanian society had to be built were family,
community, faith, gathered in a corporatist-like system, closer to “Estado Nuovo”
advanced by Salazar of Portugal, than to the Italian fascism or German Nazism5. As
we know, Catholicism played an important part in Salazar’s ideology. For Codreanu,
the Orthodoxy, the religion of most of the Romanians, was seen as the foundation of
the legionary doctrine and of the future totalitarian state. In fact, Codreanu’s
doctrine was a mixture of Christian ideas and totalitarian views, faintly
systematised, but which, paradoxically, due to this low degree of elaboration,

3
Arhivele Consiliului Naţional pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securităţii - ACNSAS (Archive
of the National Council for the Study of Security Archives), fond Penal (Criminal fund), file
23630, p. 30.
4
George Enache, Biserică societate, naţiune, stat în România interbelică. Biserica Ortodoxă
Română şi ispita totalitară de dreapta (Church, Society, Nation, State in Inter-War Romania.
The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Right Totalitarian Lure), in “Revista Teologică”,
no. 2, 94 (2012), p. 280-287 (with bibliography).
5
See Mircea Eliade, Salazar şi revoluţia în Portugalia (Salazar and the Revolution of
Portugal), Editura Gorjan, Bucureşti, 1942.
210 GEORGE ENACHE

favoured the accession of a large number of people to the Legionary Movement,

each completing with their own view the ideas of the legionary leader. It was not
accidental that, after Codreanu’s assassination, once the founder was gone, the
Legion underwent dramatic reconfigurations and even divergent directions of
reflection and action.
As the Legionary Movement was the main enemy of King Carol II who
wished to impose his own view of the authoritarian regime, along with the
instauration of the royal dictatorship in February 1938, the organisation led by
Codreanu was proscribed and a campaign of persecutions was initiated against its
members, aimed especially at the young, the main supporters of the Legionary
Movement6. Among the people questioned and tried during this time by the courts
for minors, we find student Valeriu Gafencu as well, who was charged in 1939 for
sympathising with the Legionary Movement by donating money to the organisation.
At the trial, it was found that young Valeriu was not a member of the Legion and the
money he donated was in fact an aid for a severely ill classmate7. Justice had not yet
acquired the arbitrary and monstrous character of Communist years, therefore,
Valeriu Gafencu was exonerated, however, in the minds of the authorities hostile to
the Legionary Movement, an idea began to acquire shape that any form of help
between people could be defined as “legionary help” (in his writings, Codreanu
insisted on the idea of help as a form of solidarity between the members of the
legion).
In the summer of 1940, Romania was obliged, after an ultimatum, to give up
Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. Vasile Gafencu managed to send his family in free
Romania; however, he chose to remain in the occupied territory. Considered a
“Romanian nationalist” by the Soviet Union, he was sent to Siberia where he died.
Being now the head of the family refuged in Iaşi, in the autumn of 1940, Valeriu
became a student of the Faculty of Law, at the University of Iaşi, where legionary
presence was strong. Sympathising with this organisation, he became a member of
the Blood Brotherhoods, the young organisation of the Legionary Movement8.
In September 1940, King Carol II was forced to abdicate. The rule of the
country was taken over by a government led by General Ion Antonescu, in
collaboration with the Legionary Movement which becomes the only party
recognised by the totalitarian regime. As the traditional leader had been killed in
1938 by Carol, with a decimated management, the Legionary Movement proved
unable to lead and part of its members initiated bloody revenges which caused

6
Ilarion Ţiu, Mişcarea legionară după Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (The Legionary Movement
after Corneliu Zelea Codreanu), Editura Vremea, Bucureşti, 2007, p. 33-109.
7
ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 23630, p. 50.
8
Silviu B. Moldovan, op.cit., 2007, p. 261.
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 211

anarchy. Coming into conflict with the legionary leaders, General Antonescu
decided, in agreement with Hitler, to eliminate the legion from power. This
happened after the events of January 21-23, 1941, presented by the propaganda of
Antonescu’s regime as a “rebellion” against the legal authority9.
In those days, in many towns of the country, there were armed actions of the
legionaries, demonstrations, protests which, after General Antonescu’s victory, were
investigated by the legal authorities. The “rebellion” caught Valeriu Gafencu as
leader of the Blood Brotherhoods from Iaşi, being arrested for having organised
strikes and protests of the pupils and students of Iaşi, actions sympathetic to the
cause of the Legionary Movement.
Tried by Iaşi Military Court, Gafencu was sentenced in May 1941 to two
months of imprisonment for public instigation10. He could be accused of no violent
deed, but only of a political attitude. In spite of these, he was retained in prison after
the completion of his punishment, being tried again in 1942 and sentenced to 25
years of imprisonment for a legionary meeting he had supposedly organised in 1941
at the Military High School of Iaşi. The authorities’ attitude could be explained
starting from Valeriu Gafencu’s own words, spoken with the occasion of a meeting:
“Students are an explosive stronger than dynamite, for they are elites and the leaders
of tomorrow.”11
Meritocracy and the focus on young people were two of the main ideas of
the legionary movement. The leaders of the Legionary Movement were not imposed
by the superiors but chosen by the members on the basis of their qualities. This
ensured a remarkable authority and legitimacy of the leaders within the legion.
Starting from this state of facts, all the enemies of the Legion closely monitored all
those who occupied, at some point, a leading position in the Legionary Movement.
During Communism, this control went down to the least important positions. The
legionary leaders were deemed “natural leaders” with a strong force of impact over
the others. As Gafencu was at the top of one of the most important youth legionary
organisation, he was considered too dangerous to be let loose, for fear to influence
the young. Consequently, throughout Antonescu’s entire regime, he was detained in
Aiud, along with other legionaries, most of them young, many former leaders of
Blood Brotherhoods.

9
Pe marginea prăpastiei. 21-23 ianuarie 1941 (On the edge of the cliff. January 21-23,
1941), Editura Scripta, Bucureşti, 1992. The legionary perspective is given by Horia Sima,
Era libertăţii. Statul naţional-legionar (The Era of Freedom. The National-Legionary State),
vol. 2,
http://www.miscarea.net/carti2.htm (accessed August 21, 2012)
10
ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 5710, leaf 321v.
11
ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 5704, vol. 2, leaf 28.
212 GEORGE ENACHE

The regime applied to legionaries in Aiud during Antonescu’s government

was harsh, though incommensurable with what followed in Communism. All the
ones arrested were considered dangerous and the authorities undertook various
actions for their “rehabilitation” (a term which anticipates somewhat the one of “re-
education” used during the Communist period). One of the ways of “rehabilitation”
was enrolling prisoners for fighting against Bolshevism on the fronts of the Soviet
Union. If some accepted it, others, among whom Valeriu Gafencu as well, rejected
the offer, showing that they would die for the country any time, but they would not
do this as rehabilitation for some alleged mistakes for they have nothing to
rehabilitate, before no one12.
During their long imprisonment, the legionaries from Aiud had the time to
reflect on the meaning of the Legionary Movement, organisation which seemed to
have the mission to change the fate of the Romanian people, but which failed
terribly in its governing years. The reflection on the legionary doctrine brought
about the inevitable rupture between the religious and the political component. If
some legionaries sought to focus on the idea that the legion is a political party in
essence, others insisted on the spiritual aspect, finding that, if there is to pin down
something good in legionary ideas, this is its Christian side.
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu stated several times that the legion was a spiritual
school, based on Christian ideas13. For one of the imprisoned young people this
seemed like a contradiction given the political assassinations committed by various
members of the Legion. Christianity forbids murders and pleads in favour of loving
one’s neighbour, which is hard to achieve in a political, totalitarian movement.
Therefore, for some of those confined in Aiud, the political coat of the Legion was
gone, being left with the idea of a school for shaping characters, founded on
Christian principles. Soon, it was obvious that this meant the dissolution of the
Legion and bringing the individual close to the Church, the authentic keeper of the
Christian message.
The initiators of this spiritual trend among the legionaries from Aiud were
Traian Trifan and Marin Ion, older than the young members of the Blood
Brotherhoods14. They started from the idea that the legionaries had made mistakes,
mistakes which, from a Christian standpoint, are sins, and for these sins man shall

12
Sfântul închisorilor. Mărturii despre Valeriu Gafencu adunate şi adnotate de monahul
Moise (Prisons’ Saint. Testimonies about Valeriu Gafencu, Gathered and Annotated by
Monk Moses), Editura Reîntregirea, Alba Iulia, 2007, p. 42.
13
Constantin Papanace, Stilul legionar de luptă. Concepţia tactică a Căpitanului (The
Legionary Fighting Style. Captain’s Tactical Conception), Editura Lucman, Bucureşti, 2004,
p. 34-92.
14
ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 327, vol. 1, p. 11.
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 213

answer before God. For people, it is essential to make up with God, through
penitence and purification from sins. Thus, being aware of one’s sins, praying,
making penitence and laying one’s life into the hands of God were fundamental for
the group gathered around Trifan and Ion, reminding of the lifestyle of monks from
the Egyptian desert.
During Antonescu’s government, Aiud prison housed a chapel (closed
subsequently by the Communists) where prisoners attended the mass. By going
regularly to church, confessing and communing often, prisoners were trying to lead
a Christian life. Wishing to get closer to perfection, some of the prisoners started to
practice the prayer of the heart, specific to the Orthodox hesychasm. In the absence
of a spiritual leader, they drew upon the Philokalia or the “Russian Pilgrim” and,
through effort and sacrifice, they reached remarkable spiritual performances15.
Among all, Valeriu Gafencu made a singular impression. He was a quiet,
well-educated, highly generous young man, in search of an ideal. At the beginning
of the imprisonment, he was tormented by the issue of justice and suffering. He
knew he did nothing wrong; on the contrary, he wished to do nothing but good.
Everyone thought well of him in society; why was he in jail?
Troubled by these questions, Gafencu, in the summer of 1943, in a moment of
ultimate despair, had the revelation of his sinful life and, at the same time, of God’s
infinite love: “In my weeping, I began to pray. And, suddenly - Oh, Lord! - I was
able to see my soul full of sins. So many sins and the eyes of my soul hardened by
pride could not even see them!” Also, the consciousness of sin made him understand
the meaning of sufferance: “Suffering, however painful, has no other purpose but to
cleanse the soul eager for salvation”16. All of these remind us of the famous
assertion of Saint Siluan of Athos: “keep your mind in hell and do not despair”,
marking the beginning of spiritual accomplishment.
The testimonies of the people who knew Gafencu and who outlived
imprisonment reveal the intensity of this young man’s spiritual experiences, through
humility and prayer, being known as “prisons’ saint”. His spiritual power changed
many of the prisoners and the prison itself became a real monastery, regretted
subsequently. The one spiritually closest to Gafencu was another young man, Ioan
Ianolide, who outlived imprisonment and wrote one of the most moving testimonies
on the reality of communist prisons: “Return to Christ. Document for a New

15
Virgil Maxim, Imn pentru crucea purtată (Hymn for the Borne Cross), Editura Antim,
Bucureşti, 2002, p. 106-110.
16
Ioan Ianolide, Întoarcerea la Hristos. Document pentru o lume nouă (Return to Christ.
Document for a New World), Editura Christiana, Bucureşti, 2006, p. 231-232.
214 GEORGE ENACHE

World”17. First-hand witness of Gafencu’s spiritual transformation, he writes:

“When he found Lord, Valeriu cast everything aside and lay his heart to Him,
completely and for good. The great fight followed: the war with the sins, watching
one’s words and senses, controlling outer manifestations, cleansing thoughts and the
slightest inner movements, so that the Holy Spirit gradually pervaded his body, his
soul, his mind, his entire life. In the midst of the stormy life of the prison, Valeriu
was the firm and pure rock of faith.”18
In August 1944, Antonescu’s regime was replaced by a political coalition
which included the Communist Party as well. All the political prisoners were
released, with the exception of legionaries. For a while, they benefitted of greater
freedom. Between 1946 and 1948, Gafencu and his fellows could work in a regime
of semi-freedom in the labour settlement of Galda (Alba County), developing a
community system in which Christian love and charity were fundamental. A series
of stories about Valeriu Gafencu date from this time, emphasising the way in which
the others saw him, a true abbot, without the frock. According to one story, some
villains shot at Valeriu from a close distance but the bullets missed him; according
to another, a thief entered the settlement, but simply lost his head before Valeriu and
forgot to use the knife he had on him. 19
Among all, the most touching story was the one telling his encounter with the
Soviet commissary. After 1944, Bessarabia had been attached to USSR and Moscow
asked Romania to hand over for repatriation all the people who had been born in the
territory between Prut and Nistru, being considered citizens of USSR. The Soviet
commissary who came to see Valeriu offered him freedom in exchange for
repatriation, but Valeriu refused, pointing out that he was Romanian, he wished to
stay in Romania and his soul was free even in prison, being entrusted to God20.
From 1948 on, the Romanian communists took over power. The prisoners
from Galda were brought again to Aiud, in May 1948, where they found the church
closed and vandalised. Also, they were forbidden everything that might have had
spiritual content. Valeriu managed to save a Bible which he tore into sections and
spread among his fellows. Until all of the sections were found, the prisoners had
already learnt them by heart, turning themselves into living books21.

17
Ioan Ianolide was born on January 29, 1919 in Dobroteşti, Teleorman County. While he
was a student in Bucharest, he became a sympathiser of the Legionary Movement, being
arrested in 1941 for having participated in a meeting of the Blood Brotherhoods. For this, he
was sentenced to 25 years of hard labour. (ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 327, vol.7, p. 156).
18
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 221.
19
Sfântul închisorilor…, p. 89.
20
Ibidem, p. 90.
21
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 77.
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 215

In December 1949, Romania witnessed one of the most horrible repressive

phenomena from the entire Communist area: Piteşti experiment22. It was aimed, at
first, at students, who were gathered in Piteşti prison. Most of them had been
members of the Blood Brotherhoods of sympathisers of the Legion. Seen as an elite
extremely dangerous for the Communism, due to their “fanaticism”, these young
people were subject to an unprecedented process of re-education. The purpose was
clearly outlined by one of the torturers: “we must wash your brain, piece by piece”23.
Re-education had four main stages:
1. Destroying people’s resistance through torture, until they would give in and
accept re-education;
2. “Self-revelation” which was supposed to reveal everything from the past and
from the present, about friends and strangers. It was made in writing and was
confronted with the confessions of others. If they suspected that the one who
wrote it was hiding something, a new series of tortures would begin.
3. Then there came the public renunciation to all of the past values and beliefs. An
important place was held by giving up God and one’s family.
4. Transforming the re-educated individual into a re-education activist for,
although this process had been initiated by the Communist authorities, they
made it appear it came from some of the prisoners who understood Communist
“truths”. Grouped in the Organisation of Prisoners with Communist Beliefs and
benefiting from all the support of Piteşti prison management, they harassed and
subjected to unimaginable tortures the other prisoners, former fellows in
misery24.
The testimonies about Piteşti are horrid. Those who had the strength to
overcome all of the suffering spoke of the devils who tried to destroy any trace of
nobility and human beauty, leaving in place some empty human carcasses,
spiritually ruined. Within the craziness of Piteşti prison, an important point was
mocking God and Christian rituals, in an attempt to destroy the “mysticism” of the
re-educated people.
In the summer of 1948, Gafencu, Ianolide and most of the prisoners from
Aiud were transferred to Piteşti where re-education was on its way. Gafencu, who
attracted the others prisoners like magnet, was one of the first to undergo the re-
education process. However, things did not turn out as planned. Gafencu had

22
Mircea Stănescu, Reeducarea în România comunistă (1945-1952). Aiud, Suceava, Piteşti,
Braşov (Re-Education in Communist Romania), Editura Polirom, Iaşi, 2010. Dumitru Bacu,
Piteşti – centru de reeducare studenţească (Piteşti - Centre of Students Re-Education),
Editura Christiana, Bucureşti, 2011.
23
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 96.
24
Ibidem, p. 97.
216 GEORGE ENACHE

suffered from TBC for some time already and at Piteşti his condition worsened
greatly. One of his fellows in misery described him as follows: He had become a
skeleton, who could barely get off the bed, but who did not cease to explain to us the
teachings of the Bible. His physical strength was fading only to make his spiritual
strength more obvious”25.
In the autumn of 1949 the regime began a campaign for the eradication of
TBC which comprised prisons as well. From Piteşti, a group of prisoners, suspects
of TBC were transported to Văcăreşti prison hospital, just before the beginning of
re-education. Eighteen of them were sent for treatment at Târgu Ocna penitentiary
sanatorium. Valeriu Gafencu and Ioan Ianolide were among them.
In very little time, many sick prisoners came at Târgu Ocna from all the
communist prisons, with different political orientations and beliefs. Re-education, in
the style of Piteşti, was meant to be applied here as well, but the conditions did not
favour this process. On the contrary, the ones who have been subjected to Piteşti re-
education and who, due to coming down with TBC, were brought to Târgu Ocna,
could, at least partly, find each other. Most of the ones brought here were in the
terminal stage, with very few chances of survival, but, in Târgu Ocna, under the
guidance of Valeriu Gafencu and his fellows, they could find themselves and God,
dying in peace. Therefore, we can legitimately speak of the “Târgu Ocna
phenomenon”, in contrast with “Piteşti phenomenon”. One of the young men
warded in Târgu Ocna, Aurelian Guţă, would remember: “Valeriu Gafencu, together
with his inseparable brother in faith and suffering, Ioan Ianolide26, created in Târgu
Ocna a real spiritual community joined by new people who knew God deeper as

25
Nicolae Trifoiu, Studentul Valeriu Gafencu – Sfântul închisorilor din România (Student
Valeriu Gafencu - The Saint of Romanian Prisons), Editura Napoca Star, Cluj Napoca, 2003,
p. 150.
26
In a note from 1974, an informer was telling the following about Ianolide’s activity in
Târgu Ocna: “About Ioan Ianolide, the source can state the following:
He met him in 1951 at Târgu Ocna penitentiary sanatorium. He stayed with him for
about 3 years. During all this time, he rejoiced in great moral authority with all the prisoners,
meaning that, whenever problems appeared, his advice was always taken.
He never showed any bad-temper and was very docile and humble in the
relationships with the administrators.
In that time, Ianolide thought that the legionary doctrine had reached an obsolete
stage and was replaced by Christian values, manifesting a pronounced mysticism,
concretised in a state of permanent prayer (hesychasm), he claimed that he told a short 10
minute prayer for about 20,000 times in 24 hours (the prayer of the heart).
He recommended this system of permanent prayer to his closes friends: Lungeanu
Mihai, Florin Nicolae, Voicescu Constantin and others.
He considered that there was no better life than monasticism which he
recommended to others, provided they could comply with it.” (ACNSAS, fond Informativ
(Informative fund), file 28130, vol. 2, p. 87).
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 217

well as by others who carried God in their hearts, but had not deciphered His entire
greatness.”27
Although the detention regime in Târgu Ocna was milder and re-education in
the style of Piteşti could not be imposed, there were enough restrictions and
privations for the sick and the officer in charge with the Communist propaganda
among the prisoners often conditioned medical aid by the patients’ embracing the
Communist doctrine which, in most of the cases, was categorically rejected.
Gafencu himself refused to take the streptomycin which could have saved his life in
exchange of giving up his faith, faith that the Security officer considered to be a
form of legionary doctrine28.
Faced with all the privations, the sick organised themselves the best they
could, helping one another. The ones who could not move anymore because of the
illness were moved in rooms 4 and 5 of the hospital and were cared for by the able-
bodied ones. In a place where suffering and lengthy co-habitation inevitable lead to
conflicts, Valeriu Gafencu’s spirit imposed an atmosphere of peace and spiritual joy,
expressed by small, but significant gestures, which reminded of the parables of the
old monks. Thus, one day, a jail keeper confiscated the small pillow on which
Gafencu, almost paralysed, was leaning. A more humane warden took the pillow
from the confiscated goods and gave it back to Gafencu. Gafencu considered that
another prisoner needed it more and gave it to him. In his turn, the new owner
passed it on, until, after a while, the pillow came back to Valeriu, given by someone
who had no idea who its first owner had been29. The itinerary of the pillow is a sign
of charity, of the spirit of love and sacrifice which existed in the prison from Târgu
Ocna.
The most famous episode from Târgu Ocna starred by Valeriu Gafencu is the
healing of the protestant parson Richard Wurmbrand, a convert Jew. The latter, after
1964, would manage to leave Romania, with American support, and lay the
foundations of an international organisation fighting for religious freedom in Eastern
Europe. Severely afflicted with TBC, almost dying, he was saved by Valeriu
Gafencu who had received from his family a quantity of streptomycin, obtained and
introduced with great efforts in the penitentiary. Valeriu chose to give this
streptomycin to parson Wurmbrand, saving him from death.
The gesture upset some of the former members of the Blood Brotherhoods,
still marked by the anti-Semite spirit of the Legionary Movement and emphasised
even more clearly the spiritual evolution of Valeriu Gafencu and of other former

27
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 528.
28
Sfântul închisorilor…, p. 139-143.
29
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 136.
218 GEORGE ENACHE

sympathisers of the Legion. Gafencu did not deny his past, because this is not
possible, each time he was asked, undertaking the responsibility for having been a
member of the Blood Brotherhoods. He did not stop to analyse his past or to trace
lines. He had just overcome his former conditions: “I entered the prison as a
legionary. But, spiritually speaking, I went beyond the legionaries’ perspective. I am
no longer interested in politics, but more in spiritual life30. Christian love was
incompatible with race hatred and Gafencu, starting from Wurmbrand’s presence,
shocked sometimes his former legionary fellows with statements like: “I would like
to see the country governed entirely by Jews. Yes, the prime minister, the law-
givers, clerks, all Jews. I have one condition only: that they walk in the footsteps of
the ancient Jewish rulers, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Jesus
Himself…”31 The Security officers did not understand or did not want to understand
this fundamental spiritual transformation and they went on considering Valeriu and
his fellows a “mystical” group of the Legion which, in essence, aimed at its old
legionary goals.
Broken down by the illness, Valeriu Gafencu died on February 18, 1952. All
the prisoners stood by his side, but also some of the medical and security staff,
impressed by Gafencu’s remarkable personality. One of the former prisoners
remembers that Valeriu told them: “I am happy to die for Christ. Be strong in your
faith, for Christ will defeat all of the enemies. Guard the truth unchanged, but stay
away from fanaticism. Atheism will be defeated, but beware of what will replace
it.”32 Gafencu’s body was buried in a grave with no cross. The precise spot of the
grave is still unknown. His fellows in misery put a silver cross in his mouth which

30
Sfântul închisorilor…, p. 69. In spite of these, he did not promote the idea of the complete
retreat from the world. In one of their lengthy conversations, Ianolide asked Gafencu
whether, in eschatological perspective, one could live separated from the world, from
history, from present. Gafencu’s answer was the following: “Such a theory is equally absurd
and hypocrite. Eternity starts now. Only if we live eternally now, we will have it
eschatologically, otherwise we lose it. Therefore, Christians make history, but do not
intermingle with history, for only reaching for eternity we will have the light and the power
to turn history into new steps, higher and higher, towards God’s Kingdom.
- What do we need to build the Christian world?
- We should follow the classical example of the apostolic community: know the Christian
teaching well so that we can see its applicability in the present day; let us reunite in a joint
mission, by the light and under the direction of the Holy Spirit; let us live in the collective
community of love, in God’s will, let us pray, let us go to masses, let us unite with Christ, so
that we will be with Him in his Kingdom” (Ibidem, p. 253).
31
Richard Wurmbrand, Cu Dumnezeu în subterană (With God in the Underground), Editura
“Casa Şcoalelor”, Bucureşti, 1994, p. 91-92.
32
Sfântul închisorilor…, p. 197.
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 219

Gafencu had managed to keep in prison, hoping that his body will be thus identified
one day33.
Although he died, Gafencu’s spirit was still alive for the people who had
lived by his side. His teachings were coming mouth to mouth and his fame grew,
even with those who had never met him. After 1953, part of the prisoners, at Târgu
Ocna were released, while others were moved to other prisons (Caransebeş
especially). Thus, Gafencu’s ideas spread around and some even managed to put
them down. Among these writings, one was entitled “Christian Life Principles”,
made by Ioan Ianolide, inspired by Gafencu’s ideas. The principles were the
following: love, moral dignity, education, prayer, unity, obedience, freedom,
ecumenical advice, community spirit, “spiritual bath”, permanent sacrifice,
knowledge34.
In 1958, a new wave of persecutions began in Romania. After the retreat of
the Soviet army, the Communist authorities from Bucharest considered that they
must make it clear that they were able to keep things under control in the country
and, therefore, they decided to arrest all those who could rise in opponents of the
regime. For a legal motivation of these oppressions, the authorities came up with
tenths of conspiratorial plots, on the basis of which hundred of prisoners were
sentenced to long years of imprisonment. One of the most frequently used plots was
that of the legionary conspiracy, and one of the chapters of this plot was that of the
“mystical legionaries”, massively directed at religious cults.
More precisely, the Security, on the basis of the information it had that many
former legionaries preferred to adopt a Christian approach on life, some even
becoming monks, claimed that this was, in fact, a mask, behind which the
legionaries hid hostile political actions, contrary to the Communist regime, under
“mystical” gown, profiting that the freedom of religions was guaranteed by the law.
Gafencu’s name was intensely used, he was said to have been one of leaders of this
great conspiracy, although he had been dead for 6 years already. In practically no
time a group of several tenths of people was formed, gathering free people and
prisoners as well, the Security absurdly claiming that there had constantly been a
dialogue between those in prison and those at liberty. The leader of the group of
prisoners was said to be Ioan Ianolide who continued to be detained in Caransebeş,
while the group of people at liberty was claimed to be led by young Constantin
Voicescu, future priest, who had been at Târgu Ocna and had met Gafencu35.

33
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 191.
34
ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 327, vol. 1, p. 13-14.
35
ACNSAS, Informative fund, file 28130, vol. 1, p. 52-56.
220 GEORGE ENACHE

In the prosecution papers, the Security claimed that Târgu Ocna sheltered a
vast and intense legionary activity, developed along three lines: 1. Organising
legionary support; 2. Mystical training of the legionaries and recruiting new
members; 3. Political activity, meaning, discussing political events36. According to
the Security, legionary support consisted in three aspects: “medical assistance,
supplying food, supplying barracks and food”37. Thus, in the interpretation of the
Security, the Christian help given to the brother in need turned into “legionary help”
and the spiritual talks became forms of luring new sympathisers to the legionary
cause, Security agents finding that many of those who approached Gafencu’s group
at Târgu Ocna had had nothing to do with the Legionary Movement. In the
investigation, an important part was played by the “Christian Life Principles”
written by Ianolide, interpreted as a rewriting of some legionary principles, in spite
of the defendant’s denial. 38
The members of the group were given severe punishments, being taken to
Aiud where they were subjected to a new re-education process, with other methods,
considered more “humane” than the ones applied at Piteşti. Ioan Ianolide refused re-
education, passing through hard time once more. On 1964, the government decided
upon a general amnesty. After 23 years, Ianolide was getting out of prison, leaving
Aiud for the larger prison that Romania was at the time. Considered dangerous for
the Communist order, he was monitored incessantly, but he never gave up his life of
real Christian, he never forgot to speak of those who died in prison. Each year, on
February 18, he would go to church, confess and pray, thus keeping alive the
memory of the one he considered a real saint, his fellow in misery, Valeriu
Gafencu39.
After a time of relative freedom and hope for the best, Romanians saw as the
new Communist leader, Nicolae Ceauşescu, although he had separated spectacularly
from Kremlin in 1968, was starting to impose a stricter and stricter regime in the
country, which reminded in many aspects of the Stalinist period. Encouraged by
Helsinki (1975) principles, by the United States leaders’ assertion of the idea of
human rights and by the general trend of anticommunist dissidence from Eastern

36
ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 327, vol. 1, p. 14v.
37
Ibidem.
38
A piece of Ianolide’s statement during the inquiry: “In 1950-1953 I stayed at Târgu Ocna.
Here, my only true friend was Valeriu Gafencu. The other prisoners were equal for me,
irrespective of the political belonging.
From Valeriu Gafencu I know that he left politics and devoted himself to religion.
He made these principles and poems. I deny that there is any resemblance between
Gafencu’s principles and the legionary ones. Gafencu’s principles represent the Christian
Church.” (ACNSAS, Criminal fund, file 327, vol. 7, p. 156).
39
Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 251.
Christian Life in Communist Prisons in Romania 221

Europe, there were, in Romania too, people who criticised openly the new direction
of Ceauşescu’s regime. Among them, priest Gheorghe Calciu Dumitreasa40 who had
passed through the re-education of Piteşti and knew Valeriu Gafencu. Encouraged
by the example of his former fellow, and also by Lech Walesa’s courage and by the
rebellion of the Polish people of 198141, Ioan Ianolide began to write about his
experience in prison and about the Christian perspective on life. Valeriu Gafencu
was at the centre of his speech. The explanation was a simple one: “We tried to
describe Valeriu for we see not only a personal experience in him, but a human
model, a way of salvation from spiritual death, a man who became complete through
Christ. We know that he is not the only instance of sanctity in this century and we
believe that this avalanche of intense and striking faith will give birth to a new
Christian era”42.
Carefully hidden from the eyes of the Security, the manuscript was to be sent
abroad so that the world would hear about the suffering of the Romanian people.
There are pages in the manuscript which betray the author’s torment, the difficulty
in establishing contacts with people abroad, the disappointment at some of his
former fellows’ betrayal. Ioan Ianolide died on February 5, 1986, without knowing
whether his testimony would ever become public or not. His wife managed
eventually to send the manuscript abroad, but not long before the revolution of 1989
and the Occident no longer took any interest in the testimonies of the victims of
Eastern Communism. Back in country, the manuscript will be published barely in

40
Viaţa părintelui Gheorghe Calciu după mărturiile sale şi ale altora (Father Gheorghe
Calciu’s Life in His Own and Others’ Testimonies), Editura Christiana, Bucureşti, 2007.
41
In 1981 Ianolide was writing: “This Christmas I will see Lech Walesa in prison, the man,
who became, in one year only, the symbol of freedom and dignity. This man is a hope for the
entire humanity, however, he is in prison and no one can save him. But it is only now, in
prison, that I feel his greatness, for now I can see his inner strength in rejecting the
oppressor’s hand with blood on it.
A whole people are again imprisoned, enslaved, humiliated. However, the Poles
prove themselves worthy of their heroic history and firm faith. There is a hope for the
humanity there, but, maybe, the humanity will miss this chance. There is a strong church
there, with apostle priests, with martyr Christians. There is a working class there who know
that justice comes from Christ only and who reject anti-Christ injustice; this Christmas, there
are thousands of miners who risk their lives protesting in mines and their gesture makes me
shudder. There are intellectual elites there who think about the fate of the entire world, but it
seems that the world has no ears to hear yet… In Poland, truth was revealed at national level,
while in other countries merely fragmentary and sporadically. People from the socialist
world know that they have to choose between Târgu Ocna and Piteşti, between Iacunin,
Calciu, Saharov, Orlov, on the one hand, and Brejnev, Ceaușescu or Kadar, on the other
hand, between light and dark, between good and evil, with no compromises, no hesitation, no
delay.” (Ioan Ianolide, op.cit., p. 296, 298).
42
Ibidem, p. 250.
222 GEORGE ENACHE

2006, with a foreword written by priest Calciu Dumitreasa. The latter writes: “If you
have any doubts about salvation, sacrifice or conquest over the seen and unseen
enemy through the power of faith and prayer, if you doubt Christ’s love and the
efficiency of penitence, this book will convince you”43.
After all, it is a book about some 15-20 year old young men, imprisoned for
nothing. Some died in prison, others got out, old, having to live in a society which
despised them. Apparently, these lives failed completely. In reality, these young men
gave a superior meaning to suffering, through their faith in Christ.

43
Ibidem, p. 6.