My essence was filled with Light...

Father Gheorghe Calciu speaks to us

Let me tell you about my Easter experience in prison. I was preparing for the holiday. I was purifying my soul as much as I could, I was deaf to insults, insensitive to blows, armored against hunger, warmed by an inner prayer. On the night I knew it was Easter, at 12 AM, I heard the bells of Aiud ringing. Their clang penetrated very spiritually. That is, it wasn't a clang as if you were next to it, but it penetrated through the walls. It was like a message sent by the outside world, that world celebrating the Lord's Resurrection.

And I sang “Christ is Risen!”Initially in my mind, then I felt the need to sing it not loudly, but so that I could hear myself. There was a deathly silence, and any movement from the cells was reflected outside, in the corridor, and, of course, the guard heard me singing, came to me, and insulted me. And I decided to stop singing, so as not to disturb that Holy Night of the Resurrection.

The next morning, the guard shift changed at 7 AM. In our section (it was a special section for sanctions, for punishments), there were six guards. They came in a line, one after another. The guard who was on duty joined the others, and the one who remained in the section opened the door. We had to stand facing the wall. He would come in and look to see if everything was in order. And we weren't allowed to turn our faces back towards the door until we heard the door locking.

On that Easter morning, however, I didn't turn around, I didn't stand facing the wall. There was a guard… if you've ever seen a handsome devil, this man was indeed a handsome devil. Of course, he was a young man from the countryside, a slender, tall boy, with absolutely angelic blue eyes, a very beautiful face, always elegantly dressed, in his suit. The others came in dirtier. He was always very clean, very elegant. But he possessed an inexplicable cruelty. It's hard to understand how someone with such angelic beauty could be so cruel... If this man didn't beat five or six prisoners during his shift, he probably didn't feel well. And that morning, when he opened the door, I had been praying to God all night. Perhaps I had said hundreds, thousands of times “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”Thousands of times, perhaps. So that the truth of the Resurrection would deeply enter my mind and heart. I stood facing the door when he entered and I said to him: “Christ is Risen!”.“He is Risen Indeed!”.

It was like a blow to the top of my head for me. And I understood then that it wasn't him who said to me “He is Risen Indeed!”, but that it was the angel of the Lord. The one who, standing at the tomb, said to the myrrh-bearing women: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? Behold, He is risen. Come, see the place where they laid Him.”Through his mouth, the angel confirmed the Resurrection to me, because I needed this confirmation – and because God wanted to confirm the truth of this Resurrection to me through the mouth of my enemy.

My cell was filled with Light. And my joy was so great that the five or six hours until lunch, when the food arrived, were spent in Light and spiritual joy.

From "Suffering as a Blessing"

Cathisma Publishing House, 2007