Elder Cleopa: The Repentance of King Manasseh
Elder Sofian Boghiu: I have never hated any of the enemies that tormented us and I have never regretted that I was imprisoned.
Elder Cleopa: The Repentance of King Manasseh
Manasseh, the king of Judah in the Old Testament, committed more sins before God than anyone else. For 52 years, he forced the whole people to worship idols and devils and to renounce God. And they all abandoned God - himself, his children, all his family. And he would kill whoever refused to worship idols and bring sacrifices to the devils in the most terrible torments.
And so this king committed untold numbers of sins. But the All-Merciful God, to show the depth of His loving-kindness, and His unbounded mercy, brought Manasseh to repentance through His judgment. How?
This king, as evil as he was, was from a good family. His father, Hezekiah, a king well pleasing to God, lived in the time of the Prophet Isaiah. He prayed to God to bring back his son who had distanced himself from the Creator of Heaven and earth. How did God bring him back?
God saw the evil and lack of faith of Mannaseh; He saw that Manasseh’s mind was so darkened that not only he distanced himself from God, but also his whole nation was brought onto the path to destruction and forced to abandon God. Then God, Who knows how to bring all to repentance, set “a bit and a bridle” on Manasseh, as the Psalter says: “[they] must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you” (Psalm 31/32:9)
That is what happened to this king as well. If God had left him as he was, he would have never repented. But God sent commanders from the king of Babylon with a great army, and they conquered Jerusalem, taking king Manasseh as their slave. They tied him up and placed him in a cage where he couldn’t stand up. He was tied up like a hook, with his head bent to his feet, tied with two chains of bronze. And they put him in that cage, where he couldn’t even lift up his head, but only sit tied up as a rounded hook.
The king of Babylon thought Manasseh would only live one more week or a few more days, and he gave him food only twice a week, bread and water. The king kept asking his servants: “Has king Manasseh died?” And they were replying: “He hasn’t died, your Highness. He is still alive and moving in his case. It is remarkable!”
And Manasseh lived in that cage, tied in chains, not one week, not one month, not ten months, but more than seven years.
And it was a tremendous miracle to see a man tied with his head to his feet, getting only water and some bread twice a week, and still surviving. This king, from whom God didn't want to take the spark of life, was only skin and bones after all the torments and sorrows he suffered in his vicissitudes. Just think about what he was going through. Then he remembered God and said, "God has brought me into this torment and suffering because I angered Him. I turned away from Him and I forced God's people to sacrifice to idols!" He thought in his heart: "If God has kept me alive until now, what does He want from me? Surely He wants my salvation!"
Then, from the bottom of his heart, Manasseh sighed, shed tears, and prayed passionately to God:
“Lord, God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, God of Heaven and earth! If You, Lord, had mercy on me, so I did not die after all these years, so I still have life in me after bearing my heavy chains - this means You are waiting for me to come back to You.
Lord, my God, I cannot bend my knees, I cannot bow my head to the ground because I am bound with heavy chains of bronze, which pull and keep me like a hook with my head to my feet, so I cannot pray to You.
I cannot make prostrations, I cannot fall with my face to the ground because I am tied up. Yet I pray to You, Lord, and I bend the knees of my heart: remember me, O Lord, because it is no miracle for You to have mercy on the righteous; You did not set repentance for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their righteous descendants, but You set repentance for the sinners.
And so, Lord God, if You have mercy on me, if You will look into my heart, if You will forgive me for my sins which are more numerous than the grains of sand by the sea, then Your unutterable mercy will be known, Lord, and Your unimaginable loving-kindness…”
This is how Manasseh prayed from the bottom of his heart, shedding tears with great suffering in his torments. The All-Holy God remembered him and put a thought into the mind of the king of Babylon to set Manasseh free from his chains and take him out of his cage. When they took him out, because he had spent so much time tied up like a hook, he was going around like a circle. His bones had become round and couldn’t be stretched anymore. Think about how terrible it was to see a man in the shape of a circle, all skin and bones, and pity him! Think about how awful it was!
The pagans from Babylon cried and said: “Is there still life in this man? Is this still a human being?” So they set Manasseh free and started to nourish him little by little, to take care of him, and in a few months, he was back on his feet. And not only he became whole and healthy again, but the king of Babylon said: “His God, Whom he worships, has forgiven him because of his great repentance!” And he sent Manasseh back as king to Jerusalem!
Manasseh became king again and brought his people back to the worship of God. He did good deeds as much as he could until the end of his life, and wrote the great prayer which we say at the Great Compline, called “Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah.”
Did you see God’s wisdom? Did you hear what God can do? From a pagan king whose sins were more numerous than the stars in the sky and the grains of sand by the sea, He made a king and a saint, because Manasseh repented from the bottom of his heart, poured tears of fire and was tormented for so many years, with so much fasting and suffering and pain! And yet he didn’t lose hope in God’s mercy!
Translated from “Conversations with Elder Cleopa, vol. 2”
Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah
From Great Compline
O Lord, Almighty, the God of our Fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous seed; Who created the heaven and the earth with all their adornment; Who bound the sea by the word of Your command; Who shut up the abyss and scaled it with Your awesome and glorious name; Whom all things dread and before Whose power they tremble, because the majesty of Your glory is unbearable and the threat of Your anger against sinners is unendurable; yet the mercy of Your promise is both immeasurable and unfathomable, for you are the Lord most high, compassionate, long-suffering and all merciful, Who repents towards the wickedness of man.
You, Lord, in the multitude of Your goodness promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against You, and in Your infinite compassion appointed repentance for sinners that they may be saved.
Therefore, Lord, the God of the powers, You have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who have not sinned against You, but You appointed repentance for me the sinner, for I have committed more sins than the grains of the sand of the sea.
My transgressions have multiplied, Lord; my transgressions have multiplied, and I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven from the multitude of my iniquities, being weighed down by many iron chains, so that I cannot raise my head; there is no respite left for me because I provoked Your anger and committed evil before You, not having done Your will and not having kept Your commandments.
And now I bend the knee of my heart, beseeching Your goodness: I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions; but I beg and ask of You: Forgive me, Lord, forgive me and do not destroy me with my transgressions; do not be angry with me forever and keep my evils in me, and do not condemn me to the depths of the earth.
For you are the Lord God, the God of those who repent, and in me You shall show all Your goodness; for even though I am unworthy, You shall save me according to the multitude of Your mercy, and I shall praise You without ceasing all the days of my life. For every heavenly power sings your praises, and Yours is the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
(from https://www.candelarugulaprins.ro/en/prayers/)
March 9 - Day of Commemoration of Political Anti-Communist Prisoners in Romania between 1944-1989
The Romanian Parliament passed a law in 2011 to commemorate all Political Anti-Communist Prisoners in Romania between 1944-1989 each year, on March 9, when the Orthodox Church also commemorates the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste.
Among those commemorated are hierarchs, monks, professors of Theology, students, intellectuals, and over 1,800 Orthodox priests who were interrogated, arrested, thrown in prisons, sent to forced labor (all because of baseless accusations), since they were considered a danger for the communist authorities.
Prayer to the Martyrs who suffered in communist prisons
by Bishop Macarie of the Romanian Orthodox Diocesis of Northern Europe
Holy Martyrs who suffered in communist prisons, you paid with the price of your blood for the freedom and dignity of our people and our Church in these end times. You are the lights that shine onto our path in the darkness of this age; you are the wall of defense against unseen enemies. For this, we come before you and zealously pray to you: lift the heavy veil of our insensitivity and lack of love. Shake off from us the chains of our weaknesses and compromises. Strengthen our weak and timid natures against our opponents. Inspire us to love the Church, the people, our neighbors. You, who prayed for your tormentors and murderers, teach us to love our enemies. You, who cast off revenge and gave your lives for your fellow men, strengthen us in the commandments of Christ Crucified and Resurrected. You, who turned the prison into a monastery and life in prison cells into Philokalic living, give us comfort from above in the bitter trials we are going through. We pray to you, mediate to Christ for our help and salvation. Amen.
Elder Sofian Boghiu: I have never hated any of the enemies that tormented us and I have never regretted that I was imprisoned.