Elder Sofian: A Man of Presence
He liked to say that when the mind unites with the heart, a person becomes one, and what he thinks, that he feels, and that he speaks, And I think that we could see this in him.
Elder Sofian had an overwhelming humility and delicacy, as I said. He was a completely unique person by the fact that he had drawn close to what a true human being should be. He liked to say that when the mind unites with the heart, a person becomes one, and what he thinks, that he feels, and that he speaks, And I think that we could see this in him. And this is the great mystery of Elder Sofian: the union of mind and heart and ceaseless abiding in God. It is the hesychastic ideal–hesychasm not being merely a segment or something destined only for certain initiates. The Church assumed hesychastic teachings as its own in the 14th century, following the hesychast controversy and the substantiation of hesychasm by Saint Gregory Palamas, but this attitude, this seeking of the union of mind and heart and ceaseless abiding in God by calling on the Name of Jesus has existed since the first centuries of Christianity.
Elder Sofian was, first of all, a man of presence, of discrete works, and less a man of oratorical discourses. He was a whole, spiritually integral man. I think this is the only explanation for the unworldly beauty of his luminous face, for the peace that he brought. We should not forget that there are people who became convinced of the presence and work of God in the world–or even converted to Orthodoxy–just from seeing Father’s face.
—Rev. Dr. Florin Botezan
From: Smerenia și dragostea, însemnele trăirii ortodoxe - ediția a patra [Humility and Love: Attributes of Orthodox Life—4th ed.] (Iași: Doxologia, 2022), p. 352.