Elder Sofian: I Seek the Face of the Lord

In Father Sofian’s being, one could intuit what Father Zacharias Zacharou says: “Only that work which we have wrought in our heart will accompany us into eternity.”

I Seek the Face of the Lord

Archim. Sofian Boghiu

Bizantina Publishing House: Bucharest, 2018

(Texts collected from Father Sofian’s personal, handwritten notes)

A Spiritual Father for the People of God

-preface-

If the statue of a man perfect in virtue were to be made, it would be fitting to be of Sofian! 

He was adorned with all virtues. 

-Father Nicodim Bujor

In the garland of spiritual fathers, with whom the Good God adorned the crown of the 20th century, the “Apostle of Bucharest” is without a doubt also numbered. Humble, quiet, and hidden, he kept watch over the paving stones of Antim Monastery for more than fifty years, stones which secretly counted tens or possibly hundreds of thousands of steps of souls seeking consolation and guidance. Yet when their steps did not reach him, only a brief thought was enough to ask for assurance and courage to hope. The letter of a prisoner with a contrite heart turned completely to God’s mercy does not need any commentary:

“My good Father [Sofian], a prisoner is writing to you. I am writing to you from Aiud prison, where I am suffering for my sin. I still have difficult years left to serve, but afterwards I want to withdraw to a monastery, to serve God. I have been an orphan from a young age. I do not have a family, I do not have parents, I do not have children, but I have you. I listened to you and saw you on television, here in my cell, and I was amazed by the good and warm words you were saying. What love and spiritual comfort is in your soul, Father! I beg you with all my soul to forgive me for my sin and to pray for the purification of my soul. For I have not been anyone’s support. And I do not have any support except you, my Father, and I weep for the sin I committed!” 

He lived humbly, quietly, and hiddenly, and he burned within his heart, embodying the words of Abba Alonius: “...in the world there is only myself and God…!” His extremely discrete presence, few and measured words, light walk as if he was not touching the ground, head permanently bowed, a gaze which you very rarely caught directed towards you, all kept him collected within himself and not dispersed outside. Permanently collected in his heart, where he had painstakingly built the Throne of the Holy Spirit, unceasing prayer unseen by others worked without a doubt. Only when during confession he felt a bit of “fruitful soil” did he determinedly urge someone to pray, how and how much to do it per day, giving examples even of women who had acquired the prayer [of the heart]. The joy with which you left from under his epitrachelion was a clear sign that Father was a great and well-hidden man of prayer. 

From the very large number of people whose confessions he heard every day, he seemed to not have a single moment to himself. And still, God and the entire world fit into his heart. In Father Sofian’s being, one could intuit what Father Zacharias Zacharou says: “Only that work which we have wrought in our heart will accompany us into eternity.” He zealously sought after Christ his entire life, he experienced Him to the full measure of his powers, and he did everything possible to share Him with others. He would say: “It is put in the being of man to long for and to seek God, to live in such a way that he finds Him, to do His will, so that he can reach union with Him.” In 1948, in the introduction to his thesis, Father Sofian wrote: “From a hidden urge in my heart, for a long time I seek the Face of the Lord. I seek It on account of my humble profession as an iconographer, and also because of the desire of my Christian and monastic soul...I entreat the Savior to guide me and to help me humbly seek His holy face.”

From the iconographic representations of the Man-Christ, His face in the icon of Christ Evergetis in Boyana, Bulgaria retained [Fr. Sofian’s] attention. The Face of Christ-God, which he sought his entire life, he certainly succeeded to find within his own heart. 

Throughout his long, venerable life, without a doubt, this was the secret work of his heart, to seek the Face of the Lord Christ for himself, so that later he could reveal Him to others, to be able to guide others as well. His eye, with a fine artistic sense, observed and depicted his lifelong dream - of things, of people with their joys and sufferings, but especially the inner person. He observed and molded people’s souls, he guided them and helped them to find the Face of Christ the Lord within themselves. Multitudes of people without number, with time and without time, sought him and questioned him. He did not refuse anyone, he sacrificed for all, without exceptions: great prelates but also the most humble people. What crucifixion of his own self! The image of an elder which a greek priest in the Desert of Hozeva described to us remained etched in my mind: “Have you ever thought that your spiritual father, when he will be called to heaven, will ascend with the souls of all those whose confessions he heard during his life, and he will have to give an account for all those hanging onto his epitrachelion?” If Elder Cleopa named Elder Sofian the “Apostle” of Bucharest, we can ask ourselves: did he have the power to lift such a volume of souls along with himself? I believe that all of his life he had the moment of meeting Christ face to Face before his eyes, as well as the account he would have to give for those under his epitrachelion. 

He fervently sought to know, to observe in detail, and to understand each thing, each event, each moment of the history of salvation, so that he could fulfill it with all precision. The unfolding of the terrible event of the Final Judgement, as Father Sofian carefully details, is telling in this sense: “And behold, on the Right of the Judge descended to earth from His Glory, near the place where He was crucified and where He ascended. Now, He sits on His Throne of judgment in great glory. On His right and left are two human beings, the Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist, who intercede for the world with humble boldness in this difficult time. Innumerable hosts of angels who fill the sky around Him await a command. Before the judgment seat, all the people of the world are gathered: pagans, Jews, Christians, and all the multitudes of people from the beginning of history until the moment of judgment. Great and small, kings and slaves, rich and poor, prophets and saints, righteous and sinful, living and resurrected dead, and the evil spirits themselves are gathered by the angels at the judgment. The laws by which the judgment will take place are: Pagans will be judged according to the law of the conscience written by God in their hearts (Romans 2:14-16); Jews will be judged according to the law of Moses, and Christians will be judged according to the Law of the Gospel. And all of us will be judged according to the Law of freedom - every moment of our life will be recalled from childhood until the moment of death. All our life’s history - each one of ours - will be revealed suddenly, from the first sensation to the final breath. No deed, no desire, no word will be overlooked. Then, we will not be able to hide anything, as we now hide from the eyes of people and our spiritual father. All will be brought to the surface; the sins which we ourselves committed and the sins of others that we caused by our guidance or example. The good which we did and did not do, although it was within our power to do it. All our deeds will be gathered in one place before our terrified gaze.” He uses strong images of crude realism to awaken souls.   

He draws special attention to a person’s soul so that we can understand the importance of inner work, the soul which we do not often take into consideration, noting the experienced fathers who painfully observe that man lives more outside of himself than within his heart. “In order to understand what the soul is and what significance it has for our earthly life, the most simple thing is to compare the cadaver of a person who has recently died with a living person. What is he missing? The hidden and unseen power breathed into the first human by God himself, the power which sets our body in motion and which we call the soul. The soul is an unseen force and an immaterial power, like the wind which blows where it wills, but we do not know from where it comes, or where it goes (John 3:8). The soul is and remains a great mystery temporarily hidden in the human body. It was compared to a pearl of great price. If we see the creatures and things of the world through it, all shine with a beauty that surpasses all of the beauties of the world. If we look at tombs through the soul, they open and the dead see themselves as the living. If we look at the sky with the world of intelligent spirits through the soul, all are illuminated and we see the fulness of the Kingdom.”  

Neither does he neglect the human body, which very often is exiled by its sinful deeds in the enemy’s backyard: “How could the body which God made in the beginning, fashioning it with His hands, He Himself taking on a human body when He condescended to save us, be bad?! The body which restrains its sinful impulses, fasts, prays, the body which toils for the good of others, the body sanctified through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, purified through the Sacrament of Repentance, and reconsecrated through Holy Communion can become a true Temple of the Holy Spirit.” 

It is moving how Father Sofian sees the entire human as a unique and unrepeatable person in this existence, the human as a gift of God’s love: “The body and soul are so tightly knit that not even death is able to completely alienate them, and even if they separate for a time, the body and soul will meet again through the resurrection of bodies and will remain in eternal union. Being so tightly knit, it follows that the good done in this world is not only the body’s, but also the soul’s, and so too the evil committed is not only the soul’s, but also the body’s. The entire human being is responsible for things committed, whether good or bad, because the entire human being commits them. Salvation is fulfilled for both the soul and the body. It could be said that not a single human soul is saved except by means of the body. The body is the basis for the soul’s salvation. The body is that which helps the soul become God’s property. For the body is washed in baptism, so that the soul too can be cleaned of its stains. The body is anointed with Holy Chrism so that the soul can also be sanctified. The body is overshadowed by the laying on of hands so that the soul can also be illuminated by the Spirit of God. The body tastes the Body and Blood of the Lord so that the soul can nourish itself with God. Thus, what is associated with work cannot be separated from reward.” 

If he was asked how much importance to give to physical infirmities and bodily illnesses, his response was prompt and categorical: “Care for your body as much as for your soul, because it is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.” 

The tenderness and affection with which he described the Mother of God denoted a familiarity with Her, a boldness in his request like that of someone entreating a person he is close to. “In an old Byzantine icon, where the Entrance into the Temple of the Mother of God is depicted, the little Holy Virgin can be seen in the center dressed in her traditional costume: a long vestment, blue underneath, a red cloak on top, and a scarlet scarf, a kind of shawl with fringe on top of her little head with an angelic face; her little feet with sandals barely protruding from beneath her long, blue garment.” 

Indeed, those who kneeled beneath Father Sofian’s epitrachelion experienced and can bear witness to his overpowering gentleness. Conversely, he became extremely harsh and intransigent when someone confessed judging others or not paying attention during prayer. To not pray with attention concentrated on the place above the heart of flesh, where the Spirit dwells within us, was the greatest offense to God. And to dare to judge someone was a usurpation of the Savior’s exclusive right to judge the world and a self-exile into the hands of the enemy. Any sin you confessed was an opportunity for him to show you how thoroughly we must enact the things of the faith. Faith for Father Sofian was not the acceptance of theoretical truths, but it was trust in Someone: “Faith means to take Jesus Christ at His word, and all that He told us about God and our salvation, to take the Holy Apostles, who were witnesses of our Savior Jesus Christ’s life, at their word.”

Plumbing the depths of theological problems, from God the Father and Savior to the Holy Spirit and divine grace, down to the ways in which someone arrives at knowing the Face of the Lord (the cross, tribulations, asceticism, suffering), open wide the road and key to understandings for oneself and for guiding people. He understands them, having at hand his personal experience, an unmediated personal experience of all that pertains to God. 

We often testify that only after their passing to the Lord do we perceive our spiritual fathers as giants. So long as they are alive, although, under their epitrachelions, we do not have eyes to see their holiness as much as we should. The humility with which they clothe themselves makes them accessible to us, but it does not help us to understand them clearly enough so as to hurry to enact what we see in them. Only later do we note the soul’s hurry to put at least something into practice, at least the smallest amount of what we saw and understood, as if through a fog. Father Sofian was “a beautiful elder” [kalogeron], he was “a priest for the people of God,” he was “a heavenly man on earth,” and now he is “an earth dweller in the Kingdom above,” as he could not have been better described by his spiritual children.

The inconspicuous humility and love which characterized Father Sofian discouraged his disciples from considering and searching through his writings in order to publish them posthumously. By God’s will, the zeal of some close disciples made numerous manuscripts of Father Sofian's containing very varied material come to the surface: theological developments on very varied themes, short commentaries, and reading notes. In the present book, with the occasion of a conference organized in commemoration of Father Sofian, we gathered a series of texts, which although thematically different, are united by the same spirit and the same search. We considered that the most fitting title is the one that Father Sofian himself suggested to us: I Seek the Face of the Lord. Father Sofian’s humbly expressed longing and desire to see the Face of the Lord appear in all the texts collected here. 

The 20th century, by God’s mercy, is marked by many fathers’ testimonies of the vision of God, of the vision of divine light. Blessed Silouan and his disciple Father Sophrony, Elder Joseph and his disciples, as well as countless other fathers, give explicit testimonies of their personal experience of the vision of divine light and union with God. In Father Sofian - like all the Romanian fathers - such testimonies do not appear. There appears, however, the desire and continuous longing for God. We consider that these texts are humble testimonies of similar experiences. 

Righteous Father Sofian, pray to God for us! Amen.

Editors

Commemoration of the Holy Prophet Joel