New Confessor Mark of Sihastria: A Confession of Faith in the Reeducation Program of Aiud
On October 10, 1963, Father Mark (Costica Dumitru) was taken to the reeducation cell in the frigid prison of Aiud. Colonel George Craciun’s reeducation program for the legionnaires and those who did not abdicate from the Christian faith was in full swing. The commander of the prison had the order from the Minister of Internal Affairs to speed up the process of “cultural-education activity,” especially for those who refused and were considered “fanatics.” After a period of imprisonment and isolation, being put in extreme conditions with deficient food, Father Mark was made to incriminate himself. Father’s statement was not expected by the reeducators. On Nov 23 he said:
“I was taken from my cell and brought to a room here, without being asked if I want to and without being told where I was going. Neither was I given any explanation nor was I asked if I want to remain there or not. Neither am I clear now after I learned about what was discussed here–they are words that I don’t understand very well: criticism and self-criticism, analysis and self-analysis, incrimination, restructuring, etc. The leader told me that in these rooms cultural reeducation programs take place through books, magazines, conferences, films, etc. I had not seen any of these until now, but only political discussions with a limited, critical character, that is, people who would only talk about the negative aspects of certain people, and only the positive aspects of others. I do not take part in anything political because:
I ended my political past definitively, a long time ago, unforced by anyone and for reasons dear to my soul. I observed that something from the domain of the good, beauty, and truth, was lacking in my soul, and I sought to discover something else. I encountered a powerful political current during the course of my turmoil and searching. I was overtaken by it like you. I believed that this is what my soul was seeking. When I felt the thorns and pain, I understood that this current was not what my soul was seeking. And I extricated myself. But my soul continued to seek that which it had not yet found. After [much] fatigue and turmoil, I came across what was exercising such a powerful influence over me, quenching the thirst and hunger of my soul. It is the word of God as a teaching, placed in our being in the form of a moral conscience, or in other words, the law of God in man. Thus I ended [my relationship] with anything political and dedicated my life to God, Who filled my soul, entering monasticism.
Monastic life does not allow for anything except spiritual life, and it stops me from being involved in politics.
The law, through its sentence of condemnation, also stops me from being involved in politics–in detention and for a chunk of time after that. The sentence not yet being annulled, I must submit myself to the law.
Having ended with political involvement definitively, once and for all, I cannot return to it. In regard to the mistakes or sins of certain people in political life, or their particular life, see my response: we are all human, and, thus, we can err. I cannot judge anyone’s sin. Being a Christian and a monk, the Christian law stops me from judging others’ faults. I who know this law cannot contradict it by speaking badly of others. Please do not ask me to trespass this Christian law and monastic ordinance. True freedom is given to us by God, that is, freedom from sin.
I found this confession in the archive of the previous Secret Service. It is a fragment of a declaration of Father Mark given in the reeducation program and signed by another prisoner. We do not know what happened to Father after expressing this attitude. However, the text clearly shows his religious comportment, stripped of any political nuance, of a monk who had renounced worldly things and entered with all his being into the monastic life–Father Mark Dumitru of Sihastria, the so-called “Fachir.” [Trans. Note: A prison guard called him a “fachir” because he endured tortures as one without a body, praying unceasingly]
-By Adrian Nicolae Petcu (marturisitorii.ro)
This is very inspiring and useful for anyone nowadays, not only for Christians and monks, but for all of us who want to help by keeping all our energy on God and, together with God on the knees of our hearts, to beg for help and to do whatever we can for the many people who suffer from the terrible consequences of false power and political wars.