“(…) There are two kinds of spirituality in the Church, in my experience. Fr. Roman’s sister, Mother Benedicta, represented the first, and Fr. Roman the second. The first, the most common, is about struggle, warfare, asceticism. The second about love and joy — even in suffering.

Mother Benedicta used to pull me aside after Vespers, as we were walking in the nettle patch looking for good leaves to harvest. “We are fighting the demons here,” she would say, rubbing her hands and crinkling her nose. “It is easy, because Jesus has already won. The demons come here, looking around, and I grab them, and STOMP them like this,” she would exclaim, as she drove her black shoe into the wet dirt.

Fr. Roman, however, would simply exude joy. When he was in prison, someone smuggled in a New Testament. The prisoners divided it amongst themselves, each taking one book, so that they could memorize the text and then recite it to the group. Fr. Roman had been given the Gospel of St. John, the evangelist of love. Later in life, when I knew him, he would quote from that Gospel regularly, especially the discourse in John 15 about the vine and branches. He would also always quote from Galatians 2. For him, life was to be in Christ, and that was joy, pure joy, even in the Cross.

You can see some of that joy in the video embedded above, which features a documentary about the infamous prison of Pitești. It includes an extended interview with Fr. Roman.” (Seraphim Danckaert)

Despre Părintele Roman Braga în presa română din America de Nord

Despre Părintele Gheorghe Calciu în presa română din America de Nord

MĂRTURISITORII

Citiţi şi EXCLUSIV. Părintele Calciu, omul politic de pe pământ american: “Nu a încetat niciodată lupta pentru dreptate şi credinţă”. Mărturia lui Nicholas Dima, însoţită de Fotografii

Parintele Roman Braga intampinandu-l pe Parintele Gheorghe Calciu la aterizarea pe pamant american, in 1985