After my release, I read "The Demons" by Dostoyevsky. The difference between those demons in Dostoyevsky's book and the ones at Pitesti/Gherla is : the first had freedom, but the latter were deprived of freedom and deprived of even the most basic necessities. Plus, they were subjected to un-imaginable tortures, both physical and moral.
After I told my story to a great Romanian theologian, he advised me to read "The Lives of the Saints" and then I would understand. I always understood that the one who was most capable of writing about this drama was Costache Oprisan, but he was murdered in prison. Other characteristics of my testimony are the fact that I myself lived through this despair to a great extent. If humility is opposed to pride, and one leads you to Heaven(blessed are those poor in spirit) and the other one to Hell, you can see what the reward is. My un-worthiness (humility) was rewarded By God. He destined me to live and write about these things, this drama. My testimonies are metaphysical. Him who is not antichristian and familiar with the lives of the saints, knows and understands my testimonies.
I will now try to explain how this book came into being. First of all, I would like to mention that I was maintaining a correspondence with Horia Sima, who indeed was telling me to write about what happened to me in the prisons. But I thought to tell the Commander I cannot do this. I mean, I was thinking, you couldn't write about the horrors which took place at Pitesti and Gherla without the proper inspiration. I just did not feel capable of doing that.
How did I become capable? In the vicinity of the place where I lived right after I arrived here in Australia, you can find a creek which I instantly recognized - it was the creek I dreamed of sitting by, alone, writing, on the time when I was still in Romania, in the country. And an idea comes to my mind : fasting and prayer. I started fasting and praying a few weeks almost...I would go near the creek and instantly my mind would enlighten : it was all like a movie in my mind, of all that happened, rolling, as if it would be happening right now. In general, when you are writing a book, you have an idea of how the ending would be right from before you start writing it. In this case, I did not even made a sketch of it all, no plan. And I started right with the title : "Testimonies from the swamp of desperation". And the first phrase is also the Book's label. It's a Book of Divine Inspiration : I wrote what I was told to write, that which I felt and that which came to my memory. Every day, from 9 a. m. in the morning to 3 p. m. in the afternoon, I was dictating all these events, and my wife was putting them down on paper. The writing took place between February - December 1990; almost 600 pages in total. But the definitive form is the one being published. In short, I am the one through whom all these facts have become known. Unlimited faith in God makes everything possible. Petre Tutea said that any culture who doesn't include Theology in it, is doomed, it’s not worth two pennies. There may be books with some human value, but they are worth zero because they do not testify about God.
Where there is no temptation, there is no virtue, the holy fathers said. Christian virtue is only tested in ordeals. God allowed communism to be in Russia for a reason. God did not allow communism to appear in Germany or England for instance. Nothing goes on in the seen or un-seen world without the knowledge and will of God. Russia's state politics and the Russian orthodox Christianity are not the same thing, don't confuse one with the other. And yes, I am referring to that Slavic faith, that man who is always on the same frequency with Christ. Here, in Russia, there are millions of martyrs, victims of bolshevism. Here is an example told by father
Dimitrie Bejan, who met the only survivor from those 11.000 martyrs at Oranki. The monks were given three days to make up their minds, to choose between communism and Christ Jesus. They made up their minds in 10 minutes. And then, for one month they were digging their graves, after which they were being executed. And God wanted one of those to escape and tell their storiesi. Here is The Divine Work. The bishop told his monks : "Brothers, the time has come for you to take the martyr's crown; are you with satan or are you with Jesus Christ?" The faith these people had! Not one deserter! I saw with my own eyes, at Cotul Donului (near Predeal,Romania), in the war time, how the Russians were digging up the icons, hidden from the fury of communism, and they cried for joy, kissing them.
Why did Arsenie Papacioc 3talk with such admiration about those young men who stood up to the tanks in December 1989? Because I never wanted to leave my country. I did have the opportunity to leave, then, when I was young, with the German Army, at Orsova. Again, I had the opportunity, in May 1948. I landed in Australia lead by my destiny here. When I say "destiny", I don't mean predestination, or fate, or fatality. Of course, God, Who Is Eternal, knows before hand what must happen with us. But this is not pre-destination. Destiny, you can explain it like this : The relation between me(the creature) and My Creator(God). I cannot rebel as long as I know this. It is a matter of common sense as well. For those who say God did not make them, that is a problem. But I, knowing that God made me, and not .. nature, I have to recognize and be subject To The Creator. Of my free will, because He gave me freedom. Satan always says he does not want to serve Him. We must not lose sight of our weakness and also God's Power. But when I am subject To The Creator, He takes my weakness on His Shoulders. I only have to say : "Your Will Be Done". This is the essence.
3 13 August 1914-19 July 2011; Arsenie Papacioc was a Romanian orthodox Christian monk. He was locked away in the communist prisons of Romania along with the others. He was condemned by the marshal Antonescu, in 1941, for his adherence to the Archangel Michael’s Legion.
Now, about the West, I already had a bad impression since then when I was young; concerning faith, I already knew what the faith was all like in the West, before I immigrated. This Liberalism, brought by the catholics, who don't believe in The Resurrection... Here, in Australia, from an economical stand-point it’s better, because their god is money.
Now concerning Pitesti, everything was done especially to destroy the Legion’s members. This is how God wanted to be, this generation of young people to go through all this never before seen drama. The Pitesti Phenomenon was made for the members of the Legion. In the time of the interrogations, almost all who weren't members of The Legion crossed over to Turcanu4's side. The fight between Good and evil started when Satan rebelled in Heaven, against God. A faithful person becomes every day more perfect and becomes every day more like God, it's a constant climb towards God. Those who recognize God as their Creator, they do His bidding, keep His Commandments and he/she is called to be part of The Kingdom of Heaven. The others, unfaithful bunch and servants of satan, they go down each day. How come that God allows these to live? Satan is allowed to go to the last level of wickedness - the antichrist, the man of sin. Then God will draw the line and the Final Judgment will commence. 4one of those who accepted to torture the Romanian Christians; he was taking orders from the communistsThis book is not a book of Legion doctrine; of course, it is written by a legionnaire, who lives like a legionnaire. It is not a book of legionnaire doctrine, but a book about living. The book explains a phenomenon which concerns the Saint Archangel's Legion and it is addressed in the first place to my brothers and to those who will come after them. What happened in Pitesti is more than a drama - an extraordinary experiment, done by communists and atheists. For the latter, you can understand why it would be an inconvenience for the truth to surface. Because, you can imagine, without this
Pitesti drama, we would still be in the prison, because none of us would give up. No one could shake us. They started the experiment, but not with with their own hands, but having someone else do it instead of them, M.A.F.I.A. way. Of course, they did not know the results before-hand how many will go insane, how many will remain sane, how many will kill themselves, etc. Because it all depends on the human soul. There were six individuals, executioners, who accepted and started it all. Not even Turcanu knew from the beginning how it all would degenerate, what it would degenerate into. The upper ranks were not part of the Legion : Iordachescu, Dobos, Leonida, and others. They represented 10 percent of the population, and we were like 90 percent. All these murderers acted upon the soul, through physical torture. The Re education was prepared by the Moscow occult, Romanian occult and International occult, for the members of the Archangel Michael's Legion Movement. Horia Sima told me that their objective was to destroy the populace from whence the Legion drew its members, thus destroying the foundation of the Movement. Because the essence of communism is as follows : the eradication of the idea of God from the heart of the man, thus leaving him vulnerable to any other idea, making him easy to manipulate, like a leaf in the wind, so satan takes you wherever he wants to take you. The terror was even more frightening due to the fact that it was done to us, by us, through our own brothers, members of the Legion, Christians. When your enemy comes, you fight him as best as you can, depending on your strength. But here, we would have to fight our own brothers, Christians. The Christian martyrs were just them against the enemy - they weren't tortured by other Christians. In our case it wasn't just about letting go of your faith, but the fact that your own brother tortured you. What I mean is one moment we are sitting together like brothers, and tomorrow you kill me, just like that, me, who was capable of putting my life on the line for you. This is the metaphysical aspect of the situation. This was the great test. The man who got confused for even a second, was lost. The devil cannot tempt you more than God wants him to tempt you. God knows our strength.
Being tortured, I would say I wasn't part of The Legion any longer, though I remained part of it. But concerning the faith, it wasn't enough for you to say you do not believe anymore, you had to prove it as well, killing your neighbor without mercy. But how can you kill your brother, when he screams because of the pain! I said I wasn't part of The Legion because of the pressure, but Horia Sima did not say I am not part of it anymore. In a long lasting ordeal each of us held on as much as he could. Each soul lasted as long as he could. I told them I did not pray anymore. I broke the covenant with God. I should have lasted longer. And this is the possession. God wanted me to pass through this ordeal. Even if I had all this Earth in my possession for 1000 years, with my state of mind back then, fear of unknown, fear of going insane, I would have refused all that for my peace of mind. I was put to the test for 4 years. I could not cry anymore - this is because I said I do not pray anymore. I broke myself from God, and possession followed.
I knew the terror of communism; all of us felt it, when the freedom was abolished. In prison you were chained; freedom was nullified under all aspects. They wanted to not only destroy the Archangel Michael’s Legion as a political party, and they used a method which they probably will perfect. We all know that wars are fought with young men. Young men, you cannot fool so easily, because they are not corrupted by sin. Turcanu did the following - he kept files about each one of these young men – when and if they lied, what they said, how each one of them acted in certain situations. Yes, satan is very clever, and to those who serve him, he slips them ideas, his satanic intelligence, which they used at the Pitesti experiment. And it's not about brainwashing either, but satanic possession which transforms people into robots, like in America, or here, in Australia.
There, in the prison, the satanic spirit was floating in the air. Thousands of demons were floating through the air. A negative inspiration stimulated your memory and you would remember everything, since you were a child. In the Christian world, those who say bad things about God are called
"Apostates". Turcanu accepted everything that he accepted to do, knowing what he does.
But my mistake, which I shall admit At The Judgment Day, is that I publicly said I don't pray anymore. And from that moment on, I did not pray, severing my connection with The Creator. My Guardian Angel did not leave me, even though I was possessed by the satanic spirit, which manifested itself by making me very afraid, a kind of metaphysical fear, un-imaginable terror. If someone mentioned the devil to me then, I would get terrified. The same if they mentioned epileptics. I wasn't really afraid of Turcanu, but I was afraid not to go insane because of the tortures. After two years I started praying again, but it was in vain it seemed : I did not feel anything. They were all like empty words - a mechanical prayer. And this tormented me the most. For a whole year I was tormented by what I stated then about not praying anymore, and that I do not believe in God. And all this lasted until I met Jimboiu, this man lived in a state of sainthood - an angel with the face of a man, and this made it impossible for me to even look him in the eyes.
My life was impossible about until the Easter of 1954, when God's Mercy intervened. That night, my patience was at its limits, and in my despair, I felt like I was tortured in my own private Hell. I said : God, I cannot do it anymore. Do with me as you please! And in the moment when I heard the church bells ringing, I fell on my knees, and I started weeping, asking God for forgiveness. And from that moment on, I became a different person, another man entirely. God did this wonderful thing with me. I physically felt how this satanic force left me. I cried for an hour without interruption. I was physically exhausted, but happy too! It was my happy time, my own resurrection, in faith. It was like I had defeated all Hell. The prison years still left, between 1954 and 1963 (when I was released), were piece-ofcake, even with all the hardships I endured : cold, hunger, and isolation.
Those outside, who were alive, did not interest me any longer. I personally broke off with the outside world; I did not think at the outside, because I needed to adapt to prison life, the life of incarceration. Them, the ones who tortured us, did not even realize the evil they were doing anymore. They were so possessed, that All they were thinking of was to get out of that prison and become something in the state, to have a role in the Central Committee or State Security, as a reward from the master for the "work" they did for him. They were executing the orders of the master and they did not think to stop. For instance Deac, who was a boxer, gave you the finishing blow by crushing your liver. Him and others, like Leonida and Costachescu, they had increasingly cruel methods, as time went on, as our resistance grew stronger. A part of them killed themselves after they got out of prison. They did not have mercy or love anymore. But only hate, that of the lowest form and ego. The most impressive thing, since the beginning of my incarceration, was our bond, me and my comrades. I personally grew attached to my brothers in suffering - and not only the members of our Legion (those who were opposing communism). Many of those in the prison were like Angels. The man who impressed me the most was Constantin Oprisan. We were put in the same cell for an year. He was a man of extraordinary complexity, who knew things from a variety of domains, from music, arts, to mathematics and philosophy. He was very loving, he lived his life to the maximum. He was subjected to the greatest torture, taking a beating for each member of the Legion, and he resisted the longest, with un-equaled valor.
Another young man, whom I only had to occasion to see, was Valeriu Gafencu, nicknamed as "The Saint of The Prisons". At Targu Ocna each time he looked into the eyes of the executioners he turned them into lambs. And they were the toughest there were; not even the prison warden could look him in the eyes. His warm soul influenced you so much, that whoever knew him, was drastically changed after that.
I only met Jimboiu, a loyal student of Gafencu. He said the prayer of the heart too, lived only by this rule : love for others. He had extraordinary kindness and clarity of mind; you did not hear from him a single word of revenge or hatred. An angel in the body of a man. I once was there when they had to make a tooth extraction on Jimboiu, without anesthetic. This extraction took very long, but he did not make a sound or a move. Badea Trifan also impressed me very much, who was the chief of the city of Brasov. He had so much kindness and peace in his soul. He already had 22 years of his sentence done. In the Holy Week, he would cry so much, rivers of tears, continuously, till the Night of The Resurrection. 2000 years had passed, and he cried with the same passion that His mother, Mary and the women that followed Him, cried with.
The Prince Alexandru Ghica I knew very well, sitting beside him in the same cell. He was a true Christian also, living in the faith at very high intensity. I can also mention Gioga Parizianu (who was put inside an oven at 70 Celsius), Mircea Nicolau, Berzea, Petrascu and many others who even became priests some of them, after their prison release. Some of them I met again when I flew back to Romania. All these people are of extraordinary moral value, they will surely enter in the nation's moral patrimony, among those who suffered, counted worthy among the people in their nation. In Romania I've met many young men and women, with different occasions (interviews, literary soiree's); I can surely say that I lived extraordinarily happy moments. I could see I was not talking in vain. There were students from all of the universities - young honest men, drawn there together by true faith. I went to a gathering of "SCARA" Magazine, where some 20 young men participated. I was being invited to talk to them. I was very emotional, a state of mind which was transmitted to the participants as well I believe.
God won't forsake this nation, His People; the person who will revitalize the Archangel
Michael's Movement must appear. "A man and a nation are man, and nation, as long as they understand the Gospel"-Mehedinti used to say).5
It is clear that the re vitalization of Romania is the return to Christ. This phenomenon already has begun; the elect in this nation will return to Christ and His Church and will live the love He inspired us to have not only for our friends, but for our enemies as well. The Churches are full of young men and women wherever I go. God won't forsake this nation. For these he will have mercy. So, not the economy reforms, but the faith of the Romanian people will get the country out its decay.