Prayers for help and gratitude were whispered around the grave of Father Justin Pârvu, at Petru Vodă Monastery in Poiana Teiului commune, Neamț County.
On February 10, Christians from all around Romania, and not only, celebrated the birth of Father Justin Pârvu, in 1919, first year of Great Romania, awaiting to celebrate his sanctification, which will be one day, on 16th of June
He helped thousands of pilgrims and believers through his dedicated work, soft spoken words and prayers, and many of the people whom he helped in the past can still feel his support, as a form of divine assistance. Father Justin Pârvu is still watching over all the Romanians whom he dearly loved, from the Heavens above.
"That’s how I pushed through my life, holding the Gospel as a guiding light in front of me and keeping the nation close behind” – these words are written on the gravestone of Father Justin at Petru Vodă Monastery.
"The Church provides Christians with a great example: Archimandrite Justin Pârvu – beloved confessor, priest and spiritual guide. From a spiritual point of view, Archimandrite Justin Pârvu planted the roots of faith deep in the soul of the Romanians, the love and faith towards God, and also the love and honour of the nation. All this highlights the distinguished natures of the great archimandrite as the true Spiritual Leader of the Romanian nation”, says Father Hariton Negrea, abbot of Petru Vodă Monastery
Father Justin was born on February 10, 1919, in Poiana Largului Village (now known as Petru Vodă Village), Călugăreni commune (now known as Poiana Teiului Commune), Neamț County, in the family of very pious Orthodox Romanians, and was given the name "Josef” at baptism.
In 1936, when he was only 17 years old, he entered into service at Durău Monastery. After two years, in 1939, he was admitted at the Theological Seminary at Cernica Monastery, near Bucharest. In 1940, he was ordained into monasticism (according to the specific rite of initiation), and only a year later, he was ordained a priest, at the age of 22.
He participated as a military priest in World War II, then he was imprisoned for political reasons, between 1948-1964. He spent about 17 years in prison, in several detention camps in Suceava, Aiud, Gherla, Baia Sprie and Cavnic mines, then forced labor in Periprava and Culmea camps, in the Danube Delta.
At the end of his almost 17 years of imprisonment, Father Justin said that he lived "the most important experience one can have in a lifetime: to know thyself through suffering”.
After the Romanian revolution of December 1989, Father Justin Pârvu retured to Secu Monastery, where he served as a priest and clergyman for almost a year. After another two years, together with two monks, Ignat and Calinic, Father Justin arrived at Petru Vodă, where he laid the foundations for the construction of a monastery, dedicated to the Romanian martyrs from communist prisons and with the Dedication Day "Saints Archangels Michael and Gabriel” (November 8th).
He died on June 16, 2013, at the age of 94.
Petru Vodă monastery from Neamț County
Although in the 90s Father Archimandrite Justin Pârvu was over 70 years old, he built two monastic settlements, an elderly hospice, a children’s home, and offered a lot of support in building churches and philanthropic institutions in the region.
During his detention in the prison from Baia Sprie, the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel appeared to him to reveal the place of the future construction of monastic settlements in his native village.
Petru Vodă Monastery in Poiana Teiului, having its Dedication Day on the 8th of November, when "Saints Archangels Michael and Gabriel” are celebrated, was founded in 1991 in Poiana Hașca in the Stânișoara Mountains, in memory of all those who suffered terribly in detention, during the communist regime.
Built of wooden beams, on a concrete foundation, the church was finished in 1992. It was painted between 1994-2000 using the tempera technique, by painter Mihai Gabor, following the Byzantine style, both inside and out. The iconostasis – made by Pantelimon Peiu from Târgu Neamț-, is made of oak wood. An octagonal spire extends the nave upwards. The entrance to the porch is done through the Southern part of the building, through a solid oak door. Access to the monastery is via a forest road, a side road in Petru Vodă Village, that comes off the county road from Poiana Largului towards Târgu Neamț.
Father Justin’ life was based on an intense liturgical activity. He kept severe fasting for long periods of time and received the visits of hundreds of pilgrims daily, which led to the reducing of his sleeping schedule to only 45 minutes a day, sometimes. His advice always went straight to the core of the human heart, and his prayers were never left without an answer: miracles abounded in the lives of those who came to ask for help and redemptions. Father Hariton Negrea, abbot of Petru Vodă Monastery, recalls the miracle of filling the empty boxes with flour for the preparation of bread, the multiplication of food for hungry people, the exorcism of evil spirits from tormented souls, and the miraculous curing of many illnesses. Father Justin’ miracles are still touching hearts and souls nowadays. So many Christians and pilgrims are still sending letters of testimony to the monastery, for the many miracles that Father Justin interceded in their lives.
"The period of detention that Father Justin has gone through was favorable for self-knowledge, self-reflection, and spiritual search, through experiencing deep suffering. The time spent in prison helped him a lot throughout his spiritual life, adding to the knowledge of his own weaknesses, in total surrendering to God’s Will. He was thus strengthened by his faith and unwavering hope. His imprisonment was the way through which Father Justin learned the true prayer based on sacrifice, suffering and self-giving,” said Father Hariton Negrea, abbot of Petru Vodă Monastery, in an interview about Father Justin. You can watch the entire interview by clicking the link below: https://manastirea.petru-voda.ro/2019/02/10/interviu-cu-parintele-hariton-negrea-la-centenarul-nasterii-parintelui-justin-parvu/
A feeling of deep tranquility and spiritual peace engulfs pilgrims who arrive at Petru Vodă Monastery in Neamț. People leave this place feeling better, more at peace with themselves and the world. (VisitNeamt)
Motto: "If we would be willing to descend into our selves to correct a bit this avalanche of wrongdoings, then our prayer will be heard, the world would be more at peace and our life would suit more the Lord’ liking.
We have become increasingly hostile towards each other by our own selfishness, we see no one but our selves… and when we reach this state of no longer caring for those near us, we encounter the greatest fall”.
Man’ freedom is at the measure of his genuine love
Freedom becomes precious only when it is lost. Or at least, this is how we think. All his life man seeks to be free, but does not appreciate the gift of his freedom until it is too late. Freedom is in our body but also in our heart. Freedom is in action but also in the mind and the intellect. Man is free by how genuinely he loves and is attached to the values of the faith.
We are free when we accept God’s plan for our life, and when we strive to achieve it. Being free does not mean lethargy and bliss, but the fulfillment of your human condition.
Freedom does not mean to do what I always wish, as many times by doing what I like I do the will of the devil. Freedom is at the measure of man discernment, and his capacity to choose between good and evil. Man must realize that only in Truth he can live freely and with so much confusion in this world, he should avoid deception. It was what Communists did not understand, that only on the Cross the human soul gains true freedom, that all their methods of torture and psychological pressure to re-educate us, have made more saints than slaves, have sanctified our land by the martyrs blood.
Freedom is hard to understand when one has not lived in those times [of persecution], and our Christians today barely reflect of this past.
The thirst for God and the love for all people
The thirst for God directs us towards the love of our neighbor and vice versa. So great is the power of love that one who reaches a genuine love for all people denying oneself, receives the gift of healing.
This is the true "follower” of Christ! Such man loves with the love of Christ all those fallen, thus partakes in Christ’ mission on earth and save himself.
Man is half love, half struggle
(Excerpt from an interview given by the Elder Justin in 2007)
Q: – Father Justin, from your experience of "burying yourself in man suffering”, what do you think, does man need: to be understood or to be loved?
Elder Justin: – Man needs to be loved. But to love him, you must first understand him. If you see him fallen down, then you must give him your hand. The love of neighbor is one’ measure of the love for God. If you cannot love the one near you, if you do not help him, you cannot say you love God.
The love of neighbor is the first step towards salvation, on this step one must labor until he reaches the greatest love for God.
Q: – During the communist regime, we have been [spiritually] poised by the slogan "new man”. Do you think we ended up with this "new man”?
Elder Justin: – You mean, in a materialistic sense? Maybe how the communists had imagine a man freed from the "bondage” of faith and of the Holy Spirit…! But a new man purified and renewed… not so.
But I want to speak more of the new man reborn in Christ, a man that’s quite rare in our present times. The renewal of man and of the world can happen only through the Resurrection of Christ, in its profound meaning. This is the new man, whom every mother preparing to bring babies into the world, must dream of modeling.
Q: – Einstein once said that "the progress made by man, compared with the development of his character, is enough to terrify …”
Elder Justin: – Yes… for a soul that’s at peace with itself can fit the whole world within; while in the soul that’s bitter, soured and distressed, nothing can enter…
Q: – How do you think man should be?
Elder Justin: – Man is – or should be! – Half love and half sacrifice, struggling to keep love undefiled.
Q: – A great thinker of the last century, Carl Gustav Jung said: "For a young man is almost a sin or at least a risk to be too much preoccupied with himself, while for the elder man, it is a duty and a necessity to commit to a more serious self study.” How do you see this?
Elder Justin: – At the end of this search man must find God. God made man in His own image, and God dwells in everyone. Young or old, man must clean up the inside of his being, for no one knows when the end comes…
Q: – Someone said that "in an empty mind, the devil finds shelter”…
Elder Justin: – He is speaking of the man who has the basket always full, for he cares for the wheat needed to be milled. And this wheat is our constant cry to God: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, save us.” If the enemy finds our mind wandering in useless things, he will enter and find shelter directing it at his pleasure (…)
Q: – Is there a question that man is rendered to never find the answer in this life?
Elder Justin: – It depends on what someone wants to know. Man has all the answers within himself. About his birth, his life and the meaning of his salvation. But if he wants to find answers to meaningless questions, then he will be constantly miserable. If he seeks answers to questions related to his faith, his purpose in life, he will find happiness.
Q: - Is doubting a sin for the Christian?
Elder Justin: – Yes, but there are "permitted” doubts. A doubt that you’re still alive after a fervent prayer, when your whole being had burned in prayer… This kind of doubt is allowed.
Q: – Father, what is humility?
Elder Justin: – Humility is a fair self-assessment of our human dimensions in relation to the [universe] infinite. Humility accompanied by patience move mounts, that’s how powerful can become for any Christian…
Q: – What is Golgotha [Calvary] for today’ Christian?
Elder Justin: – Man’ unbelief makes every day into a Golgotha.
Q: – Man today is more skeptical than fifty years ago? What can you say to encourage him to go forward, to cope with the trials of life?
Elder Justin: – Our modern man puts too much heart into trifles and details, is assaulted by a lot of false things and does not know how to choose. If you choose wisely, things will become easy and the life beautiful. If you choose wrongly, you are struggling. If you doubt that you have chosen well, your heart is also troubled. Our contemporary man has become too materialistic, a subject to the new tyrant: money. Everywhere we look, we hear that money is everything, the master of this world. He, who makes money his master, makes himself a servant to the devil.
Today, many dramas arouse not from differences in ideas, but from the battle with money, with all that is material. Man bought by it losses his faith and his values and becomes a mare currency.
Q: – How do you define the word happiness? … What advice would you give to Christians who come to you and say they are unhappy?
Elder Justin – Happiness is when you meet with the love of Christ humbly in prayer.
People understand happiness differently. Some who want much may not get it, and feel unhappy. While others may desire less, receive it and are content….
Q: – So happiness is at the measure of man…
Elder Justin: – Happiness is the faith that dwells in us. We have seen people that have many riches, great social positions and they’re still unhappy, because they lock faith!
Q” – There is a story in the Egyptian Paterikon: it happened that a wise elder once sat at the table with several brothers; as they were eating, the elder saw in the spirit how some ate honey, others bread, and some others dung. And the elder marveled and prayed to God, saying, "Lord, reveal to me this secret, how is that the same food is on the table before all, but they seem to eat different food.” And a voice came, saying, "They who eat honey are those who with fear, trembling and spiritual joy sit at the table and pray unceasingly so their prayers go up to God as incense. Those that eat bread give thanks to God for the food, and they who eat dung, are those who complain: "this is good, this is rotten”….
Elder Justin: – Yes, gratitude for what one has received is after all, a measure of man’ faith.
We need to pray with our hearts
• We must honored with much gratitude the sacrificial love of our martyrs.
• It is very important to know how to pray. And often, we monks in monasteries do not pray, but we just seem to be praying. It’s not enough to go to church and to sit there like you did your duty or obligation. We must insist on inner prayer. In vain we say many prayers with our mouth or our mind, if we do not sail deeply, if we do not live what we pray.
• In our times, even the laity need to deepen the Jesus prayer, as it will become our only salvation – prayer into the heart; the heart is the root of all passions and there we must labor. In the past we were able to go by in a more easy – superficial way, but for the times awaiting us, this will not be enough. If we will not have the prayer rotted in our hearts, we will not resist the psychological persecution awaiting us, because soon they will come with [hidden] methods to re-educate our minds. (the elder had the gift of prophesy/ clairvoyance, tr. note).
• Today I find that indifference [acedia] is the hardest sin. Our hearts no longer move in prayer, we have no tears of repentance. There will come a time when only those who feel the grace of the Spirit will be able to distinguish good from evil, for on its own, the human mind cannot discern. There will be times of great confusion and only the Holy Spirit can save us.
So, pray my beloved, pray so you may not enter into [temptation] deception! For only through prayer we can receive God’s grace. If we do not pray and continue in laziness and carelessness, then it is possible to lose the instinct of repentance. God forbid that we may not lose conscious!
(Translated by EC / OrthodoxWord)
Elder Justin (Pârvu) on Pascha in Prison
—You spent sixteen of your eighty-eight years in prison.
—Yes, but those were the most wonderful years, because if not for them, I wouldn’t be what I am now. Know that man doesn’t know how to arrange his life in freedom. He’s very unstable and influenced by everything around him. And if he’s forced against his will to form his character, to follow a certain position and line of behavior, then begins the suffering that sanctifies him.
Orthodox Christianity wouldn’t be Orthodox Christianity if it hadn’t gone through 200 years of persecution. If it hadn’t passed through the whole Middle Ages, and right up to our day. Because Christianity has always had to bleed, if not here, then there. Christianity is still bleeding—and continues to live from generation to generation. After all, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity. And the life I led during those years was perhaps the most fertile and beautiful, because all those sixteen years I was moving from death to life and from life to death. And I experienced my entire evolution, which is extremely beneficial for a man being formed for life.
—And you experienced the most beautiful Pascha…
—The most beautiful Pascha!
—... at the Baia Sprie Mine.
—I served Liturgy there, maybe so I wouldn’t do it later. Maybe that’s why God punished me today, and just before Pascha I fell and broke my kneecap. Maybe, I did something wrong… But it was beautiful, because the Liturgy celebrated there, under the watchful eye of the militiaman standing outside the door isn’t an easy thing. If he caught you praying like that, he’d give you hell!
Fr. Calciu spoke about how he served the Liturgy in his cell. There was no bread, only some wine and utensils, and the most terrible policeman on guard in the ward! You couldn’t even talk to him. On holidays, such people were intentionally put on guard on holidays to do prison training. And then Fr. Calciu knocks on the door. And this man comes up and opens it:
"What do you want, bandit?”
"Sir, I don’t have a piece of bread.”
"Bread?! What, is it time to eat?”
He slams the door and leaves. But less than ten minutes later, he returns with a piece of bread.
"Come on, take the bread! Just don’t tell anyone!”
"How could I tell anyone, sir? But you’re now the initiator of our Liturgy here.”
And he celebrated his Divine Liturgy there—an unprecedented thing. With all the gathered altar servers, with all the priests, the Liturgy was celebrated on the body of a sick prisoner who held on after Communion for another six hours and then departed to the Lord. They were lively Liturgies, on the bodies of martyrs. As you well know, when a church is consecrated, they put the relics of martyrs under the holy altar.
Not even to mention how beautiful the "chiming of the bells” was in Baia Sprie, that is, the various drill bits that we used to drill stone blocks that we hung on a wire and would hit when about 250 people gathered together and sang, "Christ is Risen!” And when we would leave there with these chants, then everyone up above would know that the prisoners were working in the mine. About five unarmed prison guards came in—they didn’t usually approach the prisoners with weapons—and outside, my dears, the battalions of police and security were waiting for us. And with these shouts and Paschal hymns, we came out of the mine, from a depth of 1,300 feet, and our voices resounded all throughout Baia Sprie and Baia Mare. We went straight from the mine to the camp, to the barracks, our shelter. We didn’t even take a bath—we went straight to the bedrooms, and we stayed there for two days. And after two days, they gathered everyone in the yard:
"Do you know, bandits, why we held you like this, without food? Because you still have this nonsense in your head. Now go, wash up, eat, and get to the mine!”
On Holy Friday they gave us cabbage soup—worse than you can imagine! Salty and sour, so we went to the mine having eaten 3.5 ounces of bread, and worked hungry for a whole day. And on the day of Pascha itself they had a rich, plentiful table—a whole mountain of meat, and they all stayed there at the table, while we went fasting and praying to fulfill our duty and get them the required amount of lead and galena.
We see that our Christians at all times have been baptized, married, confessed, and communed, and have always sought reconciliation with God. Such is the peculiarity of our Romanian people. Our Romanian nation found refuge precisely in the Church, because the Church is both a school and a tribunal; a place of worship and all their hope and joy and pain.
—Where do you find the strength for everyone?
—My dear, the strength for everyone comes from the need of each one individually. And then I don’t tell him too many things or read too much to him. I don’t work miracles, and like every man, in the end I’ve arrived at old age. If I go, for example, to the Holy Mountain, or to Jerusalem, or to a monastery, to Rarău, for example, I leave there changed—they have a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God there. Or I go to see an elder, like Elder Benjamin, the father abbot, with whom I still speak . He tells me something and I tell him something else. I need this spiritual recovery two tothree times a year.
I also go into seclusion, or to Nechit Monastery, and I find Fr. Zosima the younger there, Fr. Nectarie, or I find someone else, and so I fill up my resistance file that way.
—Is there anything you can learn from the young?
—Sometimes you can learn much more from the young than the elderly, because old age does not always bring c wisdom. There are things that I ask the young people here in these years of mine: "What do you think about such and such a thing?” "I figured I had to do this and that.” "Is that good? Tell me, my dear.” "Yes, it’s good, but look, it seems to me it’s also like this, as I think.” And I really take it for granted, that it’s the grace of God that works, not man.
It's all about the spiritual life. An elder in a monastery or a priest among the faithful is a chosen person, he is honored by the people; and know, that the grace of God is present there. The abbot may make a mistake, your spiritual father may make a mistake, but if you render obedience, then his mistake is nothing. You must act in obedience to him, because he doesn’t bear responsibility here, but the Spirit of God, as far as it is given to him at a certain moment for a Christian coming to him. Therefore, there is an absolute need for obedience in the life of a monastery and the life of Christians.
Even if someone says, "Ah, but I don’t go to see that priest. I heard that he’s such-and-such. And I myself saw how at some party, a Baptismal party, he made some kind of strange gesture.” No! That’s not the point. We need to know that this is a man chosen by God, and we must listen to him. His mistake is my elevation. The Holy Fathers say: "Rather than rising on my own opinions, it’s better to go lower with the opinions of an advisor.”
So this is my word about the equilibrium of Christians with a spiritual father. And of course, people go to see them. "Oh”, they say, "there’s an elder at Petru Vodă Monastery!” They print an article in the paper and people say,"Oh, wait, we’re going there!” And what’sthere? I’m sitting here like a fool healing my bones, and my sins too. What can I say? A man is satisfied like that, because an Orthodox Christian par excellence is obedient!
He has a principle, it’s inborn in him; from childhood he was brought up in such a way that as soon as you start talking to him, he says: "I’m sick, I’m broke, I have no income, I’m married, I have two kids, my wife left me.” "And do you have a spiritual father? An advisor? Do you still confess? Do you still take Communion? Do you still go to church?” "Yes, from time to time, Father.”
But this is precisely the key to resolving a man’s difficulties in life.
A Voivode of Orthodoxy
Saturday, 1st of June 2013 23:29 (15 days before his resting in peace)
Today was St. Justin’s Day [the Philosopher and Martyr]. And along with the martyr philosopher of the first centuries, we celebrate St. Justin Popovich, the Serbian Elder who fell asleep in the Lord in 1979. And… last but not least, is the day of our father abbot[‘s name day].
About Father Justin one cannot really speak with words.
A few days ago when he left for the monks monastery, I was able to take a glimpse of him for a few moments. We were very near each other. I closed my eyes as that was how much he was shining. It was like his body became compact light. I thought of Tabor. I was heartbroken [with] regret that I might have ever upset him with something. However, I felt I was flying…
When I first met him I knew that the Spirit of God was
dwelling in this man, to a greater extent than in any other Romanian in a
radius of several centuries. Naturally, I followed [him]. The world
with all its riches and glory cannot be compared to the joy of the
Gospel written in a human heart.
Last week, for the 30 seconds during which I had the honor and
happiness to be allowed to see him on the bed of suffering, I had proof
that vertical eternity is really CLOSE to the human heart. I saw a
prince of Truth crucified on the nation’s cross and embraced tightly by
the risen Christ. Beyond amazement, while doing the due prostration, I
lived to a total intensity that for that particular moment, I was worth
being born – to see the union between God Himself and a great martyr, to
understand the beyond nature fullness of love, to look at the
indescribable greatness of martyrdom is definitely the biggest honor
I’ve ever lived. It’s good that we are eternal, so that we have the time
to thank God!
Whilst kissing father Justin’s hand it was as if I had reached the source of music, the prototype of harmony for which the universe was created towards MAN, I was only able to say in [my] mind: I love you father, with my whole being…!
Among Christians there is no separation: the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ unite us all in the Father, without time and space in the greatest happiness. Glory to Thee, Who alone does wonders!
May you live in us, Blessed Father, as God lives in you!
A spiritual daughter of Father Justin Pârvu
(Source)
Sau direct în conturile Media Root de la Banca Transilvania:
Autentifică-te sau înregistrează-te pentru a trimite comentarii.