*Note from Fr. Paul: I mixed up Fr. Daniil's (Sando Tudor) Life with someone else's. He did not die in the prisons, but went to begin a monastic community when he was released.

The horrors of the Judeo-Bolshevik oppression should not be forgotten. Communism is wretched.

I'm a non-Eastern Orthodox Christian but I respect their capacity for suffering under persecution. The very fact that these churches somehow survived in places like Romania, Bulgaria and Russia is a miracle.

"If the only way for you to find peace is for the world around you to live the way that you want you might as well give up now. Your way is futile; it'll never happen." Fantastic quote, one of the many said by Father Paul in just 15 minutes

Although Orthodoxy was not as persecuted in Yugoslavia as in Romania or the Soviet Union, the Yugoslavian government still unofficially repressed and blackmailed bishops, priests and monks of the Serbian Orthodox Church. One common blackmailing tactic would be to invite a priest to bless a house and put cameras and microphones in the house. Then, the priest would open the door only to see a naked woman. The priest's interaction with the woman, whether sinful or not, would be recorded, and the video tapes would be used to blackmail the priest into doing dirty work for the Yugoslav government, under threat of the release of those tapes. As hard as it is to say, may the Lord save and have mercy upon the Communists who persecuted the faithful and may God curse the efforts and plans of all Communist parties and governments in the world. Amen.

Same in Bulgaria, you were technically allowed to be Christian but anyone who was was not looked at with a good eye. If you were too pious, they would stop you from practicing or arrest you.

Thank you Father Paul for shedding light over the horrors of Communism, it is good for people to know, God bless! 🙏Our Romanian Saints helped us then to know what is important and what and how to fight for, and help us now, when there is such a cacophony of voices and vices, hidden under all sort of ideologies

The phenomenon of returning to communism is due to the problems related to the loss of security that Romanians from approximately the same socio-professional categories had under communism, but who had the guarantee of a job guaranteed by the state and could afford to buy a house, which today it becomes more and more difficult. But if all these people lived in communism today, I guarantee that most of them would want democracy. And during this period, many Saints were formed, because in such situations, not only do people become more united, but also pain and suffering brings people closer to God. The more freedom we have, the harder it is to remain an authentic Christian.

Great books to read on this topic are: Elder Justin Parvu, Russias Catacomb Saints, Saints of the Prisons. The true stories I read about were valiant examples of True Orthodoxy of the heart. Not for the faint hearted. The communists could not rip out their hearts or their nous!

Father Arsenie Boca was the most influential but least talked, or rather negatively talked today because of his paintings !

Very profound video, thank you

Thank you.

Wow thank you

Valeriu Gafencu another one

"And therefore anti-nationalist" - this has always been the issue. Communists come to power only when the nationalists are on board with it, and as soon as that support dries up, the system just comes crashing down immediately, without even any civil war.

I enjoy your videos, and would like to know where you stand on Putin's use of the Russian Orthodox Church (and the church's complicity in this) in his own brand of Christian Nationalist ideology. Thank you.

Can you talk about the corruption in the churches with the governments?

Thankful for all who encourage us to exalt Christ rather than socialism or other failing world exalting models. Love the discovery of Grace filled aromas in bones of those who were faithful and grew in peace with Jesus Prayer in midst of political tortures. May we all have Burning Bush friends.☦️🕊🛐 ps I wonder if the book you mentioned is Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (And How to Crush Them) by Jack Posobiec, et al? Pray for Jack. rc married to Orthodox Christian

nice video

One thing I don't get is how these prison ordeals match up to Ceausescu's eventual promotion of Romanian Orthodoxy as the chosen state religion, even to the point of exclusion of all non-Orthodox denominations inside Romania. Apparently, uniates of Romania practically got wiped out under Ceausescu. By sheer contrast, the Serbian Orthodox Church was always persecuted under Tito in Yugoslavia. It was only several years after his death the church finally re-emerged in to strength and influence in public life, but then the whole country began the process of disintegration, as per (deliberate) Yugoslav communist party policy of state administrative decentralisation. In Romania, the state was wholly unitary, which certainly benefited the Romanian Orthodox Church in the long run and especially after the fall of communism there.

Before Father Cleopa I would mention many other good Fathers, some of them will be saints, we are sure. Father Arsenie Boca, Father Nil Dorobantu, Father Iustin Parvu, Father Ilie Lacatusu, Father Constantin Sarbu, Father Ilarion Argatu, Father Arsenie Papacioc, Father Nicolae Steinhardt ... As for Father Ilie Cleopa only God really knows what was with him ...

Where can i get the books about the stories of the Christians that went through gulags? Is there a way i can ask Fr. Paul Trubenbach?

Wow..

Greetings from Romania on the Feast of All Romanian Saints! Glory to God! Thank you for your sensitive reflection, but I feel the need to add to your reflection with some further points not addressed in this clip. Firstly, it is not really part of the Orthodox phronema to name enemies, we know who our enemy is and we know that Christ through His death and resurrection has ultimately sealed his defeat. It is a very Western thing to name Communism as an enemy of the faith, but an 'ism' can not be our enemy, it is a means of our training. All we are asked to do is love, and we can't love any 'isms' we must love God's creation and our fellow bearers of His image. People become saints to the extent to which they love all their fellow humans. Pitești was a horror unparalleled in human history because it blurred the lines between prisoners and guards and basically the prisoners were forced to beat and humiliate each other. Only two of the inmates refused to take part in this and they remained laymen and remained in Romania all their lives. They received much comfort from the Mother of God but their beatings continued up to the very end. Fr Calciu remained to his death deeply shamed by his participation in the Pitești experiment and did not want ever to be seen as a saint. Of course he was treated like a hero in the States, but he never wanted this, he implored but you did not want to listen. Let his memory be Eternal but let us never forget his humility and the memory of those 2 men who went into obscurity and never once participated in the horrors. Secondly, it is so very wearying the way Americans blame communism for everything. We were removed cold-turkey from a system which gave many of the most vulnerable in society support and care, which provided dignified incomes and meaningful work to all, which banned pornography and abortions, and which supported families. We were removed from this into a capitalist free-for all, where our industry was asset stripped to provide wealth for the West, where we were swamped with American pornography, and American evangelical churches, and we quickly became a major hub for the sexual exploitation of women and children. The birth-rate is plumetting, meaningful work is hard to find and people are leaving the country to find good work, alcoholism is rife (we drink more than our Slav neighbours!). Capitalism and its 'freedom' needs to take a good look at the evils it inflicts on the world. Thirdly, the religious persecution needs to be seen through the lens of the persecutors, and if you do this you see that it was not religion per-se which was being persecuted. Persecution was caused by association with possible membership and sympathies towards organisations working against the regime (in the case of the Orthodox this would mainly be suspected membership of the Legion). To this end, in Romania the persecution of Catholics and especially Greek Catholics was off the scale as Rome was seen as the seat of the soft power of the West. The Orthodox bishops under Communism implored the Greek Catholics to convert to Orthodoxy to save them from the worst of the persecutions, the vast majority refused. Many Catholics over the age of 60 were baptised into Orthodoxy because a Catholic one was near impossible to obtain under Communism. Finally, the post-war regime was a proving ground for the faith and produced many saints because they kept the faith. Now, visit a parish in the villages and you will hear priests saying the people don't need to keep the fasts anymore because they are poor. How will we produce another Elder Cleopa? Look at the amount of training and ecumenical work that happens with Protestants and Catholics. Look at wealth of many of the priests and their top of the range cars. Look how easy it is to find corruption scandals involving clergy. Our clergy are still infiltrated, this time by US 3 letter agency operatives who are out to cause havoc in Moldova for US interests, and out to try to soften up Romanian Orthodoxy to the rainbow agenda and drive a wedge between us and our Orthodox brothers in Russia. Glory to God for all things! We live in the most difficult of times, may God help us be saints!

It's impossible to talk about this and not being up the legit arguments the True and Genuine Orthodox are making.

One of my dad’s objections to Orthodoxy is that “the Orthodox Church allowed communism to happen.” He also accuses the Orthodox Church of violent Antisemitism. How do I answer these objections?

You say the Legionaries became political, that is incorrect. They were always anti Jewish, anti communist and nationalistic, with sympathies to the Third Reich and Mussolini You say they were renounced by the Holy elders, priests and monks when they became violent and political. Which ones? Valeriu Gafencu, Elder Arsenie Papacioc and Father George Calciu were part of the Legionary Rebellion, and never denounced the Legion. What are you talking about Father? I don't want to be rude but it seems like you're dodging the more straightforward conclusions to draw from the spiritual history of 20th Century Romania. May the Holy Prison Saints pray for us!

There are 210 mass graves throughout Serbia from WWII period , under Tito. Tito never forbade catholicism because he himself eas a jesuit . He encouraged islam . But around two hundred thousand Serbs were being killed after WWII , off course hundreds of orthodox priests. Orthodoxy was strictly forbidden , extremely punishable 😢

Just for some Context. The Legionaries going violent was an understatement. They committed many Violent Pogroms. So yes they had good reason to Denounce it.

This video is less helpful than people think it is.

Ленин жил, Ленин жив, Ленин будет жить! Пролетарии всех стран соединяйтесь!:)