Father Arsenie Boca Speedily Helpful 1t3e

Father Arsenie Boca speedily helpful. Testimonials. Wonders.

Author: Vlad Herman Ed. Ortodoxia, 2014

Foreword Father Arsenie Boca said: “People chase miracle makers – whether they are wizards. But I tell you that the biggest wonder is the renewal of your own life on it’s foundation, Jesus Christ; it’s Christianization your will: that’s the biggest wonder”. Look what Father Arsenie Boca placed emphasis on, on changing life, a thing possible only through the Sacraments, through Confession and Communion and not through various empirically and oriental practices. The gifts with which Father Arsenie Boca was worthied by God, among those of healing the body’s and soul’s suffering, and also clairvoyant, he used to show the power of the Heavenly Father. Father Arsenie Boca offered people hope in the times before 1989, but also afterwards, through the work that has not ceased even today. The testimonials from the pages of this book, book which I consider also a miracle of God through one of his many chosen branches - Father Arsenie Boca – confirms this work of rehabilitation of the fallen man because of his sins. Surely that the Romanian people would have been much more poor, I would say shallow, if God would not have given us Father Arsenie Boca, whose presence is still alive today and will intensify as the times we live will grow harder. Let us not forget you follow the advices of the one I consider The Saint from Prislop, advices which, followed properly, will lead us closer to God, thanking this way Father Arsenie Boca, who surely will have stronger arguments in front of Christ, when he will go to present Him our prayers. Also, lets honor Father Arsenie Boca like a saint and not like an idol, as I have noticed it happens, unfortunately, sometimes. To all these one more certainty is added: the time of canonization of Father Arsenie Boca is close! Vlad Herman, Baia Mare, 22 june 2014

1

Bishop Irineu Duvlea: “The Father had such a power he could also control animal nature.” I had the joy and blessing to know Father Arsenie Boca in the first year I entered as a brother in the “Sâmbăta de Sus” Monastery, where The Father started his activity as a leader and soul guider. It was in the autumn of the year 1980, in the Christmas Fasting, then the father secretly ed by the “Sâmbăta de Sus” Monastery. He was dressed in civilian clothes with short grey beard, very clean and with that look of Christ which scanned deep into your soul. He was accompanied by Sister Zamfir, she was also dressed as a civilian, along with other two persons, because they were followed all the time by security in that sad period which lead Romania that time. This first encounter with Father Arsenie Boca marked my life forever and strengthened me to follow the road of monks and serving God with all my heart and soul. I was on duty at the monastery’s bakery and our good and gentle confessor, Father seraphim Popescu, God rest him with the saints, and, all of a sudden a woman who was working at the monastery’s bakery, comes to us a little frightened and says:” Come quickly, Father Arsenie Boca is here.” Fankly, at first I was afraid, because I’ve heard that the Father is clairvoyant and who knows what he will tell me, I had such a… retention. Father Serafim left towards his holiness, embraced him and they were talking in the monastery’s courtyard. Father Calinic Morar encouraged me and pulled my hand to go and get blessing from Father Arsenie and then Father Serafim introduces me: “look, I have here one of my apprentices.” The father gave me hand, he looked at me deep abd told me: “He is good that he can lift mountains, but let’s see how he can lift the mountain for he has not tasted it yet”, then he continued saying “we will talk again, you will search for me.” It was the last visit of Faher Arsenie at Sambata, since then I haven’t heard of him to by there until he ed away. Some time has ed and Father Abbot Veniamin wanted to make me monk. I was so young and wasn’t fully decided what was best for me, for my life, for my future, and many advised me to go to Father Arsenie Boca at Drăgănescu, where he was painting a church, and ask for his advice. I take the train to Bucharest and arrive in the morning aroud 7 o’clock. It wasn’t day yeat and I enter the church in Drăgănescu and I see light in the altar and somebody working – it was Father Arsenie. Fear gripped me, what to do, what to tell him. At a time he hears me and says with an authoritative voice:”What do you want? What are you doing here?”. “Father I came to ask you for an advice”, I say, “look, Father Abbot, wants to make me monk, what should I do, is it good to make this step so early?” The Father looking towards me said:” Do it, but one thing I tell you : to do school and to guard the monastic vows, poverty, obedience and virginity; if you fulfill those you reach perfection.” Then I added: “But… You know Father, I would like to be a deacon.”Then the Father predicted me a thing that I didn’t understand, only after I have reached America: “You will be more than just a deacon and you will serve the Church and the Nation over a big water, but have mercy towards human helplessness.” These words of the Father have fulfilled only after 20 years of staying and serving at Sâmbata.He saw my future, he saw my faith, an enlightened man by God as I have never met in this world and I don’t think I will ever

2

meet. All these things have happened here, in America, where I serve the Church and the our Romanian Nation scattered on this continent. Of course, there were other conversations that regard me personally and which I had the chance to discuss with Father Arsenie for a few hours while we stayed alone in the church. On leaving he asked me: “what did you bring me from Sâmbăta?”. I had brought some nuts and honey which he told me to give to the parish house over the road to Mrs. Priestesses Bunescu. I left, I kept knocking on the gate, but since there was no answer, I entered the courtyard. Father Bunescu had two very bad dogs who were sleeping on the doorstep of the parish house. I have reached in front of them, stepped over them and entered the house. Mrs. Priestesses when she saw me, she almost fainted:” How come you entered and the dogs didn’t tare you apart?, she asks me, I say: “Father Arsenie has send me.” After a few talks I return to the curch again, over the dogs, and lock the gate, then they started barking and attacking me. I come to the church frightened, and the Father who knew all my hidden things, tells me:” Did the dogs scare you?” I said: “ I don’t know Father what is happening that they did not do anything to me, only when I walked out they started barking and attacking me, but it was too late for I already was out of the yard!” Then, the Father told me:” Have you seen what obedience is?, I gave you a lesson of obedience”. So the Father had such a power that he could control even animal nature. I had the joy of meeting the Father one more time at the church in Drăgănescu together with Father Timothy and Father Calinic, and the last time I think in 1984 in the house of the brother of sister Zamfira in Bucharest on the street Aviatorilor Iliescu, and after this period the Father had great health problems and had retired to Sinaia, at the metochion of he sisters from Prislop, where he gave his soul in the hands of God. In that period, in November 1989, I was at Ghighiu Monastery where I attended the funeral of Father Gherman, another chosen one by God, funeral which took place on Saturday, and as if something led me to leave to get home earlier. I left hitchhiking to Braşov and from there hithchhiking again to Fărăraşand in the end I’ve reached the monastery. There everybody was upset and I find out that father Arsenie had left us and ed away. Father Abbot Veniamin had already gone to Prislop where the second day, Monday, the funeral of Father Arsenie had to take place. Late at night we found a willing man to take us by car at Prislop Monastery where we stayed all night and watched over Father Arsenie for the last time. The next day, unworthily, on the way to the cemetery, I was given the cross of the Father to carry, which is at his grave even today, and sister Filoteia, who is still alive, said to me: “Father Irineu you will have the cross of Father Arsenie, may God strengthen you.” By the ime I left from Srâmbăta Monastery, I thought at what sister Filoteia told me, that I will through trials and crosses, like Father Arsenie did who actually told me while he was alive that: “not even deat will I reurn to Sâmbăta Monastery”. Over all these many memories have gathered, we all scattered where destiny had called us, we come back with gratitude and love towards the one which was the greatest monarchic personality of the Romanian nation and at the same time contemporary with us. We rejoiced in his holiness’s blessings and advice, and and with all that God has given His chosen one, to give light and love to the ones around. I have no doubt of the fact that the Romanian Orthodox Church will fulfill everything that is proper so that Father Arsenie will be considered (by the church) as a saint (canonization). I will stop at only one thing Father Arsenie has told many times to the people whi looked for him, which he told me as well: “All my life I have tried to change human being and I could not.”. Father Arsenie said a word as great as he world – even greater – that is:” The love of God towards he greatest sinner is greater than the greatest love of the greatest saint for God.” A saint can’t love God, as saint as he can be, as much as God loves the greatest sinner; and waits 3

for him; and wants to receve him; and runs in front of him, as we read the parable of the porodigal son where it is said that he father when he saw his son coming back he could not stand still, he ran in front of him to greet him, to hug him, to kiss him, to help him, and to place him back in the state he was before he left. Because from his heart, his son has never left. He stayed in his father’s heart like we stay in the heart of god, in the heart of our Savior Jesus Christ, in the heart of Mother Mary, no matter how far we’d be , no matter how many bad things we do. As long as we live this life, God does not abandon us. We can abandon God, but God never abandons us. With this statement, Father Arsenie gives us faith n the goodness of God, in the love ofgod towards us, the sinners, because it is stated also in prayers of our holy church, that the mercy of God is like big, like infinite as His infinite worship and greatness are, as it is said: ”Because such is Your glory, as Your mercy is.” Like Father Arsenie said in the above formulation, it reminds us of what the Psalmist said through the words: “How far the sky is from the earth, this great His love is (God’s love) towards those who fear Him How far the East is from the West, this far He cast away our sins from us. Like a father mercies his children, this is how God mercies those who fear Him.” (Psalm 102, 10 – 13) I have all the faith that Father Arsenie is watching from above among all who with faith and with fear of God call him in prayer, and intercedes for our salvation endlessly. May God rest him with the saints and with the righteous, to his eternal ance and blessed memory, and us, his spiritual sons, will carry him in our hearts forever. Holy Father Arsenie, pray to God for us! + IRINEU, Vicary of the Orthodox Romanian Ward from America and Canada

I have quit smoking with the help of Father Arsenie Boca I had two years and a half since I was confessing and I was trying to live a life pleasant to God but I could not give up smoking. This ion is suble because it really makes you belive it is not that bad (serious), so that you can’t understand why you can’t have the holy communion. I knew somebody from Italy, sick of cancer, who just phoned to tell me that, if I can, when she comes in the country, we could organize a pilgrimage to the grave of Father Arsenie Boca, which included a stop at the Saints of the Jail from Aiud. This would be a first sign that the Father was calling me. The second sign was, that, in the same day in which I received the call I mentioned above, I went to the post office to leave some commemorations, and the girl who works there (an old aquaitance, who was pregnant)told me I must go to Father Arsenie Boca because, she says, “ I am pregnant because I prayed at the grave of Father Arsenie Boca, otherwise no doctor would 4

give me any chance.” So it was the second person who recommended me to go, but without me saying I needed something. Then, my sister from Italy, in the same day, sent me a short video with images and teachings of Father Arsenie Boca. When I got to work and read the message from my sister, knowing that many times it happens the Father calls us to him, I understood I must go to him. I left immediately with this aquaitance from Italy (who first phoned me) when she got to Romania. Reaching the grave of Father Arsenie I wanted to ask him to help me quit smoking. My desire was burning, because of this ion I could not get closer to the sacraments. I was suffering, crying, but it was very hard for me to quit smoking. Towards the grave people in wheelchairs were going, old men, people who probably did chemotheraphy, because had no hair left on their head, but me… me? Very healthy I was poisoning my body with cigarettes and no matter how much I prayed, fasted, didn’t sleep meditating it was useless (at least that’s how I felt in my heart). I was getting closer to the grave and I was talking to the Father: “Father, you know, you feel I want to quit smoking, but I can’t, do a miracle.” But, in parallel with my words, were my thoughts which told me that I like to smike, so I was afraid to insist asking for help. In front of the cross of Father Arsenie I just said: “Thank God because He loves me how I am.” This was in June. On the 28th of November I was in another pilgrimage organized at his grave and then I did not smoke the entire tryp even if when we got there, up on a hill, I couldn’t wait to smoke a cigarette. We all left towards the grave of the Father, it was 3 o’clock in the morning, but we weren’t cold. We sat in line, the line didn’t seam long, and somebody was talking there, at the grave. At every step I said a prayer, this is how I got to the grave, then I calmed down. Morning came and the service started, I got to stand right in front of them, where are those metal lines/fences, in front of the scene. There were many policemen and guardians. Well, a boy of about 20 years old, dressed modestly, sport-like, with a jacket and some red gloves ( I tell these details because they stood out to me), which he then laid down to sit on his knees on them. He managed to sneek in without being noticed by any guardian, right on the left side of the scene, on the side that leads to the grave. This modest boy caught my attention because he was praying in a certain way, he was living the Holy Liturgy in a special way. He was crying, smiling, closing his eyes, laughing with all his teeth, he seemed mad, but not humanly mad, but mad for Christ. He was always looking towards that bell, and when the prayer for the blood and body od Jesus started he was crying in such a way that his face and body changed. Noticing this, I turned to my aquaitance with which I was: “Look, dear, at this boy, is he mad?” But she replied: “ Girl, he looks like Father Arsenie. Look at the eyes, at the face form.” Incredible, but it was him, taking the face of a young man. God forgive me if we were deceived, but I don’t see why. I wanted to take a picture but I couldn’t. When the Holy Liturgy has finished, he wasn’t there anymore. After I left the grave of Father Arsenie I went to confess, and the priest which who I spoke asked me: “Since when do you confess to me?” I told him that for two years and a half. He said then: “ And I couldn’t help you quit smoking?”. I said that “unfortunately no, father”. In this time he was preparing for confession, so we were just talking, he was not listening to my confession yet. Then the father got out his epitrachelion and told me: “ Sister Florentina, forgive me, because if I am not a good doctor I untie you to go to anyother priest, I am not good, forgive me!” I was speechless, my sky has closed, everything, I felt abandoned, dirty. I said: “Forgive me, father but…”. But he continued: “No, sister, you forgive me, what is the point to suffer? You 5

must find a proper doctor for your suffering, your disease, it is nothing personal, but we can’t go on like this.” In that moment I said : “Father, please let this be the last time you hear my confession, and if I keep smoking, don’t receive me anymore.” Never did I think I could give up smokig, but I did not smoke again in my lie. I don’t feel taste, I didn’t caugh, I didn’t gain weight, I had no repercussion, nerves or any kind of reaction that gives you quitting smoking all of a sudden. This is a miracle of Father Arsenie Boca! Florentina Grădinariu

Father Arsenie Boca was in front of me and told me: “You will have a baby!”

Ever since we got married we decided we wanted to have a baby, but which unfortunately, didn’t come as we expected. We started medical check-ups, analysis, other failed attempts, so that in the end I reached to a surgery, and further to artificial inseminations, all resulting null. I started paying a lot to God, reading books of prayers, confessing for the forgiveness of sins, the desire of having a baby being so big that I was capable of doing whatever it takes to have him. One day we decided to go to Prislop Monastery. It was not the first time we went there, it was just the first time we had a big problem and torture in our souls, which practically pushed us towards Father Arsenie. It was in one of the working days of the week, so there weren’t many people. We got to the grave, kissed the cross of Father Arsenie and I started praying, then we decided to go to the cave where we heard the Father used to pray in peace! We got there, and met a monk who was praying. I said: “Lord have mercy”, and he told us to read from a prayer book. I must mention that there was another family in the cave as well, some aquaintances. They all turned down the monk’s request to read, only I accepted. I started reading and reading, as if the time had stopped, I felt that only me and that monk were left. He, while I was reading, light some candles and, at a certain moment, asks what my name is? I said Andreea and he told me not to stop reading. Everything became very weird. At a certain point it was only me, the book and the monk, and time as if stopped, I felt like floating. Then he said “enough” and I could leave him the book. I thank him and I wanted to leave, but the monk grabbed my hand and told me: “ You will have a baby!” Overwhelmed, I looked at his face an I saw two blue eyes and a serene face. It was him, Father Arsenie Boca! But everything was so rapidly, I saw him, in front of me and he told me I was going to have a baby! I was happy and trusting, because I knew all I have seen and felt. Then, of course I turned my eyes towards the monk, but there was only that monk who welcomed us into the cave. Not long time has ed, I think five-six months, I got pregnant with a baby-boy, the light of our eyes and the baby predicted by Father Arsenie Boca, which I thank from the bottom of my heart for the joy given! Andreea Pantea 6

Father Arsenie Boca, my confessor from the sky My name is Elena R., I am 38 years old and my life reached the bottom of the cliff. My sins were overwhelming my back and plugged my soul. Living in far away from an orthodox Romanian church, I prayed for 14 years to God to get me closer to a parish. In 2013 I separated from my husband and I came to live in Lisbon, with my daughter, where I have brothers and sisters and where there is an orthodox Romanian church. The first time I went to this church was at the baptism of my godson. My sins were multiplying more and more and I went to confess to the father in this church. The father asked me to prepare a written list with all my sins ever since childhood. I had obeyed and wrote that list and I went to my first confession. Coming out from there, little by little, the evil has tempted me, wanted to finish me off. On the 20th of October 2003 my heart and breath have stopped for a few minutes. The person who was with me thought I had ed away, saying that “ a steam came put of my mouth”. But God had decided something else, bringing me back to life after a few minutes. When I opened my eyes I thought of my 12 year old daughter and I saw that the person who accompanied me was very frightened, and the ambulance has arrived. I understood that God gave my life back. I continued to go to the church in Lisbon, and in the Easter’s Fasting period I discovered Father Arsenie Boca through the internet. I started reading bout his life and his teachings. The more I read about him, the more God showed me my list of sins I did, as if Father Arsenie Boca eas confessing me from the sky. The eyes of my soul, darkened and closed for so long were opened by God with the help of Father Arsenie. That is why, I put Father Arsenie Boca as a mediator in front of God and the Holy Virgin Mary and I name him “my confessor from the sky”. He he still the one who strengthens me today to meet my priest in Lisbon, but especially to stay close to church. I thank our Good God that He saved me from death. I thank our father from the church in Lisbon and I thank Father Arsenie Boca for the help given. Thank God! Elena R.

The bottle with oil had filled itsself Last year (in 2013 n. ed.) , in February, Father Arsenie Boca had worthied me to come to him, to Prislop. I asked for a little oil from the lamp and I recived 2 little bottles. One I gave to a sick person and one to the father from Remeţi on Someş (a town from Maramureş county n. ed.). After about 4 months, I told the father to give me a little oil. He went to bring me ans he returned a little frightened, with his right arm on his chest amd his fist tight. He showed me the little bottle of oil which I gave him and he said : “it is full!” . I said: “I see father that it is full, how should it be?”. He then says” last time I went to the bottle it was about half-full and now it is full again!”. The oil multiplied. After that followed the healing of some people even with cancer in metastasis . I give grace to God for everything and I thank Father Arsenie Boca that I could ccome four times to him after that. The Father is saint! 7

Claudiu Bodea, Baia Mare Everytime I go to the Father’s grave wonderful things happen to me I am happy to talk about Father Arsenie Boca. I can say that he was and is my spiritual suppory and the one who showed me he way to God. I was a person like anybody else who say they have God in their soul and that that is enough. That was until I’ve read one of the books written by father Arsenie Boca, then I realized that all the bad in my life is due to the fact that I have lived far away from God. At Prislop I have arrived 4 years agoand since then I go every year. Many things have changed since that moment for me. I was a smoker and from that moment I did not smoke. Since that moment I have found a confessor, and many of the things I liked, since then I didn’t like anymore. Almost everytime I go to the Father’s grave all sort of “strange” things happen to me. Maybe you won’t belive it, but my camera recharged its batteries. We forgot to charge it at home and we realized that in the moment when we reached Târgu Jiu (town) and we wanted to take a photo to the Column of Infinity. The camera had the batteries completely discharged. We got the the Father’s grave, and, after we prayed, the friend with who I was asked if it’s not possible to take at least one photo. We tried, and, as by miracle, the camera had its batteries recharged and we took as many photos as we wanted, including when we returned, at Lainici Monastery. Another wonderful thing is that my phone, having the keyboard blocked, was set on the photo function. In the year 2003 I have took at the grave of Father Arsenie Boca several photos in which appear a cross of light and a little red light. In the moment when I focused the camera, a blinding light came to the cross. I did not see anything because of that light and I took a photo “blinded” by the light. And look what came out ( n. ed. : it is about a photo in which appears a cross of light almost perfect, situated behind the cross of the grave of Father Arsenie). For the moment I thought it was the sunlight, only the sun was in the opposite direction, it barely rose. Also at Prislop I saw a flock (bunch) of sparrows, among which one was white. My life had changed, Father Arsenie drew me to Light. Many, even from the Church, started to deny him, but I think that a man who leads you to God and gets you out of the world’s mud can only be a saint from God. I have an acquaintance in Cyprus that couldn’t get pregnant with all the treatments which she had followed and with many prayers through the churches in Greece. She had lost hope, but when a mutual friend visited her and talked about the Father and the miracles from Prislop, she came to Romania especially to pray at the grave. A month after, she found out she is pregnant and last year, in December, she delivered a baby-boy. Next month (n. ed. in june 2013) she will name him Zian. Elena Popescu

8

An old lady gets her sight back at the grave of Father Arsenie Boca I was waiting at the grave of Father Arsenie Boca in front of the other graves. I didn’t notice up to that moment anything special, just people praying and waiting. A gentleman had a chair in his hand and helped an old lady. That certain gentleman told us that the old lady was blind for seven months. She prayed to Father Arsenie Boca and she got her sight back. I myself saw her reading from the prayer book without glasses. It is a true miracle what I saw there. I was at the grave on 15 june 2014. Diana Pop With the help of Father Arsenie Boca I will have a baby My name is Isabela and I am 29 years old. I am married for 4 years and in this time I have ed two unfortunate incidents: two pregnancies stopped evolving (miscarriage), with no medical explication. You cannot imagine what was in my soul, having in view that we wanted so much a child, a child we could offer all our love and everything necessary. Sentimental and financial “battles” started with several doctors, but the result was still the same: there is no medical explication. At first I was angry even with God, I know it sounds grotesque what I am saying, but this is how I felt. I did not understand why did he allow so much suffering, what did I do wrong? One fine day, I went into our room, I was alone and I kneeled in front of The Virgin’s Icon and I started crying badly, asking forgiveness to God for being not trustful, and for the words I said. And because nothing is casual, I have seen on TV a story on Father Arsenie Boca, story which impressed me much. I longed to get to his grave but I thought that this year (2014) I could not afford it, being too far away, about 800 km, but also problems at work. My sister got me an “acatist” (special prayer to be said for 40 days) of Father Arsenie Boca and I started reading it almost daily. I started going to the Holy Unction, to fast, I confessed both me and my husband, and one day we received an invitation from some friends to come to Timişoara. I immediately thought that if Prislop Monastery was on the way…. I looks on the map and it was. It looks like Father Arsenie Boca listened to my desire to get to him. We arrived at the grave, we prayed and then we got back home. I want to tell you that at the grave we felt a love that I cannot express in words. We got home full of a positive energy and thoughts of peace and serenity. A month has ed since we went to the grave of the Father and guess what? Now I am pregnant in 3 months and everything is perfect. A small thrombophilia was discovered (problem with blood coagulation), but I am following a treatment and everything is fine. Don’t stop praying to the Virgin and to Father Arsenie Boca, because miracles exist and happen when we expect less. And yes, Father Arsenie Boca does miracles even after death!

9

Her nausea was cured and she quit smoking after 20 years What impressed me the most was the testimony of an aquaitance who told me that went to Prislop after receiving some flowers from the grave of Father Arsenie Boca, but those flowers are have not dried not even today ( and she has them for three months already!). She told me that before going to the grave she had some unexplainable states of nausea. In the morning – nausea and dizzyines – and no doctor could figure it out what was wrong with her, despite many analysis. After she prayed to Father Arsenie Boca, not only that those states disappeared but the second day, she quit smoking, having in view hat she was a smoker for 20 years! Alina Mocanu

The help of the Father in sickness and the appearance of the missing button I have met Father Arsenie through my friend Letiţia, with whom I was in pilgrimage on the Olt Valey. At a certain moment, she asked the father who accompanied us if we can’t make a detour from our journey and go to Prislop Monastery, to Father Arsenie Boca. I asked “who is that?”. Then she told me about the wonders and life of Father Arsenie Boca, she gabe me books whish I’re read through tears. In a few days we decided to go to the Farher’s grave to Prislop. Going to a holy place I decided to buy a new blouse. I tried many, but only one fit me. This blouse had a missing button in front of the heart. The saleswomen, seing that I want the blouse, cut a similar buton from another blouse. I left very happy with the blouse in my handbag and I got ready to sew it. I layed the blouse on the back of a chair, and in the meantime I went to prepare something to eat for the tryp, thinking that I will sew the button when I will rest. That moment came too. I take in one hand the scissor, in the other, the button I received and I go to get the blouse. I was stunned! Great miracle! From the blouse there was no button missing, and I was left with the button I received in my hand. I came to my senses and I started counting the butoons up and down, but no, there was none missing! I came to my senses again when I heard the doorbell ringing. It was Letoţia, the one who lead me to Father Arsenie Boca. Like me, she was amazed and she told me to make a cross and give grace to God and Jesus Christ, who through Father Arsenie showed us this miracle. This is not the only miracle I’ve lived before leaving Prislop. The day before leaving, in the kitchen there was an explosion. There was heard a strong booming sound and sparks go out. There followed other two boomings when I noticed that the cables from a wall jack are not well put together. These made sparks which sectioned the water tube. All happened in front of us, with the care of Father Arsenie, for if we did not return home from our road, we could have remained without a home, or, in the best case, with a flooded one. We stopped all the instalations and the second day we left for Prislop. The grace of the Father is felt from great distance. Tears were in our eyes, the feelings were very intense, we’ve felt him near us, only that we could not see him with our physical eyes, but only with the eyes of our souls. The presence of the Father is felt everywhere two or three people talk about him, moreover at Prislop. 10

I have made a small bookcase with the books of the Father. Many times I lend them to other people to know him, but it happens they get lost (the books). Then I pray to Father Arsenie to get my books back, and they are immediately returned. In the year 2011 I was seriously sick, I could not move my legs nor get out of bed. I had terrible pain. Laying in bed I cryed to Father Arsenie to help me somehow, to have mercy on me. I must mention that there were doctors at my house who could not give a diagnosis. My daughter-in-law called her friend, Daniela, and told her I was sick. Having in view I have only one kidney left, the other one lost due o cancer, she made me 10 days massage therapy. Every day in which Daniela came to make my therapy, the face of the father appeared in my face, on the road, on my way home, and with his help I could get out of bed. The prayer es though even through stone and lifts uo with the help and mediation of saints, to the One who knows all. We are waiting the canonization on Father Arsenie, who is the holiest saint our country has ever had. Our words are small, very small to express the love that we carry him. I have written some lines to give grace to our Lord Jesus Christ, who through His saints males miracles with us every moment. Mariana Bondrea “Mami, I don’t have warts anymore on my hand!” I have a lot to tell about the wonders of Father Arsenie Boca. One of them is, for me very important, and it’s about the smoking ion. Through the help received from Father Arsenie Boca I managed to quit smoking, thing which until then I thought was almost impossible, and now I am thinking how could I have smoked for so long. My daughter had many warts on her right hand, and as soon as she touched the cross of Father Arsenie, till she got to the fountain all her warts disappeared. My daughter yelled how hard she could: “mami, I don’t have warts anymore on my hand, I want to return to the grave because I ghave something else to tell the Father!”. Once I prayed to Father Arsenie for a working place, for which I gave an examtwice and I had no chance, but when Father Arsenie took the problem at hand I took the exam the third place in the country. I couldn’t belive it, I kept looking on the website to see if it is really my name written there. Lia The return to Orthodoxy of a Baptist I was three times at the grave of Father Arsenie Boca tgether with my husband and child. And if God helps me, I would like theis year, in july more exactly, to get to our dear Father. There are three things I can name with joy. A first is that the Father had strengthened me in faith. He was like a confessor from heaven and advised me like a confessor advises his son or daughter. Before arriving to the Father’s grave I have read the book “Pavila albă”, testimonials on the Father and I have seen many documentaries, testimonials and teachings. I was hungry and thirsty after the Word of the Lord, having a great desire to obey and to live a clean life, a way of life within Christ, to deny as much possible the ions, and to refuse sinning.

11

Never nobody managed to stir up in me the desire to truly obey, to fight for my salvation and for my family’s salvation and to understand that through suffering God cleanses you of your sins or of the sins you carry from your family. “Pavila albă” marked me for starters. I was aware thet every married couple must follow exactly what the Father says there. Then I’ve read also “Cărarea Împărăţiei”, “Cuvinte vii” and other wonderful books of our dear Father. The second thing was that the Father drove my husband back to faith, because he was a Baptist. He was rebaptised with the orthodox baptism. He turned my husband on the right way. This thing, is a great miracle! Few come back. Only the power of God can correct in these cases. Before getting to the grave of Father Arsenie, my husband said “I feel my whole body shivering”. He acknowledged the holiness of Father Arsenie Boca. A third thing is that, every time I, in the Holy Church, the first thing I do after I worship the icons is to light a candle to Father Arsenie boca, but a big one. Many times after I light the cande, at a short while after, I looked at the candles and I was stunned. . The candle, many times, barely lighted, and which logically, did not have time to burn qickly, was totally burned. The Holy Liturgy barely begun and after a few songsm the candle lighted for Father Arsenie Boca was all burned down. The flame was still burning on the sand on the ground. The candles were in the church where the Holy Liturgy was held and being in the diaspora, in a small community, I exclude the idea that I would have forgotten what candle I had lighted or that I had mistaken it with others. The candle was burning with a big, beautiful flame, but it was all melted in a specific way, so that I would notice that The Father was trying to send me something, to tell me that he is near me, that he hears my prayers I tell him. Great is the power of God, great man of God was Father Arsenie Boca. God was merciful with us and made possible the birth of Father Arsenie Boca on the Romanian land, sending him thanks to His Mercy and the offering of the Saints Brâncoveni, like the Father himself. Let us worship God, the Virgin Mother of Jesus and the Holy Saints properly! Iuliana Bărcuiaş She gave birth to a perfect healthy child To Father Arsenie I went three times. The first time I got there was four years ago, in august 2010. I got there because of my daughter who was very marked because of her mother-in- law, who told her that if she will have a baby, the baby will be a handicapped and she doesn’t need handicapped grandsons. She was almost crying, and she told me she can’t stand this word. Seeing her in this situation I’ve decided to go to Father Arsenie Boca, to the grave. He is the first Father that I read about since I “converted”. I was not in another faith, but I’ve lived outcast, no confessin, no sacrament, no confessor, this until 2006. I knew him from books, that is why I went to Prislop. I prayed like I knew, in my own words, from the heart, and I’ve asked him for forgiveness and to pray o God for my daughter and if God would want her to have a healthy child, to have a healthy child. This was in the month of august. In September, my daughter got pregnant and gave birth to a perfect healthy child. Camelia Bratosin

12

I felt a hand on my paralyzed leg and I felt tinglings along it A., a 39 year old friend from Braşov suffered a year ago a stroke and has semiparalysis on the left side, and now is using a crutch. He wasn’t faithful at all before. After the accident she was immobilized in bed and completely dependent on the family. After months of hell, a friend told her about Father Arsenie Boca. She reacted immediately and started beliving and praying, wanting very much to get to Prislop. Some time ago she had the opportunity to go with a friend at the Father’s grave, but her mother didn’t let he. That night she stood up crying and, after she fell asleep, she dreamt Father Arsenie Boca, who was dressed in white and sleeping serenely in front of her, as if he told her, “sleep in peace, everything is allright”. Not long time had ed and she managed to go in a group pilgrimage, but she left very nervous (strong feelings), because she was alone and walking hard. Her friend told her a day before not to be afraid and to pray to Father Arsenie Boca, that he will send a man to help her. That man happened to be me. This sonday (22 june 2014), on the pilgrimage to Prislop, I’ve met her and I’ve helped her, bonding very tightly to her. We slowly went up the hill and I let her rest on one of the benches in front of the grave. I left her there for one hour and when I came back, A. was smiling widely and told me that while praying she felt on her paralyzed leg a hand that touched her and then all kind of tinglings. She thought I touched her. That day she had more strength than a healthy person and a will that I have rarely seen before. C.V. Father Emil Pop from Miercurea Ciuc: “He was a being rarely seen.” Father Emil Pop, the parish of the church “Saints Apostles Peter, Paul and Andrew” from Miercurea Ciuc met Father Arsenie Boca several times, and these encounters with the Father made him say today that the Saint from Prislop was a being you rarely could see. I have met Father Arsenie Boca while I was a student directly, but also through his writings. We have in town a teacher, retired now, who then was five years old, and was completely blind. The Father gave back her sight. The doctors could do nothing for her, they told her to anoint the eye with distilled water, because they did not know anything else what to do with her, they couldn’t help her. They went to Father Arsenie Boca for help, they took her to the church of Brâncoveanu Monastery, and at a mass the Father announced that “there will come here a person that is blind”. The Father prayedand after he layed his hand on her, a white fluid tarted puring out of her eyes and she started seeing. One summer, a colleague of mine was with the Father on the mountain and they were walking by there. At a distance of a couple of hundred meters two persons were coming, and the Father told the colleague: “Look, these are searching for me.” They were two security people who followed the Father to catch him. They all met, and the two asked the Father if he did not

13

see Father Arsenie Boca> And don’t think they did not know him, but they were spiritually blinded, meaning they did not recognize him. Everything what Father Arsenie Boca said and wrote, I tried to apply. Everything you search for you find in the writings of the Father, from science to holiness. It is very deep. Thousands of people go to Prislop to his grave and have a communion with his power. Father Arsenie Boca did not waste here and there, no matter how much torture and suffering he endured. The Father was imposing, deep, natural. Some say he was severe. Well, natural is not severe, nor not severe, because you do what you have to do or you do not. He was rare a human being. Vlad Herman The healing of a blind girl Elena Haba from Miercurea Ciuc is a person from the long list of those who benefited live of the help Father Arsenie Boca. Because Doctors did not find any cure for her suffering – blindness – her salvation was the abbot from the 40’s from the Brâncoveanu Monastery, Father Arsenie Boca. Here is her story: I was sick, and my father was on the battlefield, he was taken war prisoner at Stalingrad and winded up in the Serbian concentration camps. I haven’t met my father because he never returned from there. We had a maid who became a monk and she took my mother to Father Arsenie Boca, to Sâmbăta Monastery, because she was desperate. My father had fallen on the battle field, and I was blind, my eyes got infected. This was in the year 1945. We went to Father Arsenie Boca and I think he was very merciful with us when he found out our situation. He also had the gift of clairvoyance and he demonstrated that in various situations. There was a chair there, in the monastery, where old people sit, and Father Arsenie said that no one should sit there because a helpless woman will sit there. During the Holy Liturgy, Father Arsenie came between the people – I was with my mom who was holding my hand – and he took me in his arms and placed me on that chair. This I ed he said: “You will heal!” For you to understand how serious the situation was for me, a doctor gave my mother some drops, but he said: “ Lady, I gave you these drops only to get used to the idea that we will perform a surgery on your daughter and she will lose her right eye.”. After we got home from Father Arsenie Boca, mother stopped giving me the drops and from my eyes started to pour a white liquid (like milk with water) so my eyes got clearer and I started seeing. The news of me getting well has spread out quickly and people started coming to see me because they didn’t belive just hearing. After that we stayed in touch with Father Arsenie Boca and we frequently went to Sâmbăta Monastery to him. When he wasn’t there the Metropolitan (Bishop) Nicolae Bălan – who has his summer residence at Brâncoveanu Monastery – Father Arsenie took us and showed us around. There came Nichifor Crainic, Lucian Blaga, people and people from all over. Father Arsenie conducted the work of 1st degree of my mother, as he studied two years of medicine. 14

We had lunch together with Father Arsenie and with my mom. From my village, Ludişor, many people were going to the monastery and I was going too until the comunists came, and than I’ve lost tough with Father Arsenie Boca, but I was in touch with Father Serafim Popescu, who was Abbot afert Father Arsenie Boca. They both cared for us. We lost connection with the monastery and with Father Arsenie Boca because in the area appeared military people, who stopped us from our way and sent us back. We couldn’t go to any monastery for a considerable amount of time. Vlad Herman Father Nifon from Prislop about the cancer cases cured by Father Arsenie Boca Although I have met him only one, Father Nifon Bobia (born 1935), current confessor at the Prislop Monastery, knows a lot of cancer cases – and not only – the ones that were cured by Father Arsenie Boca in the time he was alive, but also in the years after his departure to the Lord. Here is what the Father tells us: “You are fit, God bless you.” I have met the Father only once, when an extraordinary thing had happened. Before getting married, I went with my future wife to a small and secluded convent of monks, where the Father stayed by force. We went to ask him if we are fit to get married, if not, either one on his way. Interesting is the fact that we did not wait long after praying when we asked someone to tell him we were loking for him and he came into the little church . And the Father said to us, without letting us tell him why we came to see him: “You are fit, God bless you.” Hen he added something else: “Reach out your hand to your future wife.” Miraculous healings during lifetime Ever since I came here to Prislop I have discovered a few extraordu=inary wonders that occurred. A woman from Făgăraş was sick of cancer 58 years ago, she went to the hospital and the doctors told her she had no chance, to go home and prepare for funeral. Hearing this verdict that she has no chance, she went to Father Arsenie, who was abbot at Sâmbăta. When she got there, the Father was waiting in the middle of the yard and before greeting her he asked her and her family : “What troubles bring you to me?” He was clairvoyant. The husband said: “Big trouble, because my wife is suffering from cancer and doctors didn’t give her any chance. We came to your holiness, maybe you can help us with something.” Then the Father raised hid hand above her head and called her by the name: “Victoria, let’s show the doctors that there is also a Doctor who can heal even in the last phase of metastasis.” He raised his hand, made the symbol of the holy cross above her head. Then he said “go home, you are healthy”. The minute she got home, her tumor vanished, disappeared. This extraordinary wonder shook me because I didn’t know of it, although I lived close to Sâmbăta Monastery, at 30 kilometers. The mother of a father near Făgăraş was suffering from cancer 40 years ago and that father, who is now serving in Timişoara, went with his mother to Bucharest, at the best oncologists 15

professors, who concluded that she had cancer and must have a surgery. That is why they went to Father Arsenie, at Drăgănescu, and they wanted to exchange a few words with the Father. They opened the church door and Father Arsenie was up, on the oil derrick, right above the church door and painting. They did not see him, and the Father yelled from there: “Vasile, go with your mother home, for she has nothing.” The gist he had received from God had already worked. The woman was alive until two years ago. A gentleman who wah working here with us and is a great sculptor had his wife sick of cancer and went to Father Arsenie, this after he took her to the hospital. The doctors prepared for surgery, and the husband went to Sinaiam, to the Father , who was expecting him. When he entered the Father’s room, the Father was facing the door and said: “What trouble brings you here?” He says: “Father, my wife is sick with cancer, tomorrow she will have surgery and I came here for you not to let me, not to let my wife die.” On my knees I asked this thing and he Father told him to stay there, and for about ten minutes he was gone. After ten minutes the Father came back and told me: “Go and let’s see if the doctors find something wrong.” He went. The doctors prepared the woman for surgery and were waiting with the surgery knives in their hands. One of the doctors went and unveiled her and was stunned, with his surgery-knife in the hand. The others asked him what happened, and he told them to come and see. The tumor the woman had vanished. The mother of a missis from Timişoara, university teacher, told me once, how her daughter was very sick 9 years ago with brest cancer. The doctors concluded that she had brest cancer and wanted to operate her, but her daughter postponed the surgery, telling the doctors that she will come for surgery in two days, because she had something pending. The next day, she took her car and came here, to Prislop. She prayed for her health and late in the evening she came back. Over night, she had a dream: a gentleman dressed in a white robe with a surgery-knie in his hand was getting close to her, uncovered everything and started working on the tumor. In that moment, she woke up, and involuntarily, she wanted to touch the tumor, but this was gone, it vanished. The healing of some deaf-mute children Another family came to the cross of the Father with a child who was deaf-mute. They worshiped and then they left the grave. In the yard of the monastery, on the way out, the child ran off out of his mother’s arms and came back as if someone was calling him towards the grave of Father Arsenie. Someone asked where is the child going? And when he got to the cross of the Father, the child rushed andhugged the cross and started kissing it. The child, after kissing the cross, started speaking in front of the cross. He said:” mommy, Lică is kissing the Father’s cross”. Lică, that was his name, is now 24 years old and has a beautiful family. Eight-nine years ago came another deaf-mute child who up to the age of three years could not walk without help. They came one, twice, and the third time they brought him on a pillow in 16

front of the cross and started praying. At a certain moment, the child jums like a goat and starts walking around the grave on the Father. He looks into his Father’s eyes and starts talking. Until then he had never spoke. Now, he is in the 6th grade, he is a beautiful boy. The help given to a politician (parliamentary) A gentleman from the Parliament told me last year ( 2013 n. ed.) how he was blamed for fraud some large sums of money, but he was not guilty. He told me that he came to the nine appearance in trial and that he had spent a lot of money. He came here, he went to the Father’s grave and he did not come in vain, because after two weeks he came back and I saw him in the church. He told me that all the truth came out like oil in water. The Father has great influence on the souls of humans I don’t exaggerate if there were even today ( n. ed. Sunday 18 may 2014) up to 2000 people here at Prislop. The Father is a great saint and has a big influence on people’s souls, because he had this charisma of love for God and for people, whom he helped find salvation. People come here with the hope of fulfilling certain requests, needs, pains, sufferings, and even diseases. They come and go with the hope (faith) that he Father is helping them. And he does. About three years ago, on Saturday and Sunday, people come from the gate up the hill to the Father’s cross. “The Father is one of the greatest saints in the world” In my heart and in the parish where I have been, at Porumbacu de Sus, I canonized him. I made the paintingin the year 1993, when His Eminence Antonie from Sibiu consecrated the church. I put him between the Romanian saints and it’s written there black on white: “Saint Father Arsenie from Prislop”. Nobody needs to tel me anymore that the Father is saint. For me, the Father is one of the greatest saints in the world. Some say he is the Saint of Ardeal county, others say that he is the saint of Romania, but he is the saint of the world, like the great saints are – Saint Vasile the Great, Saint Elijah or Saint Moses. He is the same as them, he lived a life of holiness from birth till death. A life of martyrdom. Here he received these charismas, because his live was fully dedicated to God. He did not work his earthly will, he worked God’s will, by word and deed. Vlad Herman “You had help from Above!” I have an uncle at Sâmbăta de Sus, who is hieromonk and through him I’ve met Father Arsenie Boca. I was in the Father’s cell from Sâmbăta as well, in which stays another hieromonk, Hariton. We are a family of three children and one of my sisters did not speak with my mother, this being last year in the Fasting of the Ressurection. I prayed to Father Arsenie Boca, at Prislop, and until Easter the two reconciled.

17

On Sunday (8 june 2014 n. ed.) I talked to two women at Drăgănescu and they said that when Father Arsenie was there, painting, somebody dropped the tractor on the lakeside. That man started cursing, swearing, and tha Father was ing by and said: “Why are you cursing? Pray to God, maybe he will help you.” The man cursed even the Father, who left and prayed. The man managed to pull the tractor out of there, after which he came and kneeled in front of the Father asking him for forgiveness. The other woman said that she had a little girl whose nose was bleeding at night, and the father took her by the hand and went with her in the church and the girl did not have any problems after that. Father Hariton from Sâmbăta also said that Father Arsenie used to go up in the cell, to work, and once met with a bear. He was together with other monarchs and people who helped him around. The Father took the bear by the ear and told him to go. Also from my uncle hieromonk I know that at the grave from Prislop they wanted to take his cross out, probably to do some works, but the Father didn’t agree and his face appeared. This happened recently. I talked also with sister Aurica from Brâncoveanu Monastery, who told me about the last sermon of Father Arsenie at he monastery. The Father said to the world to know all four gospels by hard, not to forget the “Lazarus” from the gate and to listen to the advice of the priests. Around 1947, sister Aurica wanted to help the Father, because he was tired and getting riverstones out of the river, The Father told her to go to the kitchen, because she is more fragile and that she must remain at the monastery, to endure the life there. Another woman from Grăgănescu told me that she suffered from a heart attack and she was taken by her children to Bucharest. She called for Father Arsenie from the hospital in my mind, because she couldn’t move, and she felt a hand on the face, and when she recovered, the doctor came to her and the woman thank him for saving her. The doctor told her: “You had a hand from above!” Adrian Petroşanu Father Nicolae Boboia: “Don’t waste your energy for anything else but for studying.” Father Nicolae Boboia from “Sain Spiridon” Parish from Hunedoara was advised ever since he was a child by Father Arsenie Boca not to waste time. These advices were very helpful, helping him finish very well college. At the age of 12 years, I’ve met once with Father Arsenie Boca at the church in Drăgănescu and he told me a story from his life, which is found in his autobiography, but he told it to me with some significant details. It is about the fact that hos father one day sent him to buy some nails for shoes, but he preferred to go to a shop farther away and returned sort of late home towards what his father had expected. Then, his father beat him badly, said the Father, “of 39, that’s 40 minus one”. After this punishment, he promised his father he would not waste time as long as he will live. Truly, the Father proved that. He even said in the autobiography that he was a student in college and didn’t afford to waste time at parties, like his colleagues did, and this was usefull for the rest of his life. He said that the teaching of his father was wise. He said this story because, probably, he noticed that sometimes it takes a severe action of parents to 18

discipline the children, not only talk, because it is seen in the times we are living that talk is not enough. I that Father Arsenie Boca was a fit person, tall, was wearing dark glasses, a white fez, a white robe and I saw him painting at Drăgănescu. He was, at a certain moment, in the hall of the church, painting, ant I together with other people were standing behind him and looking. In the 9th grade, so at 15 years old, I’ve met again with Father Arsenie Boca, there in the church at Drăgănescu. Then I asked if it would be fit to follow the seminary. I wanted to become a priest. He said: “Yes, if you want to do the seminary, do it, but if you want to do school, don’t waste your time with the girls, don’t consume your energy otherwise than for studynand then you will truly be able to do something.” I thank God and Father Arsenie for the advice, because until the last seminary, respectively the 5th year, at Cluj, I wasn’t interested in friendship with girls and this was useful. The theological knowledge bases that I’ve put in the seminary helped me and were even useful in college. Besides these, the Father suggested to devote to the prayer of the heart – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”, advice he had given not only me, but many other belivers. Even Father Teofil Pârâian from Sâmbăta Monastery re this advice that Father Arsenie gave. Maybe I could not fulfill it properly, but I’ve felt its benefits. After his death I still feel his help. Vlad Herman Father Arsenie Boca helped me sit a wheelchair again My name is S.S. and I am from somewhere in Ardeal county. By the mercy of God, I received a cross which I try very hard to carry out with patience and joy. But I can’t always do that, for I have sometimes downfalls and impotence, but God has given me great treasures, His Mother and His wonderful Saints, who lift me up from my sadness, although I don’t deserve and I am totally unworthy. My cross is one of illness. Because of a serious infection I had when I was a child, a neurological disease has emerged, due to which I could never stand on my own two feet, so, this year, I have 30 years since I spend my life in a wheelchair and in great impotence, sometimes finding hard to lift a glass of water. Although it is hard to be sick, ever since I was little, my mother told me that we have a wonderful God who will always be with me, if I’ll call on Him through prayer, so I searched for Him with great desire and I’ve found Him in Orthodoxy, the only true faith. Finding Christ, I’ve also met His dear Mother, who brought me many joys and saved my life many times. If I’d sit and write about all the wonderful things that the Virgin Mary did in my life, I’d end up writing volumes. All that I can say now is don’t lose this great joy that Christ has given us, don’t lose the joy of getting closer to His Mother, because She is present in the lives of those who call on Her and takes care of us more than we think. The Mother of Jesus is the greatest Wonder we received in our life that we have on this earth! Pray to her, get close to her, to our Dear Mother, and you will see how your life will change, up to the smallest details. I’ve also discovered that God has many dear and beloved saints, through which he helps us in the hard times, and fulfills our prayers. I have many dear saints close to my heart, and each of them has helped me and gave me great joy, that I could not think of. So, Father Arsenie Boca helped me sit in a wheelchair again, because I was so sick, that I couldn’t stand sitting even in a 19

wheelchair, but when I touched the cross at the grave of the Father, I felt like a chill through my body and since then I can sit and do all my activities again in my wheelchair, which for me is a great wonder. And then when I worshiped Saint Nicholas in Bucharest, the minute I kissed the saint’s beloved hand, my whole body felt numb, and when it recovered, my reflexes came back, which shocked even the doctors who attend and observe me, because a person with neurologic disease has never had reflex, but the Saints of Christ can do anything, we just have to run to them and ask them dearly and with tears in our eyes. Father Simion Săsăujan: “Beware, when you will be priest, of the impotence of people” Father Simion Săsăujan from the church “Pogorârea Duhului Sfânt” from Sibiu met Father Arsenie ever since the first years of life, receiving the blessing of the great confessor to go to the seminary. I, at the age of 16, left from Prislop, to the Theologis Seminary from Cluj, with the blessing of Father Arsenie. I’ve met Father Arsenie, who didn’t speak then, in 1958. I was a child who wanted to know him, and one night I knew him. He told me to go to school and everything will be allright. That was the first encounter. The second encounter was at Bucharest, at the Monk’s Monastery, when I accompanied Father Teofil Pârâian at Father Arsenie. There, Father Arsenie said a word to me:”Tomorrow you will be priest” – I was a student back then, in the 2 nd year – and the Father continued:” beware, when you will be a priest, of the impotence, ions of people.” The next encounters were at Drăgănescu, when I was with my wife. There he gave me advice and guidelines like he did to everybody who searched for him. About the canonization of Father Arsenie, the priest from Sibiu says that “the world is expecting for the Holy Sinod to take a decision, but this thakes time, because a proposal is to be made. The proposal is stronger than honoring the people, the whole country. The first strong argument is this. God will decide.” Vlad Herman At the grave of Father Arsenie Boca What was taking us in the summer of that year in the fairytale land on the Haţeg Country, me and my wife and our little Irina, who had four years by then? Something deep had drawn us to go on the road, an infinite desire for our dear Father, which was warming everyone’s heart beat and filling us with joy. We didn’t make many plans of pilgrimage and we ended up on the way to Aiud. We worshiped the holy relics of our confessors and we went on, glancing to Galda, where we knew was the work colony of Gafencu, Maxim, Costică Dumitrescu anr Anghel Papacioc. We were going to Prislop Monastery, which we imagined from what other pilgrims told us, carring throughout all this time talks of kindness, as if we had rehersedfor an almost unknown prayer. Our torrid Brăila was far away as if by a dream almost impossible to reconstruct, and we were ing events with Father Arsenie: “Do you when we visited his cell 20

carved in the rock? We didn’t take Irina then with us. She was just one year old. How we went up that trail, only we know. At half-way I wanted to go back, but I was afraid not to upset the Father. On the way down, just by praying we returned safe. We were holding hands, but moreover, the Father was holding us, you can imagine, a little dizziness and I don’t know what would have happened…” The prayer at the cave was fulfilling in a month and so after and it brought much, much light and reconcile. I was telling everyone how a former military colonel offerd to take us by car from the village, and while we were going to the Sâmbăta Monastery, he showed us an old photo of Father Arsenie Boca which he kept at his chest, drawing in simple words his overwhelming holiness figure. Several year ed since he has been taking water from the spring in the woods, and then he was heading towards there. I felt for the first time how I was walking, taking small steps on the way of the greatest confessor of Ardeal, for, furthermore, in the monastery we were to find more details at every corner, details which emphasise the historic meaning of a piece of sky (heaven). “But then when it was rainig and we found the umbrella in front of the Unirea store? It was down, open, and as if nobody saw it, although it seamed as if everybody was looking at it. It was a gray autumn day, and I came from Bucharest totally unprepared for such a weather. People were stumbling in shelters, and I stepped in front of them and took it, because I was sure that it was there for waiting for me! And I didn’t even know what to pray to Father Arsenie. I was babbling all along! You must know that I shivered when I took the umbrella, but a joy with no limits invaded me and lured me to go with it into the street, which made me an authentic lunatic with beard behind whom people were stopping and looking curiously.” The umbrella was going to remain in the train towards Bucharest North – Galaţi as if by coincidence, but her story es by like a beautiful thought to another: confessor, wife, godparents, parents, friends. In the summer of 2010, we were ing with the same car filled by the years and by the dust from the road leading from Haţeg to Prislop and, in the twilight of the day, all three of us mumbled the “condac” (special prayer) of the Holy Mother of Jesus and that lead us tinking to what we felt back then in July 2009: “Do you when we came here the first time and you prayed to the miracle maker Icon of the Holy Mother of Jesus to deliver us well on our way back? It wasn’t as late as it is now. It was on a sunny afternoon and he cemetery seemed, as unlimited as it was, a poem dedicated to God. Only then I started understanding why death doesn’t seam scarry to some people and that it can mean a lot of peace in the withdrawal, decidetd by the Maker, of the human being from the agitated stage of life. Maybe I didn’t understand anything from this life, I told myself then, maybe even the succession of events needs a key to open a perspective to the world, a criterion of defining te heart and its springs, with all the shades of love and courage. And you, and me, and anybody else can be the discovery of an instant that we receive as a gift from our dear God Jesus Christ.” This time the mercy of God was getting to us again through the mediation of His beloved Arsenie. By then the time came upon us as if rollers, and the climbing on the Trail on Heavean wasn’t an easy task. We still lived an age of spiritual childhood, and our little disobedience and wickedness were ing by almost unnoted. We were lurking God to ask him all kind of nothings of which we weren’t satisfied by the time we received them, because we became more and more grumpy. Only now we see the images of a wonderful world, abandoned without any feeling in the new well locked trunk of renunciations by then and every day at the Providence of God. The intuition that any hesitation is in the end a downfall and that serious is 21

not just the sin, but the uncertainty itself, we had it late, after we rebuilt with a lot of care a fake universe, with false arguments, easy to break, in which we believed unconditionally, although obvious was just the frequent downfall of the columns and the plinths which were crushing as if by themselves. I tried a short film without prayer and I failed. The costs of this downfall would be expensive evaluated, but the redemption of the hearts made in the twilight of Ressurection will be a sweet promise, but also a vital marker for the correct and saving positioning in history today. “Irina prayed at the grave of the Father, did we not put our hopes in the innocence of her years, and we stayed apart. We got closer, in the end, and we thanked for being there, for our desire was fulfilled. When we sat on a bench, a woman hooked herself to the cross and cried hopelessly. I would never forget her struggle. I told myself that such a prayer can’t be left unheard by the Father and I suddenly felt like a student in the school desk at the prayer lesson from the bottom of the heart. The image of that woman had discovered a frightening degree of my own uninvolvement and as much as I struggled not to see, the conventionality of my thoughts and experiences gave me chills. That inner cry, that inhuman struggle, the downfall of what you think you are or what others think of you to the stiff dustout of which the Father’s cross was coming out, lighted in me a light that astonished me and made me cry slowly. I felt deeply the presence of our dear Father, his spiritual consolation, when I turned towards you I saw you with Irina by hand singing me to go. The moment we stepped between the fir trees, through that imaginary gate, holding hands, a strong smell of holiness was felt all around. We were going to the cave of Saint John from Prislop in silence, amazed. I would have liked maybe to talk to you, but I was overwhelmed by the wonder and I could only gaze at the tall straight fir tree trunks that were reaching the sky. You were walking beside me without saying a word. I barely asked you if you sensed the anointment oil smell which was all around us that time and your face suddenly became more lively. How could you think it was the smell of the flowers, when no flower in the world has this aroma? And how could you even suspect that somebody poured anointment oil around the grave when no humanly anoinment oil can be compared to what we sensed? I know, you thought so too, but you feared rejoice before checking. In a way, you feared of a new possible disillusionment and n another way, you didn’t see yourself worthy of such a miracle. I received everything naturally, although I felt totally unworthy, and I watched how you were wondering through the flower and smelling everywhere. A great joy was within me, for I knew that from the flowers never before such a scent was sensed before. You even asked the monk who was attending the cemetery if somebody didn’t put anointment oil at the Father’s grave, and she answered that nobody ever did such a thing and the pilgrims weren’t allowed. I listened to you once again how you were telling the story transfigured in front of what w e just witnessed, and she looked to us with kindness and told us that such a wonderful happening is a gift from Father Arsenie.” With lots of joy and blessing we left the clearing surrounded by the woods of Prislop in which our dear Father awaited for us with arms wide open. At home we had to tell he wonderful happenings in front of a large crowd and to open through this the heart of a man who simply spoke about the carnation boght and brought with devotion at the grave of John Ianolide from Cernica Monastery, being immediately wrapped in a wonderful smell. Only few who were around felt the gift of the beloved of God… Sergiu Ciocârlan Other testimonials about Father Arsenie Boca

22

Father Arsenie Boca changed my life and for that I thank him. I went together with my mother at his grave – she was suffering from cancer. I asked Father Arsenie Boca to cure my mother and to make it in such a way that she would not have cancer anymore. After a few days, I’ve dreamt the Father telling me to to go to his grave and pray because he will help me. After some time, my mother was scheduelled at Cluj, at the same doctor her sister went, who had breast cancer. During all this time I prayed thet my mother didn’t have cancer, because she had the same symptoms as her sister , I was crying and praying to Father Arsenie. I also had a picture of him. Out of a sudden I felt the scent of anointment oil and then I realized that he will help my mother. After some time she called me to tell me she had nothing and that she was healthy. When I’ve heard, I realized that the Father Arsenie Bica made a miracle for us. For me, Father Arsenie Boca means a lot, he had done many miracles and always helped us. I advise you to go to Prislop, to his grave, because he will help you and always be with you. Camelia Ilie For me, Father Arsenie Boca is a miracle that God has send in a moment when I was very troubled, I suffer from a congenital disease, which now has gotten worse abd created me some serious heart problems. The moemt I’ve geard this news, the thought led me to Father Arsenie Boca. I don’t know why. I can’t explain why. I’ve heard about him, but I knew very little about the Father’s life. Everyday he appeard througs various “signs”. I told myself I had to get to the grave from Prislop and I did not find peace until I got there. It was just like a dream came true. I kneeled next to the grave and I felt I could release my soul of al the sins I committed along life. I felt that the Father was listening, I was watching the grave and I couldn’t move away from there. I couldn’t go, take my eyes off that holy place. Belive me, it’s a place in which is felt the presence of Father Arsenie. When I arrived in front of the cross, I came to bring hinors to His Eminence Father Varsanufie who, seeing me, put his hand on my head, blessed me and guided me to go to Saint Nectarie. Ever since then, not a day es for me not to pray to Saint nectarie and to Father Arsenie Boca. I go every week to Radu Vodă Monastery and I will go every year to Father Arsenie Boca’s grave, to thank, worship. And you know why? Because miracles started appearing and will continuously appear until I will be healed and I won’t have to go to surgery. After three months from discovering my heart condition, the disease stopped evolving. I am sure that Father Arsenie Boca and Saint Nectarie are praying for me to Lord Jesus Christ. I can never thank them for their love. Dana Căpitanu ^^^^^

In less than one year I went three times to Prislop, I have two brothers, and in September 2013, one of them had an exam to go abroadwith work. Out of three exams, he failed one and he could go. I put him a picture of Father Arsenie Boca in the suitcase and didn’t tell him. In November I messaged him to loo for the photo in the suitcase and after about two weeks he was

23

in the country, but he did not say anything about the photo. He told just our mother: “Mom, I have the photo with me and I solve everything, wherever I go.” I have a hearing aid at the left ear, Since I was 26 I am deaf , and now I am turning 43. On my leaving to Prislop, the hearing device broke down, but I bought another, so I could manage. I left at the end of august to Prislop and when I came back, a great desire was in me to return, and I kept saying I’d like to go back. I brought spring water from Sânbăta, in a five liter barrel, to share from it, and on the 30 th November, in the morning, I dreamt with Father Arsenie Boca… He was going to the spring at Sâmbăta. He told me he was going to help Mihai (the friend of the woman who worked as a driver for the firemen and had his license annulled n.ed.). I woke up with great joy, which you could probably see on my face. On the 5th December, Mihai faced trial for his license and everything was allright, he still got his job. Anca Marina ^^^^ I was returning from Prislop Monastery and it was snowing , the snow made a tire mark like a hand print, we went off the road, making a pirouette like in the movie, in a field. I turned on the radio and I hear: “Lord, who lives secretly among people…”. Of course, Father Arsenie prayed to God to have mercy on me. I think that the radio was Radio FM station, and the “scientific” explanation can be, maybe, that it entered the frequency of a local radio station, but even so, hearing the prayer of Father Arsenie, was a miracle. I didn’t change/search for the frequency, I just turned the radio on thinking that music was on, because I wanted to get out if that state, as I was very scared. Miana Ganea ^^^ I can say that Father Arsenie did a miracle for me. I had great problem with my teenage son, rebel, and far away from God and the Church. I could not make him go on the right way. I prayed with tears to Father Arsenie Boca and with pain in my soul, I lighted the lamp and I begged him, that if he had done so many miracles for Romanians, to do one for my son, because I am helpless. The second day my rebel hateful son phoned me and since then he had found his way. I know that Father Arsenie Boca is helping us and I recommend everybody to pray to the Father, because he does not leave us alone. Luna Stanciu ^^^ I had asthma for many years and starting from august 2013 I take no medication anymore. It was then I went for the first time to Father Arsenie Boca’s grave. I argued even with the doctor when I told him about Father Arsenie and that my disease was cured thanks to him, but the doctor said that it’s all in my head. On Sunday, 14 June, at Prislop, in the church, the lights at the holy altar were switching on and off by themselves. It is my dear Father! When I ask him something, he helps me very much. Ioana I knew Father Arsenie only from the books and I was a little afraid of him because of my sins. I couldn’t dare to look at him. Through the will of God I arrived at Prislop Monastery, being in great need. I was pregnant and nobody wanted me to keep the baby, just the other children I have. I went to the Father to ask him to help me and I’ve fet his help ever since that moment. 24

Father Arsenie turns us all to face God. This is how he turned all my folks, in one day, so that they left me alone to keep the baby and I did not commit murder. Thank you Father! Protect us with your prayers! Mirela Giurgea ^^^ I managed to get to Father Arsenie Boca’s grave in August 2002. I’ve heard a lot about what the Father did, but I did not believe quite everything. When I got by the grave, I started crying without control. It was the cry for my sins. It was overwhelming how the sun was shining oover there. I have not seen, nor felt such a relief. I started with trembling hands to make a cross and to pray. I felt those blue eyes, clear, but harsh, pointing towards. Then I received a SMS from my daughter, who asked me to beg Father Arsenie to help her fulfill some wishes. Absolutely everything I’ve asked for was fulfilled within not more than 40 days. Camelia ^^^ Father Arsenie Boca helped me countless times. He escaped me from paying well deserved fines while I was returning from Prislop Monastery, he helped me with my college exams, with my family problems and every day guards us with his prayers. Thank God for everything! Relu Gurău ^^^ Father Arsenie Boca helped me find a workplace. And also, at an exam I managed to get 9.75 although when studying for it many information were missing, but I prayed to our dear Father. Step by step I managed to find them and they were very useful, especially when I told myself “ I won’t study these, they won’t be exam subjects”, but I felt an urge to study them and eventually they were exam subjects. I wanted very much to go to Prislop, but I couldn’t and sort of got used to this idea, hopeless somehow. One day, while talkig to my mom, she said she had to give me a bracelet from Prislop, which she received from a colleague at work. In the following months I might arrive there too! Praise the Lord and our dear Father! Dragoş Prepeliţă ^^^ I can testify that last year I was searching for a workplace and after I went to Prislop something came up after a week. For me it’s just like a miracle, even if I am not worthy. D.R. ^^^ My wife, Ramona Sabău from Beiuş, tried many ways to quit smoking, but couldn’t, until we went on a pilgrimage to Prislop monastery. She prayed at the grave of Father Arsenie Boca to help her quit smoking and she managed with the help of the Father. Călin Sabău

25

26