"Rugul Aprins". The Burning Bush movement - Part I

Exodus 3, 2-5: And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here am I."And He said, "Draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

1945 was the year of the creation of the Romanian christian orthodox movement "Rugul Aprins" ("The Burning Bush"). Many commentators agree that it was an unique spiritual movement among the Romanian intellectuals of the century and among the Orthodox Church. The story grows around of the Antim Monastery in the middle of Bucharest and of a few names of erudite monks who lived in its cells or frequented it regularly, the most important being the leader of the group Alexandru Teodorescu (alias Sandu Tudor, brother Agaton and later hieromonk Daniil), the father confessor Benedict Ghiuş and Ioan Kulîghin, a Russian father from Rostov.

Other members were: Father Dumitru Staniloae, Alexandru Mironescu, Paul Sterian, the poet Vasile Voiculescu, Paul Constantinescu, Constantin Joia, Alexandru Elian, Arhim. Sofian Boghiu, Arhim. Felix Dubneac, Arhim. Andrei Scrima, Ion Marin Sadoveanu, Ierod. Cleopa Paraschiv and others.

What made this movement unique and special was the fact that its essence was not theological, but rather mystical, more precisely at the heart of all the activities of its members was the Prayer of the Heart: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner." This very short prayer was to be repeated as often and as much as possible. The aim of this technique was to internalize the prayer, to transform it from a Prayer of the Mind into a continuous Prayer of the Heart that wouldn't cease during the normal activities of the day, or during the sleep.

The one who brought the Prayer within the Burning Bush, was Ivan Kulîghin, the around 60 years old celibate priest who first visited the monastery in the fall of 1945. He was the father confessor of the metropolitan bishop Nicolai of Rostov. He had been brought in Romania during the war by the fascist troupes and had been established at the Cernica Monastery. Father Kulîghin was an authentic practitioner of the Prayer, which he had learned at the Optina monastery in the north of Moscow.

"Very important for us were his personal confessions concerning the Prayer, which he uttered truly unceasingly. Since many years, the Prayer had descended into his heart and he was praying even in the sleep." (Father Sofian Boghiu*)

During the years 1945-1948, the Antim monastery underwent restorations. Two big towers of the church have been newly made and also its paintings have been remade. This contributed probabily to ist spiritual rebirth.
In this period, in the library hall of the monastery took place a series of conferences around the Prayer of the Heart. Many visitors, among whom many students, came to hear these speeches. Parallel to this, after the Vespers, the seven Divine Services were explained, with an accent put on the Vespers and the Matins, and also the Psalms and especially the Divine Liturgy were interpreted. The latter was for instance commented Monday from a traditional point of view, Tuesday from a musical point of view, on Wednesday the iconographic vision was emphasized, on Thursday the interpretation was mystical, and so on. (as Father Sofian Boghiu recounted*)


Father Benedict Ghiuş (in the picture above), the Father Confessor of the whole group, has striven to give cohesion to the newly formed community. The reference points that he imposed were: fasten, rosary, frequent confession, the Holly Communion, prayer, all these corresponding to the practice of the Holly Fathers.

There are two things that gave birth to this intense and highly disciplined movement: firstly some exquisite Romanian intellectuals have met each other and have encouraged themselves in finding a way for getting nearer to God in the purest and truest way possible. Secondly, this movement meant an act of taking attitude vis-a-vis the regime that was installing itself in Romania: the awful communism.

"We suddenly found ourselves in the presence of the communism, this Soviet animal with apocalyptic stenches, with the smell of vodka and of the sweats of commissaries, that had filled the country with posters, carnivals, gatherings, a dirty media, political prostitution, the reversing of values. We all felt terror-struck, that this roller would transform us all in an anonym mass, formless, without consciousness and without responsibilities. Where could you run, if not in the deepness of your being? Where to fence yourself in, if not in the pantries of your soul? And here did the miracle happen: the man, looking for himself, has encountered God, has entered in the order of the Spirit."**


The founder of the movement, Father Daniil (in the picture above), has convinced himself even since his visit to the Athos Mountain in 1929, that the Romanian people can only save itself through a deep spiritual transformation, that would reinvigorate its roots. That was to be made by the rebounding of the Man with God, by prayer.

"This bush is the symbol of the Holly Virgin. Although celestial fire is Jesus Christ, The Holly Mother has remained unburnt, untouched, but deified through the Holly Child. [...], the Burning Bush is also the symbol of the ceaseless prayer. The one who prays ceaselessly resembles that bush that burned and wasn't consumed." (Father Daniil)


In the year 1947, the meetings of the group took great proportions. Series of visitors from outside of Antim began to take part. Such fact could normally not be ignored by the communists.

One year later, in 1948, the organization and the taking place of such meetings have been prohibited. The group received orders from the archiepiscopate that their gathering is forbidden by the law.
In 1958, the members have been put under arrest. During the inquiry (which lasted for a very long time - around one year) the communists tried in vain to connect the Burning Bush group to the Legionary Movement. The process - a parody with closed doors - ended with punishments of up 25 years of hard labor for the imprisoned members.


Now, back to 1948...
Sandu Tudor, who in between had become monk Agathon, left for the Govora monastery and later became father superior in the Crasna monastery. In 1950 he has been imprisoned for two years for alleged unlawful acts on the Eastern front. He has been freed in 1952 and became the Hieromonk Daniil, Father superior in the Rarău monastery. Father Daniil has systematically tried since 1955 to awaken the consciousness of young people, forming them as free personalities, living in Christ and purified from the dirt of the communist ideology. In 1958 he has been arrested for the membership in the Burning Bush movement. He died in 1960 in the communist prison from Aiud.

In 1950, Benedict Ghiuş left for the Neamţ monastery, as professor at the theological seminary from there. He remained there till 1955. During these years he periodically made trips to Bucharest, in order to meet the priests-monks Sofian Boghiu, Felix Dubneac and the professor Al. Mironescu. In 1955, he returned to Bucharest as a servant at the patriarchal professor's chair. In 1956, he meet Father Daniil, who proposed to him to take care of a group of young people from Bucharest, who would very much like to deepen their experience in the ways of faith. Wee may observe here the preoccupation of some members of the Burning Bush to reenact the movement. At a much lesser scale, this thing did happen. The youth and the fathers met in the home of Benedict Ghiuş or of Al. Mironescu, as well as in the monastery Plumbuita. At Plumbuita the students participated to conferences and also to divine services.

In the year 1947, Father Kulîghin and his interpreter (a soldier from Bassarabia, who had been near him for the last two years) have been arrested, then reccuperated by the Soviet power and deported to Siberia.

Here are some examples of accusations brought to the members of the Burning Bush group:
- subversive meetings;
- hostile accusations towards the regime;
- they made antinationalits, antidemocratic education;
- they organized counterrevolutionary stirrings against the state order and so on.

Here is a list with all the people who had been imprisoned in 1958 as members of The Burning Bush:
- the painter archimandrite Sofian Boghiu;
- the archimandrite Roman Braga;
- the physician Gh. Dabija;
- the painter monk Vartolomeu Dolhan;
- the painter and choir director Felix Dubneac;
- the hieromonk Andrei Făgeţeanu;
- the exbishop, archimandrite Benedict Ghiuş;
- the writer and university professor Alexandru Mironescu;
- the hieromonk Arsenie Papacioc;
- the poet and journalist Sandu Tudor (later monk Agathon and then hiermonk Daniil)
- the priest Dumitru Stăniloae;
- the poet Vasile Voiculescu;
- the students: Emil Mihailescu, Şerban Mironescu, Dan Pistol, Nicolae Rădulescu, George Vâsâi.***

Most of these people have been liberated in 1964, when all political captives in Romania have been liberated thorugh a national decree. (issued mainly because of the international pressure)


(to be soon continued...)


* in the article "The Burning Bush and the prison" from 1996
** Arhim. Roman Braga - "The Burning Bush - new aspects", in "Porunca iubirii" No. 4/2004
*** List taken from the book "Rugul Aprins"("The Burning Bush") by Mihai Radulescu, Proxima Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009

- I must as well note here that much of the information in this article is taken from articles published in the magazine "Rost" (http://www.rostonline.org/rost/index.shtml)