Orthodoxy-in prison in the mountains

Which act of the State prevents me from functioning as a priest, from being a Christian, and from living rightly? Tell me, which act? Beyond the filth they push on us and the lies — but that does not stop me from keeping a clear mind and overcoming it. From knowing where the lie is and where the truth is.

What act of any state whatsoever — even an anti-Christian one, even one that persecutes Christ (it is not yet like that now; outwardly it is not) — would dare to stop the Liturgy of the Church in the hearts of the faithful? No one! Because the Church is the one of whom it is said, “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her.” No Hades, no State, no harsh measure can stop… the Church. It is impossible for that to happen, unless we ourselves, out of fear, weakness, and lack of faith, allow it. It cannot be that “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her.”

We continue our Christian life beyond whatever abnormal, anti-Christian decisions they make. Nothing prevents us, and the Christian will not yield in times of persecution when it comes to celebrating the Liturgy.

Here, when you enter a church, you see a Holy Altar always in the center. That is how the Holy Altar of any church you see is structured today. If tomorrow a state authority forbids the Liturgy and says, “all Christians are being persecuted, no one will go to Liturgy, Liturgies are forbidden,” and they station soldiers outside — that is how it is structured (the Church / the temple). The priest who knows will take the Holy Altar in his pocket, as I say, the Antimension. There is a cloth called the Antimension — from the Latin *anti mensa*, meaning “instead of a table” — which is consecrated and replaces the Holy Altar. If I know that tomorrow morning an order has been issued that I must not celebrate the Liturgy, I take the Antimension, which is made and sewn in such a way, I fold it, and it fits into my small pocket. And I go to the mountains and celebrate the Liturgy with you, if you have the courage.

And if they even put me in prison and say, “you are crazy, you will not celebrate the Liturgy,” and they take the Antimension from me as well, then in prison, if we are imprisoned together, I will tell you, “lie down.” You will lie down, and I will celebrate the Liturgy on your chest without an Antimension! Every believer is an image of God. And because he is an image of God, every believer is a Holy Altar. I will place on your chest a plastic cup, a little bread that I find from the prisoners’ food, and any plate, and I will celebrate the Liturgy! Nothing stops us; we are determined for everything! Whether in the mountains or in the prisons, nothing stops us! What authority, then? How was the Liturgy celebrated during so many years of persecution? Have you ever thought about these things?

Father Virgil Gheorghiu describes these events beautifully, extremely well — these extreme cases. Because he lived under a regime that persecuted Christians. And in fact he was both the one who experienced it and the one who acted, in the sense that before he became a clergyman he was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Romania; he was no ordinary personality. And he knows the practical reality of the events when he describes them. The Church is Communion, and without Communion nothing happens! I have nothing more to say.

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*Transcribed excerpt from a lecture in the “Romanian Odyssey,” by Protopresbyter Father Konstantinos Stratigopoulos, on the subject “The First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Timothy,” delivered on 4 April 2013.*  
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