~A story from the Life of St. Valeriu Gafencu and followed by a vital commentary concerning its contemporary relevance~
The following is excerpted from the 2019 English language book "The Saint of the Prisons: Notes on the life of Valeriu Gafencu" by Monk Moise:
One day, Valeriu was feeling so ill that we thought he was going to die. In addition to all of the other illnesses from which he suffered, he also developed acute appendicitis. He could have been left to die, but that would not have been "humanitarian".
Humanitarianism is the hypocrisy of cruelty, it brings to light the poisonous and lamentable domain of the Communist revolution, with its slogans and beautiful vestments. The doctor sent a report to the prison administration so that Valeriu could be transported to the hospital in town for an operation.
The penitentiary political agent of the prison came to him and said: "Your life is in my hands. If you do not have this operation, you will die."
Valeriu smiled indulgently and answered: "If one man's life depends on another, then this man indeed has great responsibility! But if everyone would realize that their lives depend on God, then everyone would value the life of his neighbor!"
"You're crazy," the agent said to him, and sent him to the operating room under strict guard.
When he came back to the sanatorium, the agent said to him, "Look you were face to face with death! You see, we wanted to show you that your life is in our hands. Maybe now you have changed your mind and you will cooperate with us. We will give you streptomycin [an antibiotic for tuberculosis]! You will also get packages from your family. And you who knows what might happen later?... You are an intelligent man and you could be useful to us. We know that you are not interested in politics, but in religion, but are not the patriarch and all of his priests on our side now? Why do you not join our side too? You have a lot to gain!"
[Valeriu responded]: "I thank you that you allowed me to have the operation. From now on, my torments will go on even longer... As for the rest, between you and me there is the matter of conscience. For the sake of my spiritual freedom I have decided to die. It is good that the truth be told plainly, and I serve the truth. I am not the judge of others, but a confessor of God. There is nothing under the sun that can survive without God. You do not want to accept Christ. I cannot accept spiritual death."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's commentary on the relevance of this story for our contemporary times (2022):
In this exchange between the communist agent and Valeriu Gafencu we see that the communists were not, in this instance, urging the Saint to openly deny his faith. They were not trying to convince him to become an atheist. Instead the temptation offered was: "cooperate with us, you could be useful to us - join us!".
The Saint, however, viewed the acceptance of this offer as a fall, a loss of "spiritual freedom" and "spiritual death". He thus despised this proposition!
In the Soviet Union in 1927 a similar temptation was offered to the Church via the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius. In this case the atheists did not demand that the Church embrace some heresy or deny faith in Christ; but rather they also said "join us". This is why the New Martyrs of the Catacomb Church rejected the declaration - they too, like Valeriu did not want to experience the "spiritual death" of passing into the camp of the Antichrist.
What was offered to Valeriu and the Catacomb Saints was an Apostasy which [supposedly] "alters neither canons or dogmas."
Thus, Fr. Seraphim Rose related that: "All those who protested against the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius were arrested by the Soviet regime as 'counter-revolutionaries'; they were shot or sent to concentration camps and exile. At interrogations the jubilant Chekist-interrogators with sarcasm and evil joy would prove the 'strict canonicity' of Metropolitan Sergius and his Declaration, which 'has not altered either canons or dogmas.'"
In our days, there is a similar global temptation spewing forth from various sources. The Babylonian West, the World Economic Forum, Putin's neo-Soviet regime, and others, are all pushing forward with their own unique plans for a proposed New World Order - whether it be the liberal monstrosity offered by the West, the New World Socialist (and v....nated) Order of the WEF, or the new multi-polar "traditional" and religious World Order sought by Putin, his "Moscow Patriarchate", and other "traditional" blasphemers and enemies of Christ. All of these attempts at building a New World Order bear the stench of Antichrist and are championed by his forerunners!
So, in our day, do we not also face the same temptation that Valeriu Gafencu and the Catacomb Saints once faced? Do we not hear the hissing of both global and, alas, certain Ecclesiastical leaders urging us to join these "authorities" in their endeavors to "save" humanity. Do we not hear the call to blind obedience - the call of "join us", submit yourselves to us, embrace our agenda, receive our inoculation, rejoice in our joys - sorrow in our sorrows? Do we not hear the ancient serpent beckoning to us: keep your canons and your dogmas - just join us, just submit, just build the kingdom of Antichrist with us!
May God help us! It is now very late... The pressure will soon turn into demands.