Romanian religious prose

Litterae No. I (VIII) / 2019 The Wonderful Land Virgil Oprescu Runceanu

Voicu, the son of Catinca and Spirea – a former revolutionary from 1848 who had been imprisoned at Văcărești – sets off from Piscul Măgurii towards the Frăsinei Hermitage, across the River Olt, to ask Father Policarp to unlock a bag of sworn gold coins, an inheritance from his father, in order to buy back Greere’s Mill.

Litterae No. III (VII) / 2018 The Mother Superior Rev. Dr. Ștefan Zară

Mother Elisaveta, the abbess of Surpatele Monastery, prays in distress following a dream in which she sees the monastery being plundered and her own funeral, wondering whether this revelation is from God or a diabolical deception. Alongside her are depicted the figures of the young Anica, gifted with the talents of psalm-singing and icon-painting, and of Archimandrite Simeon, a devoted ascetic from the community of Dintr-un Lemn Monastery.

Litterae No. II (VI) / 2018 The Virgin of the Ivy Andrei Cărpeneanu

A young man named Tudor, weighed down by sin and a strange loss of memory, seeks salvation at the cell of Father Zosima, a hermit who listens to him, comforts him and urges him to bear his own cross. This extract, with hints of mystical prose, captures their spiritual dialogue and Tudor’s inner transformation through prayer and repentance.

Litterae No. I (V) / 2018 The Wanderer Andrei Cărpeneanu

This excerpt from a work of fiction presents a dialogue between Abbot Partenie and the writer-philosopher Voina, set in a monastery, centred on the themes of authentic preaching, the Church’s role in relation to young people and society, and the political crisis in which a character named Rusceanu is proposed as prime minister. The narrative tension deepens through the revelation of Voina’s personal tragedy — Sonia’s sudden death and Pavel’s despair — and through the contrast between the writer’s worldly eloquence and the monk’s inner prayer.

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