Litterae | Martyria

2019 1 article

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.

2018 3 articles

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.

2017 1 article

Litterae No. II (IV) / 2017 The Saint Andrei Cărpeneanu

Gheorghe, a Romanian soldier in the Mountain Hunters Battalion, dies on the front line near Storojineț, on the River Siret, struck down by shrapnel during an artillery attack, and enters a liminal state in which memories of his childhood in Șuța Veche, his years as an apprentice and his life as a labourer intertwine with his contemplation of a foreign town, bright and unexpectedly beautiful. Through the stream of consciousness of an ordinary man, the prose depicts the passage from life to death as a serene liberation, with Gheorghe finally recognising familiar voices and heading towards them barefoot and with a light heart.