The Eucharist as a Foundation for Martyrdom in the Communist Prisons Cover Image

Euharistia ca fundament al martiriului în închisorile comuniste
The Eucharist as a Foundation for Martyrdom in the Communist Prisons

Author(s): Dragos-Dumitru Ursu
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Facultatea de Teologie Ortodoxă Alba Iulia
Keywords: Eucharist; Martyrdom; communist repression; concentrarionary universe

Summary/Abstract: The communist prisons were places of paradox, where the violence of tortures and the brutality of the torturers generated the liberty of spirit, which represented the foundation of the prisoners` resistance to that world of death. While the communist carceral system `off ered` to those imprisoned hunger, cold, beatings, the latt er have off ered in exchange, both to their torturers and to us, creations of the spirit that have crossed the barbed wire of the prison. The study proposes to analyze the relation between eucharist and martyrdom in the communist prisons, by evaluating martyrdom as an intensifi ed eucharist. Through their own death, the prisoners reiterated Christ’s martyrical death. Martyrdom is not just a contextual action, for it represents the crown of a life in Christ. Therefore, the research focuses upon the elements that reinforced the spiritual eff orts of the prisoners. The liturgical life had a major impact on the imprisoned, the Holy communion having represented „nourishment” on the way of martyrdom. The analysis is based on the eucharistical personalities (the priests), the liturgical activity inside the prison cells, the detention poetry with eucharistic themes.

  • Issue Year: XIX/2014
  • Issue No: Suppl_2
  • Page Range: 429-434
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Romanian