Arsenie Papacioc

Arsenie Papacioc, born Anghel Papacioc on 13 August 1914 (he himself said 15 August) at Misleanu, in Ialomița, was an archimandrite and one of the most sought-⁠after Romanian confessors, a confessor who passed through the prisons of the Antonescu and communist regimes. He died on 19 July 2011 at Techirghiol. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization; his name is not among the sixteen twentieth-⁠century saints canonized by the Synod in July 2024.

He was the seventh child of Vasile and Stanca. He finished the School of Arts and Crafts in Bucharest in 1932 and at eighteen became a member of the Legionary Movement. He worked at Brașov, was interned in the camp at Miercurea Ciuc in 1938 and, under the legionary regime, was head of the district and mayor of Zărnești from October 1940. After the rebellion of January 1941 he was sentenced; in 1942 he tried to cross into Yugoslavia, was caught and sentenced again. He was at Aiud until September 1946, where he belonged to the group of mystics and knew Valeriu Gafencu.

In 1947 he went to Cozia, then lived almost two years as a hermit. In 1949 he was tonsured at Sihăstria, under Cleopa Ilie, with the name Arsenie, and worked a year as a sculptor at the Biblical Institute, in the milieu of Antim Monastery and of the Burning Bush group. He was ordained priest in 1951, was confessor at the Monastic Seminary at Neamț, then priest and abbot at Slatina-⁠Suceava, between 1952 and 1958. In 1958 he was arrested as a member of the Burning Bush, interrogated ninety days at Suceava and sentenced to twenty years of hard labour. He passed through Brașov, Aiud and Jilava and was released in 1964.

After release he was parish priest at Filea de Jos, in Cluj, then confessor at Căldărușani, Dintr-⁠un Lemn and Cernica, and abbot at Cheia in 1969-1970. From 1976 he was confessor of the Skete of Saint Mary at Techirghiol, founded by Patriarch Justinian, where he remained until his death.

Thousands of people went to Techirghiol for confession and counsel, and his short, direct answers were gathered in books: Spiritual Conversations (two volumes, 1984-1986), Father Arsenie Speaks to Us and Eternity Hidden in a Moment (2004). In 2002 he received the National Order of Merit. He publicly opposed ecumenism. He died on 19 July 2011 and was buried at Techirghiol. His cult is alive among believers; as he was a legionary in youth, some historians contest his elevation to sainthood. His memory is kept on 19 July.