A Scholar

A Scholar, this was the title of the statue carved by Gheorghe Anghel. It was with this title that the statue survived the Communist regime in Romania.

A Prince and a Hierarch, this was the way Tudor Arghezi was speaking about Monsignor Vladimir Ghika. He belonged to a distinguished family of Romanian Princes, and he was a distinguished Prince of the Church. He had passed to Catholicism because he wanted to become more Orthodox.

If we speak about the prime truth of the mind, and about ritual, as the way to express this prime truth, if we understand the need to explore the space between life and death in order to make life victorious, then we should remember what was said about Monsignor Ghika: he was not living the liturgy, because he was dying the liturgy.

He was imprisoned for his firm religious beliefs. He used to say to his prison mates, this prison is holy and we do not realize. He died in prison.

His life was a continual liturgy.

(Icon and Orthodoxy)