Importanța mișcării isihaste „RUGUL APRINS“ în spiritualitatea ortodoxă și în cultura român

Abstract

The Hesychast movement Rugul
Aprins (The Burning Bush) represents a model
of spiritual strengthening and resistance thro‑
ugh culture against atheistic-materialistic pro‑
paganda and the persecution of the totalitarian
communist regime in the post-war period. The
initiative of journalist Sandu Tudor (Alexandru
Teodorescu, who later became the monk Daniil) took the form of a series of meetings, presentati‑
ons, and debates between various clergy, monks, intellectuals, students, and laypeople organized
at the Antim Monastery in Bucharest between 1945 and 1948. Participants addressed spiritual topics such as the practice of unceasing prayer, the attainment of peace, the connection and difference between theological, artistic, and scientific modes of knowledge, and theology between contemplation and healing.
Uncomfortable for the communist authorities, the Hesychast movement Rugul
Aprins was outlawed in June 1948, the conferences were interrupted, and its clerical
members were scattered to various monasteries throughout the country, considering
such gatherings illegal and “hostile” to the social order. But the brutal repression of the movement in June 1958, when most of its members were arrested and sentenced to
long prison terms (some, such as Father Daniil – Sandu Tudor, dying in detention), was
a test of their professed faith in Jesus Christ the Savior and in eternal Christian values,
even in the face of violent persecution and humiliating mockery.
The Hesychast movement Rugul Aprins enriched its members in faith and conscience (both ecclesiastical and national), but also represented an environment of cultural emulation, with mystical experiences taking shape in many works of art (pictorial, musical, literary, poetic, philosophical, scientific) and inspiring generations of Christian intellectuals to this day