Saint Sofian of Antim: The Urban Hesychast

Saint Sofian Boghiu (1912–2002), although not as well-known to English-speaking people than some of his contemporaries, such as Elders Cleopa (Ilie), Arsenie (Papacioc), and Paisie (Olaru), was nonetheless a key spiritual figure in twentieth-century Romania. Unlike the others, whose formational spiritual struggles took place in the wilderness, Elder Sofian served God and his neighbour in Antim Monastery, in the heart of Bucharest, Romania’s capital.

Beginning in the early 1940s, Fr. Sofian took part in the “Burning Bush” movement centered in Antim Monastery, where monastics and laymen engaged in prayer, scriptural meditation, and philosophical reflection, centered on the practice of the Jesus Prayer. In 1950, Fr. Sofian became the abbot of Antim, and then, from 1954 to 1958, the abbot of Plumbuita Monastery, also in Bucharest. In 1958, the Communists, who had come to power at the end of World War II, arrested members of the “Burning Bush movement,” including Fr. Sofian, who spent the next six years in Communist prisons. Freed in 1964, he resumed his abbacy at Antim and his ministry to suffering souls. After the fall of Communism in 1989, people flocked to him from all parts of Romania for Confession and spiritual counsel.
Elder Sofian was a gifted theologian and iconographer. His icons can be found in many monasteries and churches, not only in Romania, but also in Syria and Lebanon. In this book are presented many of his outstanding teachings on various aspects of the spiritual life, in the form of conferences, interviews, and homilies. Also included are a brief biography and autobiography, as well as inspiring testimonies of many who were close to him.
344 pages, paperback