Hope in God – Father Pimen Vlad
19 August 2022
Disobedience, Reproof, Tyranny – Father Theologos
23 August 2022
How is the way of sanctification, which is holy tradition, expressed in the daily life of young people? What is the mindset of Orthodox students today compared to those of the past? What are the challenges of an Orthodox student today?
You will find the answers to these questions as well as to many others in a very interesting and well-documented video made together with Silvian Emanuel Man, honorary president of the Iași League of Students, doctoral student in history.
Enjoy!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, and now and ever and unto the ages and ages. Amen
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen
Presentation
Today, I’m with a guest so dear to my heart, we’ve known each other for a while. Some of you know him, some of you don’t. In any case he has been a student for a very long time, of course he is now a PhD student if I am not mistaken, yes. PhD student in… history. In any case, he has studied law, in history, and theology, so to speak, and above all he has studies in student life, in the life of young people.
We won’t talk a lot… of course he will use his knowledge in law, history and theology, but we will mainly talk about young people, the Church and civic life, the life in the city.
For those who don’t know him, his name is Silvian. Silvian Emanuel Man, and, as I said, he is a very active person How many years were you in the Students’ League?
Silvian Emanuel Man: From its foundation to 2019, President, for six years, and since 2019, Honorary President – I’m still active, in fact.
The Holy Tradition in the vision of a layman
Father Theologos: Yes, yes, exactly. So based on your experience, we’d like to talk a bit about young people in the Church and what a young person needs to do today to be a Christian in everyday life.
The first thing that concerns me very much is the Holy Tradition which is generally associated with monasticism and it is to be expected. But the Holy Tradition as a way of sanctification must also be applied in the world, and when I say in the world, it must also be applied from an ascetical point of view – prayer and all the rest, but also from the point of view, as I said, of Christian activity in everyday life.
Because Silvian is a layman, meaning he is a Christian in everyday life, I asked him to speak [on the matter]. How do you see the Holy Tradition, how do you see the way of sanctification in everyday life for a young person today?
Silvian Emanuel Man: Yes. The advantage is somehow that I had the opportunity since high school to come into direct contact with some keepers of the holy tradition, namely former political prisoners [of the communist regime].
The Holy Tradition, let us explain for those who do not know, is in fact the Church’s teaching transmitted by the living word. Father Theologos: Exactly.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Which at some point ends up being written down, by the way. And somehow, they represent for our Church, the people through whom the Church’s teaching is transmitted in its purest form, especially for the times in which we live.
Father Theologos: That’s right. They say they are political prisoners, but they are actually spiritual people. So today they no longer deal with the political sphere in the sense of party, in the partisan sense, but in the global sense, in the sense of Christ, in the spiritual sense. And that is why Silvian rightly said that it is about the Holy Tradition and not about politics. Forgive me!
Prison Saints and the Holy Tradition
Silvian Emanuel Man: It is actually about young people who, during that period…- this is a very important question – some believe that these saints of the prisons, as they are called, are people who, finding themselves in the context of communist prisons, having nothing to do in prison, began at some point to discover prayer, to have a certain Christian life and so on.
This is totally false. Because they had precisely this understanding of faith even before they entered detention, and this was assumed first and foremost in their work in student organizations. It is a lesser known fact that there is, shall we say, a line of continuity of Romanian studentship along Christian lines.That is, whether we start, for example, along this line from a great and important leader of young people in the modern period – it is Avram Iancu.
Father Theologos: Oh
Young people from the past
Silvian Emanuel Man: That he was the students’ leader at the time, legal…
Father Theologos: Exactly. Not known.
Silvian Emanuel Man: It is not known and he even left his fortune and his will in the idea that young people should be further educated to become teachers, priests, but especially lawyers to defend the rights of the Romanian nation. This line was continued after that with great success and last year was the 150th anniversary of the Putna Congress of 1871, of Mihai Eminescu…
Father Theologos: Yeah… You really had a [speech there]…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Ioan Slavici and A.D. Xenopol. And even A. D. Xenopol in the speech he gave then in Putna and for which he was awarded insisted precisely on this issue: the attention to metanoia. So he insists on the question of a change of thinking, a change of attitude, and he, as a student leader at the time, fresh from his doctorate in history, having returned from Berlin, raises the question of the struggle with the self. Which seems such a pure matter..
Father Theologos: What does that have to do with…, yeah.
Silvian Emanuel Man: What does it have to do with student life. That is to say, issues that today you generally discover in books written by monks or coming from this monastic environment. In fact, they had been assumed beforehand among the student elite. That is, a student leader says that the Orthodox Church is the mother of the Romanian people. I mean Eminescu.
Father Theologos: Eminescu, yes.
Silvian Emanuel Man: And in fact, it enters a very interesting line of assuming, let’s say, a Christian confession, but also a national struggle. Very few people know about this episode early in Nicolae Iorga’s career, when he urged students to protest the fact that the theatre was almost only in French. So there is a point at the beginning of the 20th century when there was almost no theatre in Romanian. And he made them protest and urged and guided them in the direction of having a Romanian artistic culture.
Father Theologos: Obviously
Silvian Emanuel Man: This line was continued in the interwar period, and then students took on a more pragmatic issue. For example, from the 1920s onwards there was a clear prayer programme, meaning weekly, the Paraklesis of the Mother of God, the Akathist of the Intercession of the Mother of God. So there were prayers that they practiced.
The elders of the Apuseni Mountains
And here is a very interesting matter because the student leaders of that time went to discover what they had to do, they followed, so to speak, in the footsteps of the Holy Tradition the elders they had available at the time, i.e. the elders of the Apuseni Mountains, who at the age of 14, 15, 16 had been enlisted in Avram Iancu’s legions.
And here, for those who have not been to the Apuseni Mountains before, I advise you: brethren, go to the Apuseni Mountains!
Father Theologos: I agree.
Silvian Emanuel Man: To my shame, I only got there for the first time this past fall…
Father Theologos: Yes? Shamefully, yes…
Silvian Emanuel Man: And I made the sign of the cross and said that if all Romanians were “moți”, God, the world would change.
Father Theologos: Yes, I know, I have been there.
Silvian Emanuel Man: So the face of the world would change because these people have the determination and the faith and, strangely, there are many villages now in the Apuseni where the Holy Liturgy is unfortunately held every 2-3 weeks because there are no priests.
Father Theologos: Yes…
Silvian Emanuel Man: But those people have an extraordinary strength and display of faith. And these young people found this manifestation of faith in these elders.
Father Theologos: A definite [faith]!
Life experience of those in prisons
Silvian Emanuel Man: Definite! Then they translated it into their student organization environment. Now, speaking of those who have suffered in prisons. Many say communist prisons, but we also have an earlier suffering.
Father Theologos: That’s right, yes.
Silvian Emanuel Man: So basically students started to be imprisoned from the 1920s. That is to say, by 1948, when we had the great generation of May 15, 1948, from that terrible night when thousands of young people were arrested by the authorities, we already had 20 or so years of prison experience in the student movement. During this time, these students learned what to do in prison, what their survival strategies are
Father Theologos: Spiritual.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Spiritual. Including the practical ones: communicating via Morse code, dealing with people in the prison system and so on. But they had already been practicing prayer in prison for 20-something years. So it was not foreign to them, so to speak; for the generation of those who entered communist prisons, it was not a spontaneous act. So its been 20-something years, just as the assumption of anti-communist armed resistance was an assumed fact.
I mean, Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu didn’t wake up overnight – I’m going to the mountains with a gun in my hand to fight against the Soviets. Already, for example, in 1931 at the level of university student centers, they have had the strategy of recruiting, students who had already done their military service strategy, offering those leadership positions to those who already had ranks and were in reserve, and for them to oversee the military training. Pay attention, today, this is a very important fact: it was not for organizing a coup…
Father Theologos: So not for a political purpose…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Not on a political level, but strictly to defend the country in case of any situation – whether we had problems with Germany, or with Hungary because they were two revisionist powers, or especially with the Soviet Union.
So there was this awareness at the time when it came both to communal and personal prayer within the student organizations, and to defending the country.
Spirituality and patriotism
Father Theologos: Yes and it is very important that the students never thought of organizing, as they say, a coup or having their political party. No. But they wanted to defend the being of the nation and its spirituality which is closely linked to the being of the nation. Because Romanians were born Orthodox, as they say. So we don’t have the consciousness of a pagan history behind us even if some come with Dacian gods and so on. We don’t have this consciousness and, to us, our history is inextricably linked to God.
Valuable bonds of friendship
Silvian Emanuel Man: And here comes the disturbing thing: we met people of extraordinary spiritual power. What you can see in a recording. The recording moves you, you learn something, it’s true, but the personal experience of getting to know a former political prisoner, interacting with them, entering into a relationship of friendship – that’s what I encouraged my colleagues a lot to do, to develop personal relationships with them.
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah. Have courage!
Silvian Emanuel Man: To have courage and here there have been situations where some have exposed to us some absolutely shocking personal facts of their life. That is, we all had a personal impression of them, immaculate to say the least, until some towards the end of their lives had moments when they confessed to us some great sins of their youth for which they consider they went to prison.
Confessions
They from that perspective didn’t say “I went to prison…”. I mean, somehow initially that was the declarative part. Some went to prison and that was the context of the time because they were members of the Brotherhoods of the Cross of the Legionary Movement and because they had anti-communist, Christian activity that did not suit… It did not suit Charles II either…
Father Theologos: Exactly, because he wasn’t anti-communist.
Silvian Emanuel Man: And the corruption that he actually generated and the totalitarian system he established in Romania…
Father Theologos: He imposed it, it was dictatorship…
Silvian Emanuel Man: It didn’t suit Antonescu, it didn’t suit the communists. But some have confessed things to us towards the end of their lives and I will give two examples here. I’m talking about Gelu, namely Gheorghe Gheorghiu, a student at the Polytechnic University. And here’s a fact: he died on July 22. Some even died on the same day, very interestingly over time, having been friends and acquaintances in prisons. He died on the same day as Father Ilie Lăcătușu.
Gheorghe Gheorghiu – repentance
At the end he told us this while crying. He had arrived in a very complicated state of health and crying said: “Hey, no matter how much I prayed, no matter how much I confessed, I think God hasn’t forgiven me. Here’s why I went to prison. In ’47 whole I was a student, I lived with my girlfriend at the time, got her pregnant, didn’t want the baby and made her have an abortion.”
They didn’t have children afterwards. Let’s understand that generally those who were in communist prisons, being subjected to a very harsh regime, biologically could not [have children anymore].
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah…
Silvian Emanuel Man: And he was crying over this thing and he said he was still praying. “Pray for me because I believe [it’s] for this sin of mine. Even though I spent 16 years in prison, God has not forgiven me.”
Father Theologos: So that’s really a saintly life, so to speak, one of deep repentance.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Of deep repentance…
Father Theologos: So there’s no question of communism, that we are against it and so on, but even if they were against Charles II’s comrades, God forbid. It was only and only for spiritual reasons.
History
Silvian Emanuel Man: Well, that was it, that they didn’t criticize Charles II – that the student body at that time had some strong criticism against Charles II, especially for his relationship with Elena Lupescu…
Father Theologos: Yes… The famous [mistress], yes…
Silvian Emanuel Man: So for all the corruption that was beginning to swirl in the country and for his style of leadership. In the end he destabilized Romania. That’s what he did. He kept changing ministers so that he could arrive at this totalitarian formula that he imposed. For Christian reasons, i.e. they did not criticize Charles II or criticize a political decision to gain an advantage.
Father Theologos: Exactly!
Silvian Emanuel Man: Likewise, the criticism of Antonescu for the abuses he made, also for Christian reasons. So it wasn’t a goal.
Father Theologos: Yes, and what is phenomenal here is that God validated them even in prison. That is, they have succeeded and even conquered prison so God could show this is the way. This is the way.
Silvian Emanuel Man: And another very good example, also of a Gheorghe, Gheorghe Șufaru, who was one of the last.. he passed away last year unfortunately. I think he was the last representative of the anti-communist theology students who took refuge in Suceava in the late 1940s.
He thinks he went to prison for having been with his wife, while unmarried.
So… and crying, I mean you would see some of them if you came maybe half an hour early or came unannounced to visit, there are some who would come out of their room full of tears. I remember all the time, and I know you knew Marin Răducă.
Father Theologos: Yes…
Marin Răducă and the gift of tears
Silvian Emanuel Man: So in the evening there was an hour when he had his prayer schedule, you could get to him at any so anyway in the evening if you got to him before he went out for his evening walk, you would find him with tears in his eyes. Eyes red with tears. So think, spiritually, it was the gift of tears.
Father Theologos: Obviously and they were not crying for the injustice the communists did and so on. No. They wept for their sins.
Silvian Emanuel Man: They as a generation – here, Father Calciu speaks, he has that saying at one point in an interview, he says that: “Who did we think we were, that we could save the Romanian people? God has shown us who we were.” But they actually took on the sins of others through this sacrifice.
Youths and… contemporary youths
Education
Father Theologos: Obviously, obviously, obviously. And now a cruel, harsh and mean question and… Compare all that with today’s youth!
Silvian Emanuel Man: It’s very difficult because on the one hand, it’s really a question of background. Because for better or worse, the education system they caught was something else entirely. At one point we even did an experiment at the league together with an organization of students – the Students’ League of Iasi – colleagues of ours. I put history, geography and Romanian language textbooks in front of them. Textbooks from the interwar period. And today’s textbooks. Compare the two!
And the comparison roughly came down to this: apart from the fact that these new ones have graphics and pictures and are in color, the inter-war ones in terms of the way the information is presented, the structure, the fact that they don’t treat you as if you were a bit mentally retarded, meaning that they treat you like a grown-up.
Father Theologos: Exactly.
Silvian Emanuel Man: For whoever wants to understand some of the deeper aspects of these disciplines, those are much better! So these people, however, had a school that educated them in a certain spirit, they had a certain context, it was a context of society…
Father Theologos: It made them mature…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Maturing. We lack this context. This is a problem. So to bear needs from that perspective, to reach the heights of those from the past, it is much harder today.
On the other hand, they had this accountability. So before, when you gave your word about something, and I’ve seen it especially with them, even if they were in their 80s, 90s, (they had) extraordinary punctuality. If you set an hour with them, they would get mad at you and lecture you for being two minutes late. But it was a matter of giving your word.
Father Theologos: Yes, that’s right.
Silvian Emanuel Man: I mean, he gave you his word and he respects that..
Father Theologos: [They were] reliable!
Brotherhoods of the Cross
Silvian Emanuel Man: For example, they did these exercises, and this is what happened in the Brotherhoods of the Cross, there were the try-outs before being admitted… We should understand these Brotherhoods were not political organizations; they were actually a sort of school for building strong characters, where they chiseled each other and, primarily for the boys, there was the advantage that they actually became much manlier themselves, they learned to become men in these Brotherhoods of the Cross. There were also sister organizations for girls – the Fortresses. Anyway, they were taken over afterwards by Charles II, turned into the guards, taken over into the Hawks of the Fatherland and so on. But it was a free organization. So it wasn’t an institutionalized state organization that had goals.
And there they are, in their circle of friends, because what does it mean to be a brother of the cross? This institution was also created based on the experience in the Apuseni Mountains because those who fought in Avram Iancu’s legions and the… How could the “moți” group together?
In Transylvania we have this old, medieval legal institution of the Brotherhoods of the Cross. Basically, those were children had been baptized in the same water at baptism because, at the time, you couldn’t baptize your child at any time. They got to grow up together, they had a strong emotional bond. You could not, as a brother of the cross, for example, from this perspective, take your brother’s sister as your wife. You had to go to another village.
Going to another village, this generated population movement, because the population dynamics in Transylvania has always been different from that in Moldova, Wallachia and historically, in fact, it was a demographic source for the Romanian countries because many people from Transylvania moved to Wallachia and Moldova.
Coming back, in these brotherhoods of the cross, they were already grouped together, that is, they grew together, they had a conscience of their own. When they went to battle or to work, they went together, they kept in touch. When Avram Iancu had to awaken the Land of the Moți, he did not go knocking from gate to gate. So people went straight to the heads of the brotherhoods of the cross at the time.
Father Theologos: I understand, yes, yes, yes…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Well, the same organization was actually taken over in the interwar period and its success was seen in the 1940s, especially.
Father Theologos: So it was extended from Transylvania to the whole country.
Test of courage
Silvian Emanuel Man: All over the country. Here, for example, they had these tests. You had to pass a test of courage. At 3 a.m., it doesn’t matter if it’s snowing, raining, thundering, that the wind is blowing at what hourly speed or trees are falling down, you will have to go from point A to point B and deliver a letter or an object.
If you didn’t pass the test, from that point of view, you didn’t get in, it was clear. And it basically put you in front of some fears. I mean, these people weren’t afraid of the dark, afraid of the authorities…
Father Theologos: Yes, there were some assumptions that today, unfortunately, today’s civilization teaches us exactly the opposite: be careful so that something doesn’t happen to you, be careful so that nothing happens to you, and so on…
Silvian Emanuel Man: When these children entered the prisons, they were already physically hardened. So they were mentally hardened. I mean, what is it that I sleep in the cold? Ho, how many nights have I slept in the woods at night, in the cold, I mean it’s not a big deal that I sleep in the cold!
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah. But it’s first of all a mental set up…
Silvian Emanuel Man: That’s it! They had this settlement, and what today’s generation in particular lacks: something that those of the past did not have. One thing is precaution, right judgment, another is fear.
Father Theologos: Yes!
Fear
Silvian Emanuel Man: Today’s generation and not only that… I think first of all, our parents’ generation especially, unfortunately, it’s not my personal case, but the parents of our generation have kind of taught us fear. Be careful when it comes to that teacher, don’t upset him, don’t bother him, don’t get in his way, don’t stress him out…
Father Theologos: It is a terror and this fear is an institutionalized fear not only in Romania, but in general.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Globally. So everywhere there is somehow this attitude of fear.
Father Theologos: Psychosis.
Silvian Emanuel Man: There is still a hint of freedom. We’ve seen protests in Canada, we’re seeing them now in the Netherlands, we’re seeing them in other countries. But we see this obsession of the authorities precisely in countries that actually had liberal regimes at their base and that created the notion of freedom, to have precisely this state rant: “Hey, easy there with your freedom, it’s not good!”
Father Theologos: Yes, because all these extremes come from the fact that man no longer fears God. The moment man is afraid of God, the moment everything falls into place and man is no longer afraid of anything else.
Among students
Silvian Emanuel Man: That’s it… I see this thing and that’s what I’ve been trying to do, as we have a spiritual approach to League-related work. We meet students who… and that’s the paradox right at the beginning. When we started the League, we didn’t have many students, we didn’t have many people from the Church. “I’m afraid, it’s hard, it’s complicated, but what will so-and-so say, but what will x say and so on.”
In general, we had guys who, well, had a beer or something in one hand, smoked a joint or something, because they had an energy of their own. I mean, they were able to go and get their point straight to a dean, or a rector, reporting an injustice, they could do that. Our Christian students said nothing.
We have now seen this whole story when they come to us on various issues and there are concrete situations where they say: brethren, it is one thing for us to speak and defend you, but you also have to take on some issues as an individual, such as taking legal action against a university.
Father Theologos: And this happens spiritually because otherwise it goes to extremes and does not…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Yes, but “I’m afraid”. Afraid of what? “Well, what will the dean say? What will the teachers say? They’re going to lower my grades.” So? You mean you want justice, you want it to be right? I mean, they often end up having to compromise because this fear, first of all, is an essential thing, it’s going to sound harsh – but people who are afraid are not true Christians because it means they don’t put their trust in God.
Authority
Father Theologos: Yes, they are not afraid of God! They’re afraid…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Yes, they are not afraid of God. I mean, the moment…
Father Theologos: They have a god somewhere else or made something else into a god.
Silvian Emanuel Man: And we see this in people. That is, the higher the authority, the more often we mock God and disrespect Him. “Eh, God has forgotten me, he’s up there in heaven, I don’t know where”. We can say nasty things about the president, the prime minister, the ministers. They don’t hear us, they don’t see us, but God forbid you say anything about the immediate boss directly. Because that one has the authority to burn you. So with God… you see you did something stupid, eh… get one more day.
And this is the big problem: if we were really afraid of God, you would say nicely… I had this kind of experience with some colleagues – “Hey, you tell the rector to his face and not… who are you to… if the law is the law, is what you did right? Let’s respect…”. The first thing, not necessarily the appeal to the law as the law can bend overnight.
On the call for respect, the big problem in higher education is that it actually cultivates a lack of respect for the intrinsic human being. If before there was this morality, not to say Christian morality, as it existed somehow, universities appeared in monasteries, but at least for the Kantian morality, the idea that man has a meaning in himself…
Father Theologos: He has value as a person…
Values
Silvian Emanuel Man: He has intrinsic value. This stuff doesn’t exist in universities anymore. So it’s totally broken and then people grow up… And that’s what I started from as a motivation, a moral one – not for the Christian aspect, but the ethical aspect. When students actually grow up with the idea that it is normal for someone to make fun of them, that it is normal for them to submit to a worldly authority that only has a political power over them, over which they have not consented, mind you, because generally students don’t get involved in these matters of university politics, elections and so on, there are only a few organizations and interest groups and that’s it, and then it seems normal to them.
They leave university, and school as well, in general, trained this way. They go out in life and so it seems right to them that the state should abuse, make issues and from that there is but one step to compromise in their faith as well. And this is happening in universities because in all seriousness there is no group more discriminated against, more mocked than Christian students. To go and say that you are a Christian, that you fast, to make the sign of the cross when you pass by the church… “but do you believe in God?”
Father Theologos: I’m guessing it’s not the theology professors, right?
Silvian Emanuel Man: Not theology professors. Obviously. By university professors or colleagues. “You don’t believe in science?”
Father Theologos: Ah, colleagues, colleagues…
Silvian Emanuel Man: So there is strong peer pressure from that perspective and…
Attitudes
Father Theologos: So it’s first and foremost the colleagues who do this?
Silvian Emanuel Man: We have had a lot of situations where we had to make a stand on teachers. That is to say, there have been cases of teachers, one at least a little shrewder like that, who said, invoking the unclean one, that precisely in his name they will put a midterm on Sunday, two groups from 8 to 10, two groups from 10 to 12, so that none of us, nor others, can attend the Liturgy.
Father Theologos: God forbid!
Silvian Emanuel Man: I mean they said it straight out. Or teachers who after Easter, I mean, especially in years when Catholic Easter and Orthodox Easter have different dates: “ah, but what, did He rise again?” I mean, give me a break. So there is somehow this anti-clerical spirit unfortunately in the education system and it is cultivated and carried on.
And then, sometimes one of your colleagues comes to you: “you know, yeah, I’m a Christian, I go to church too”. But they are afraid to come forward. And this I think it’s best seen, unfortunately, Christians are most fearful at Medicine School. So I don’t think there are faculties where the environment is more atheistic from this perspective, more anti-Christian as an attitude as in Medicine because there is this false conception that the Church is against medicine…
Father Theologos: Against science, against the body…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Against science, against the body, that the Church has absolutely no general scientific contribution and so on. And they are raised in this form and here is ground zero. You, people, are Christians. Yes. If you really are a Christian, then you have to do something, I mean there has to be some small act of confession because the moment you go to the secretary with a request or a student problem and you face the dean, even if it’s a mundane matter, it’s an act of courage, it makes your heart grow a little bit. I mean you realize that God is up there, protecting you, that the devil is not as black as he seems, by the power of God. But that’s not what very many people do and that’s where they lose.
Let’s not lose the bond of love!
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah, because what’s going on? Let’s understand each other: so I believe that great care must be taken not to lose the bond of love with God and the teaching body. That means we have the two extremes. One extreme is: we lose the connection of love with God to the love of the world or ultimately to personal love, to self-love, and on the other hand, we lose love with teachers or with someone else, and through that we still lose love with God, and we end up in the other extreme, which is going for the sake of making a scandal and so on.
A great deal of discernment is needed, and this is given by the whole ascetic spirit, obedience to an experienced spiritual father who says – brethren, up to this point be careful to keep a balance, to be Christians nevertheless!
Silvian Emanuel Man: Yes, because there are situations that can be resolved, as they say in Romanian, by small agreement. It’s solved with a civil, nice, loving discussion. There are situations where protests, strikes and other coercive means are needed – press releases accusing so-and-so of doing something and so on. That’s part of the struggle.
Father Theologos: Oh…
Silvian Emanuel Man: There needs to be a balance here, which is very important.
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah. Let love never be slapped away!
Silvian Emanuel Man: Yes, this is essential.
Father Theologos: And towards God and towards people.
Silvian Emanuel Man: There were issues… it also depends a lot on… I mean you as a transmitter is one thing, but the receiver also matters.
Father Theologos: Exactly.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Because there have been many situations that have only been resolved through dialogue. Only that.
Father Theologos: Yes, yes, obviously.
Silvian Emanuel Man: So only through dialogue and often, obviously, that doesn’t happen. In the press you see the scandals, obviously.
Father Theologos: Yes, yes, that’s what the press wants.
Silvian Emanuel Man: But the work of love is often not public, it is unseen.
Father Theologos: Exactly. This is a big problem with the press, and not with the press itself, but with the spirit that animates the press. Because the press and people who are sinners want scandal. They don’t want good deeds unfortunately. It’s a great pity. I think we should promote good deeds more, there is a strong need to promote an authentic spirit.
Extremes
Silvian Emanuel Man: In the student environment there are two general extremes. On the one hand, you have the extreme of general student organizations however they may be named – league, student association of faculty of whatever or wherever. What’s in their program? It’s fall – the freshman prom. Some sort of a party, Christmas charity event. Spring comes, we’re doing a sports competition for students. We do something charitable for Easter, possibly something with bunnies, because Easter is about bunnies..
Father Theologos: Very good… When it comes to spiritual development, is there anything about it?
Silvian Emanuel Man: Nothing, because that was one of the first issues that I raised in the League because I had been through other organizations, student structures, I saw what was going on there. For the ears of those watching us, I won’t say what I saw there. But that’s one of the things I went on the road for, that first of all, we need to create a student environment that is at least without passions.
Father Theologos: Exactly.
Silvian Emanuel Man: So, those over “God help us!” But first of all, lacking sinful passions. I mean no tobacco, no alcohol, no going from one to another and other such things. Because the big problem in the student environment is that…
Father Theologos: And above all, no passionate hatred of teachers!
Silvian Emanuel Man: So… It also depends on the attitude because that’s what’s painful: it’s preferable the attitude in which you tell the teacher things straight to his face and even if you end up arguing with him, but it’s better, in my opinion, than the gossip they do – “eh, that teacher is something, I don’t know what, I don’t know how”, which is done by those who practice, whatever, the things I said earlier, but which has no result.
Yes, of course, the devil rejoices. That is, one is gossiping about the other, the teacher is mocking them, but there is not the minimal interaction that would produce a result that would improve the overall situation.
Communication
Father Theologos: Has this produced results?
Silvian Emanuel Man: Results have been produced by this interaction even with scandal. You make a scandal… it’s very important, the scandal should be for a reason, i.e. not a scandal for the sake of scandal.
Father Theologos: Yes, for your sake.
Silvian Emanuel Man: For some reason. Because when a situation arises, we see it, we take it step by step: Can we talk to the man? Is there any way to kindly resolve this? Yes. No. What is his position? And unfortunately there are situations where things are only solved through scandal, but the scandal is focused on the issue, it’s isolated, that’s all. I mean no…Ah, if the scandal is part of an ensemble, let’s say, of issues, you introduce the ensemble, obviously. But there have been situations where, for example, some media representatives have said, “yes, don’t you want to say this and that?” Because any information that we did not verify through our sources could be used by someone for political reasons, power and so on. We didn’t do that.
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah.
Silvian Emanuel Man: So all along we maintained respect.
Father Theologos: So don’t resent the person, just try to resolve [the conflict]…
Silvian Emanuel Man: We don’t hold it against the person. We really have this thing, I mean… Okay, we didn’t hold anything against anyone, whatever. I will say that we became very well-known at some point because of this conflict we had with the former and current rector of the university, but it was not a personal matter, so to speak. I mean, well, God bless him, give him wisdom, he made some mistakes, we charged him for those… that’s… in our opinion…
But in the end, God should enlighten all professors, rectors, i.e. as the Church prays for the mayors of cities and villages, so should students pray for the enlightenment of deans, professors, rectors…
Father Theologos: Exactly. And their own.
Silvian Emanuel Man: And their own. So, that some should be mentioned in the Psalter by the deeds they do is another matter.
Father Theologos: Yes, let’s be careful though! Let’s be careful, as I was saying!
Trends
Silvian Emanuel Man: Because that’s what I’m saying, one of the extremes. Because at the moment in Romania, for at least 15 years now, the context of the emergence of a… and it largely already exists. So in Romania we have three student federations that mostly blow the leftist trumpet, yes. Very often we clashed with the interests of our so-called colleagues who supported one thing and we supported another. At this moment we have the context, let’s say, for the creation of a current just as it was in America in 1968, that is, a Left movement that takes over the universities and by this form we have a generation bewitched by these ideals of the Marxist left.
Father Theologos: The problem is that it’s a Marxist left, that’s the problem.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Totally assumed.
Father Theologos: Atheist and…
Silvian Emanuel Man: We have colleagues, that is, from discussions, who said that Romania would be different if there were no Church at all, that is, there would be saucers flying everywhere, taxis, helicopters and other wonders…
Father Theologos: Yes, obviously… That the Church is medieval and…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Retrograde, medieval, the whole lot.
Father Theologos: We know.
Silvian Emanuel Man: On the other extreme, there is a somewhat Christian trend, but it is Christian only in the way of communal prayers, acts of charity, trips to the monastery, folk dances and so on. But at key moments, let me say, there was no concrete assumption or I saw them, because they ask us to solve some problems, let me say, of civic-political order when it comes to education. I mean they push us forward. You go, you do!
Father Theologos: Yes, yes, you speak!…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Well, we take no morbid pleasure in putting, shall we say, our heads in the guillotine, because to come out ahead from that point of view is to…I admit, in worldly terms, to compromise your academic future. Because the moment you’re loud-mouthed, annoying, no one actually wants to have you around. But it’s a good thing, actually. Because unfortunately, that’s what it is. The mission that must be undertaken is a mission, so to speak, of regenerating the old spirit of Romanian students and through this form of regeneration of the university and through this of the education system. Because the education system is broken primarily in the university, where the teachers who have gone on to university education and who are giving birth to the current generations were trained.
So if we succeed, and I say it explicitly. If we manage to maintain a front of defense of values and conduct in universities, we will manage to save what can be saved.
Without passion
Father Theologos: Yes, and it must be made very clear that it must be done together with everyone and against all that is passion whether it is among students or even teachers.
Silvian Emanuel Man: However, the greatest passion that is overwhelming and, unfortunately, also in the Church, is the passion of power. So people who want to hold office for the sake of office I don’t know, so it’s going to be written on their CV or on their tombstone that they were so-and-so. It has no value and this is something I have told my colleagues. Well, folks, politics, power is a means. Everyone must grow up with an attitude of proper reckoning to see whether this means is useful to the end or not. Because if playing power or politics ends up compromising the goal, you might as well leave it alone.
The significance of the university and its leader
Father Theologos: Exactly. And the goal is always salvation, it is the personal perfection of each one of…
Silvian Emanuel Man: That’s it! ” The university at the moment, if we refer to the medieval university, the rector, pater universitas, he was somewhat the spiritual father, let’s say, of the students.
Father Theologos: Yes, yes, yes, he was the spiritual model, so to speak.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Exactly. We no longer have a spiritual ideal in our university today. I mean, what do you go to college for? I ask students on the street this thing. For my degree, to get a job, to work somewhere. I mean there’s this idea that there comes the holy diploma, I’ve got it and after that success in life is guaranteed. But it is not. Because first of all, I say this as a person who has worked in the private sector, a serious employer wants to see you, your soul, your heart, so that you put your shoulder to the wheel, that you want [to do something], that you have desires – …
Father Theologos: What character you have…
Silvian Emanuel Man: That you have character. You can have a thousand and one skills. They are not worth as much as a real character. So this idea that skills…. Everybody today is learning skills, acquiring skills… But there is nobody today who teaches you character.
Or
Father Theologos: Yes, to be spiritual.
Silvian Emanuel Man: To dedicate myself.
Skill vs. character
Father Theologos: Exactly. Let me tell you something about this especially for young people who have this mirage of skills, as they say, skill is in English, aptitude. So brethren, I don’t know much about the world, but I know a lot about at least the top software industry in the United States. So one of the basic laws, if someone wants to get a job at the big firms in the United States, is that they don’t look for skills. They are not looking for skill They are always looking for character, for characters. Because they say, and this is the golden law, you can look anywhere you want, that skill can be acquired, but a character is honed much harder much, much harder.
And because of that, brethren, of course, you have to learn, to finish your lessons, how not to. But pay attention to your character, pay attention to your passions, pay attention to your spiritual perfection and this is done through Orthodoxy. That is to say, through your fight with the passions, through this therapeutic program, through this therapeutic recipe which is Orthodoxy that gets rid of the passions.
So don’t have… these are all mirages that are from the devil and they are from the evil one. That you want to go to the West without character, without anything and with diploma in hand to be employed somewhere. You won’t be. You won’t be [employed] at a serious firm. And if you are, you’ll be kicked out after a month and so on and you’ll have a very toxic environment and you won’t achieve anything in life. And you’ll be so poor that you won’t have anything but money, if you have that and your life destroyed.
Let me ask you something, one last question.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Yes.
A question
Father Theologos: Do you want to become a teacher?
Silvian Emanuel Man: I’ve been thinking about this. Yes. In all seriousness, yes, because…
Father Theologos: Because we just talked about this…
Silvian Emanuel Man: Because on the one hand, here I could be a bit mean, when you see how some teachers are, you feel the need to get in there and…
Father Theologos: No… Leave them alone!
Silvian Emanuel Man: But on the other side, why? Because it’s a calling.
Father Theologos: Yes.
Silvian Emanuel Man: You feel that call…
Father Theologos: I mean, you say something has to happen. Do it! Can you do it?
Silvian Emanuel Man: It’s the calling after all, telling people things, explaining things, and this calling must give you joy, that is to say, it must be with love.
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah. You can’t be a student all your life.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Not for money. Yes.
Father Theologos: Yes, yes
Silvian Emanuel Man: But not for money, but for the joy of sharing knowledge with others, and especially because this is the big problem today: most young people, especially, have become functionally illiterate.
Father Theologos: Obviously.
Silvian Emanuel Man: I mean, you put a book in their hand and they can’t wait 5 minutes to read it. If YouTube could be the main source of information it would be perfect.
Father Theologos: Yeah… taking YouTube exams.
Silvian Emanuel Man: Worse, TikTok.
Father Theologos: Yeah, yeah, worse.
Silvian Emanuel Man: I figured out why. Because to get a person to read you have to create that motivation. All the motivation. That millions of euros are now being invested for nothing, in fact money is being laundered, in programs to prevent university dropouts, all sorts of things like that. The best solution to combat all the flaws in the higher education system starts at the core.
The essence comes from man, from his soul, that is, if people would do what they do out of love, yes, for others…
Father Theologos: From virtue.
Silvian Emanuel Man: That would be great. I mean there are some teachers who are great researchers, but they don’t have pedagogical talent, yes. It would be much better if they stayed in research, but if they dropped the teaching part because it drives students away, it scares them.
Father Theologos: Yes, it’s not their gift
Silvian Emanuel Man: It’s not their gift. I mean, again, they are extraordinary researchers, fundamental in their field, but they don’t have the power to pass it on. So it would be better [for them] to take a step back and look ahead because…
Conclusions
Father Theologos: Okay, you in? Let the good God help us!
Silvian Emanuel Man: Amen. There are more of us and that was one of the things going on and, even with the League, we have colleagues that we helped with BA papers and that have the openness to receive help. The things we do, whether it’s an undergraduate paper, whether it’s a dissertation, a doctorate, all of those things. Cause it happens that one would go to a teacher to get a topic for their paper. And then they end up not having a joy because they feels they haven’t done something useful.
Father Theologos: Yes, yes
Silvian Emanuel Man: Well, we are trying to enlighten people to research something useful for their soul, but not only for them from this perspective. To be something of, shall I say, historical, national importance, i.e. to make the work functional.
Father Theologos: Spiritual, actionable for themselves and others.
Silvian Emanuel Man: That’s the point, because if we do things just for ourselves, we don’t get anywhere. The most important thing, and here if this is understood, it would change everything, after all, we must give ourselves to others. This is the essence of Christianity.
Father Theologos: Exactly. Love.
Silvian Emanuel Man: As long as we do not give ourselves to others, we are not Christians. So if we gave ourselves wholeheartedly to others, with all the risks involved, and stopped being afraid, we could really see that this country is changing and that things are going differently in this world.
Father Theologos: Amen! Thank you very much!
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen
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