\u201cTHE WOUNDED TORTURER\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2026Neither man would describe what they\u2019d endured. \u201cIt is secret, intimate,\u201d Fr. Roman said, \u201cI saw saints fall, and I saw the simple rise and become saints.\u201d Fr. George admitted that he gave way under torture. When a victim is out of his mind with pain, he doesn\u2019t know what he is saying. Fr. George told his interviewer, \u201cIt was a spiritual fight, between good spirits and evil spirits. And we failed on the field of battle; we failed, many of us, because it was beyond our ability to resist \u2026 The limit of the human soul\u2019s resistance was tried there by the devil.\u201d <\/p>\n This emotional and spiritual damage was even worse than the physical pain. Fr. George went on, \u201cWhen you were tortured, after one or two hours of suffering, the pain would not be so strong. But after denying God and knowing yourself to be a blasphemer\u2014that was the pain that lasted \u2026 We forgive the torturers. But it is very difficult to forgive ourselves.\u201d At night a wash of tears would come, and with it, returning prayer. \u201cYou knew very well that the next day you would again say something against God. But a few moments in the night, when you started to cry and to pray to God to forgive you and help you, was very good.\u201d<\/p>\n Fr. George once attempted to write a memoir of his Pitesti experience, but found it impossible: \u201cSometimes I was hammering at one word, timidly, then persistently, then intensely, to madness. The word became nothing other than a sequence of letters or sounds. It had no meaning. It didn\u2019t tell me anything. I would say: \u2018beating\u2019 or \u2018pain\u2019 or \u2018prayer\u2019 or \u2018curse\u2019 \u2026 and I would substitute one for another without any change; none told me anything! I would say \u2018cell\u2019 and the word would not speak. I could say instead \u2018lelc\u2019 or \u2018clel\u2019 or \u2018ellc\u2019 with the same result. Everything was mute and absurd.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n Yet the worst was still to come. In order to demonstrate that they had truly become \u201cthe Communist man,\u201d in order to fully embody the persona demanded of them, these mentally and physically battered prisoners were required to become torturers. They were compelled to assist in the \u201cre-education\u201d of new prisoners, and any reluctance or leniency was cruelly punished.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n more <\/a>(via Mark Shea<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cTHE WOUNDED TORTURER\u201d: \u2026Neither man would describe what they\u2019d endured. \u201cIt is secret, intimate,\u201d Fr. Roman said, \u201cI saw saints fall, and I saw the simple rise and become saints.\u201d Fr. George admitted that he gave way under torture. When a victim is out of his mind with pain, he doesn\u2019t know what he is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n