Saint Archimandrite Arsenius Papacioc
of Romania.

Archimandrite Arsenie Papacioc was born on 13 August 1914, in Misleanu village, Perieti commune, county of Ialomita, with the civil name Anghel. He was the seventh child of his parents, Vasile and Stanca, and his father worked as a health official over six villages and contributed significantly to the construction of the village church.

In 1932, he graduated the School of Arts and Professions of Bucharest. As a young man, he was drawn to monastic life, though his path would first be interrupted by worldly and political circumstances. At 18 years old, he became a member of the Legionary Movement, participating in a cell in Slobozia, and in December 1933 returned to Bucharest for a legionary camp in Bucharest Noi. After military service, he moved to Brașov, where he worked at the Malaxa armament factory.

He was arrested and condemned under the regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu in 1941 for participation in the Legionary rebellion and affiliation with the Legionary Movement. After his release in 1946, his heart turned fully to monastic life.

In 1947, he was received as a "brother" at Cozia Monastery and passed through several assignments at Cioclovina Skete (1948–1949) and at Sihastria Monastery (1949). He was tonsured into monasticism at Antim Monastery of Bucharest (1950) and ordained priest for Slatina Monastery on 26 September 1950.

Between 1949 and 1950 he worked as a sculptor at the Biblical Institute, and then returned to Bucharest at Antim Monastery, where he was tonsured as a monk, receiving the name Arsenie. He was ordained priest on 26 September 1950, and after receiving priesthood was appointed spiritual father at the Monastic Theological Seminary of Neamț (1951), then moved to Slatina Monastery, of which he was abbot (1952–1958).

While at Antim Monastery, he was engaged at the Biblical and Missionary Institute as a drawer and sculptor and participated in the meetings of the "Burning Bush" movement alongside Father Danil Sandu Tudor, Father Benedict Ghiuș, Father Sofian Boghiu, Father Dumitru Stăniloae, and other members of the Romanian Orthodox elite.

On 14 June 1958, he was arrested and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for "having plotted against the social order," passing through the prisons of Brașov, Aiud, and Jilava until his release in 1964. He spent 14 years in various prisons, enduring severe hardships and maintaining his faith.

After coming out of prison he was appointed priest in Transylvania; he was abbot of Cozia Monastery for a short while, and in 1976 became father confessor of Saint Mary Monastery. After his release from prison, Father Arsenie served as missionary priest in Transylvania and within the Archdiocese of Bucharest, at Cheia, Cernica and Căldăruşani, and from 1976 on at the Saint Mary Stravropegic Monastery Techirghiol.

On July 19, 2011, at the age of ninety-six, the Romanian elder Archimandrite Arsenie (Papacioc) reposed in his cell at Techirghiol Monastery. Believers and priests from across the country, together with the nuns of Sfânta Maria Monastery–Techirghiol, conducted him on his final journey on 21 July 2011.

Archimandrite Arsenie Papacioc remains in the conscience of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a firm monk, wise father confessor and defender of the Orthodox values in hard times for the Romanian Church and nation. His grave at Techirghiol Monastery has become a place of pilgrimage where the father continues to bless those who come to light a candle and ask for his help.

Father Arsenie was a good orator and writer. His books are lights and steps to resurrection for his readers, showing that eternity can be hidden in a moment, as he named one of his books, "Eternity Hidden in a Moment" (2004). Multiple spiritual conversations, letters, and spiritual counsels given or sent by Father Arsenie Papacioc to numerous faithful who came to visit him were published, including "Spiritual Conversations" (2 vols., 1984–1986), "Word on Spiritual Joy," "Only Orthodoxy," "Behold the Spiritual Father" (3 vols., 2006, 2008), and "Small Exhortations toward Salvation".

His memory is present through what he bequeathed to the Church as inheritance and through his prayers in Heaven, not only through his grave near the house where he lived and took confessions, guiding thousands of faithful, but also through the spiritual inheritance bequeathed to the Church through his many sermons.

Archimandrite Arsenius Papacioc (1914–2011) was one of the most important father confessors of the Romanian Orthodoxy. His life spanned nearly a century of profound spiritual struggle, monastic witness, and pastoral care during one of the most turbulent periods of Romanian history.

A symbol of Romanian monasticism of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Father Arsenie served as a great counselor through his exemplary life and profitable teachings, delivered with much warmth and love for his many spiritual children and for the crowds of pilgrims who came to his cell to receive his blessings. In 1976, Father Arsenie Papacioc came to Mănăstirea Sfânta Maria (Saint Mary Monastery) in Techirghiol, where he served 35 years as priest and spiritual father until the end of his earthly life.

As spiritual father of several servants of the Church and of crowds of faithful, Archimandrite Arsenie was a wise counselor, even-tempered and merciful, who always urged the faithful to cultivate the greatest Christian virtue—the love for God and neighbor. He was more a healer of souls wounded by sins than a judge of sinners, harmoniously merging merciful kindness with encouragement for spiritual improvement.