The celebrated Romanian writer, hermit and confession father bearing the name of Nicolae Steinhardt was born near Bucharest, in Pantelimon. He was of Jewish descent, born of Romanian mother and a Jewish father. He was a great admirer of the Romanian culture and spirituality, his conversion to Orthodoxy being in perfect harmony with his tremendous […]
Tag Archives: Romania
Romanian countryside; landscape and people in pictures
This gallery contains 2 photos.
This collection of fantastic pictures taken by Marius Grozea in Romania. Thank you Marius for letting me post some of your photos on this site.
Romanian Voice; Two Poems by Nichita Stanescu
Of love
Nichita Stanescu received numerous poetry awards, of which the most important was the Herder Prize (1975) as well as a Nobel Prize nomination.
She remains bored and very beautiful
her black hair is angry,
her bright hand
for ages now has forgotten me,-
for ages too has forgotten itself,
hanging as it has from the neck of a chair.
In the lights I drown myself,
set my jaws against the coursing of the year.
I reveal my teeth to her
but she understands this is no smile-
sweet, illuminated creature
she reveals myself to me while
she remains bored and very beautiful
and for her alone I live
in the appalling world
of this inferior heaven.
Adolescents on the sea
This sea is covered with adolescents
learning to walk on waves, upright,
sometimes resting their arms on the currents,
sometimes gripping a stiff beam of sunlight.
I lie on the broad beach, an angled shape, cut perfectly,
and I ponder them like travelers landing.
An infinite fleet of yawls. I wait to see
a false step, or at least a grounding
up to knee in the diaphanous swell
beneath their measured progress, sounding.
But they are slim and calm – as well,
they’ve learned to walk on waves – and standing.
Nichita Stanescu (born Nichita Hristea Stănescu) (March 31, 1933, Ploieşti—December 13, 1983, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet and essayist. He is the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet, loved by the public and generally held in esteem by literary critics.
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Quote of the week: The way of the Lover
Sufism has played an important role in my life. Here in this page, I am going to share with you all some interesting quotes on Sufism. In Sufism it is said he who tastes knows. See if you can feel the sweetness in the following quotes. I will be adding to this collection slowly over time.
Photo by Marius Grozea. Picture taken in Romania.
The Sufi is absent from himself and present with God.
- Hujwiri
The Sufis do not abandon this world, nor do they hold that human appetites must be done away with; they only discipline those desires that are in discordance with their religious life and the dictates of sound reason.
The do not throw away all the things of this world, nor do they go after them with a vengeance. Rather they know the true value and function of everything upon the earth. They save as much as is necessary. They eat as much as they need to stay healthy
They nourish their bodies and simultaneously set their hearts free. The Beloved becomes the focal point towards which their whole being leans. God becomes the object of their continual adoration and contemplation.
The perfect mystic is neither an ecstatic devotee lost in contemplation of Oneness nor a saintly recluse shunning all commerce with mankind. The true saint goes in and out among the people, eats and sleeps with them, buys and sells in the market, marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never forgets God for a single moment.
-Abu Said
Abu Sa’id : Biography
Abu Sa’id ibn Abi’l-Khayr (d. 440/1049), was an early Sufi shaykh who at different stages of his life was an ascetic, an antinomian ecstatic, and a spiritual guide. He received a Sufi transmission from Abu al-Fadl al-Hasan (or ibn al-Hasan) al-Sarakhsi, whom Abu Sa’id called his “pir” (a Persian word refering to a spiritual guide and often equivalent to “shaykh”). After the death of Abu al-Fadl, Abu Sa’id looked to Abu ‘Abbas al-Qassab (the butcher), whom Abu Sa’id called “shaykh,” for spiritual guidance. The hagiography Asrar al-tawhid is one of the two major sources for what we know of his life and teachings. It has been translated as The Secrets of God’s Mystical Oneness.
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