Short film about a persecuted Greek Catholic priest in Romania released

Mar 13, 2007 / 07:53 am

“Towards the Sun”, a short film produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) and sponsored by Aid to the Church in Need has been released, focusing on Tertulian Langa, a Greek-Catholic layman, who was imprisoned for 17 years in the Romanian Goulags (1948-1964) and who later became a priest.

In the film Fr. Langa explains his resolution not to cooperate with his captors, even with the threat of loosing his life.  “Once arrested, I was taken to different places for interrogation, where I was beaten without being asked a single question. Since physical abuse produced no result, my torturers began to apply psychological pressure. After every blow, when the torturers demanded ‘Talk!,’ I kept telling myself ‘I won’t talk.’”

CRTN Director Mark von Riedemann told Aid to the Church in Need, “The idea of the film is to tell the story of the persecution at that time. [Fr. Langa’s] story is over, but there are many Christians in the world today, who are suffering a similar persecution.” 

According to the testimony, Tertulian Langa, who was under the spiritual direction of Msgr. Vladimir Ghika did not betray his Church, after his release from prison he became a married priest of the Greek-Catholic Rite.  Later, one of his sons followed him in his vocation.

In 1948 the communist regime in Romania liquidated the local Greek-Catholic Church, forcing it to unite with the Orthodox Church. All seven bishops, many priests and laymen who did not want to renounce unity with Rome, were arrested.

The short film, a 29 minutes documentary so far exists in Romanian and English. A French version will be available soon.