Iconographer
Having trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Saint Sophian devoted much of his life to ecclesiastical painting, both creating new iconography and restoring older works. According to the Romanian Patriarchate, he painted and restored more than twenty-five churches in Romania and abroad.
From 1971 he led teams of iconographers working in the Middle East, and his hand is associated with the Deir-el-Harf Monastery in Lebanon, the cathedral at Homs and a church at Hama in Syria, as well as the Radu Voda Monastery and the Darvari Skete in Bucharest.
The Burning Bush and Confession of Faith
At Antim Monastery, Saint Sophian took part in the Burning Bush (Rugul Aprins), a hesychast circle that gathered to study unceasing prayer and the Philokalic tradition and that included figures such as the theologian Dumitru Staniloae. In 1958 the communist authorities moved against the group, and Saint Sophian was arrested and sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment and forced labour.
He endured these years at Jilava, Aiud, and the labour camps of the Braila marshes before his release in 1964, and the Romanian Church honours this suffering as his confession of the faith under the communist regime.
Spiritual Father
After returning to Antim in 1967, Saint Sophian served as the monastery's spiritual father and principal confessor for the remainder of his life. The Romanian Patriarchate records that great numbers of the faithful came to him for confession and guidance, and the elder Cleopas is said to have called him "the Apostle of Bucharest."
Patriarch Daniel has described his ministry in terms of a gentle and patient character, a constant practice of the prayer of the heart, and a readiness to spend himself for those who sought his counsel.
