f " ,

�.,-.J-1 lo: d V'/7'!:l o:

'l / . l /,, I' .i · If' ' ' , ✓ ,_;: (�,.o' ..e:, ., � �:;,• ,;,A ,

, �a: m ,A™ �� �� re-:, 4!.; vi.� :.r...r-,

f.Jl 7'1/. 1 � .. "f'I':: ,

,,, :.-: ,,,�; ·li':J�� ( t--z:n.::.· � • -- .,, =T ; , __.. .tol! ,.,. 'r."""' JI.

' • t!z &/x ;-x,. • ,£/. �

t:� t iO'-'- •...fy,�• ye,1 • � t-1:.Z �t w� t� ir�& 'f<F.! ,,:. ��. •,I, r-,r:: ·.m:·

-

l,'n.-j y-;.: �1y;;l'!r✓� � .�, .. : f-� r •• ,� v,.:� u.c·a, m: p1;w/f/: t:'.e •,: y•r-: ,r;,L,k :-:J/'.-t-;,"r,..: �Jr.

''l

. . .t. ., .i , . ,,-' � llt'IJ:t:.r.;f, �� U�J.o.: (,. -' t:.!'_,�••14 •.r.,..:, � C �-..:; -·e �:,,-,A� ••'1JJ ·,_. ,,., .11 • ., , ... -.,c..�,. �--� �- r. • • � -► -,:..,. •• -·�- .,... f ,_ �� .. 4•T;J ,�� ..,.,�..,.,.�- ..... --e,. ......... ..., ,,,._ _,._._ -- • ,_,..,.. I:,"'....._

li1�, th� u�,i:.e v1'1h w;-;�J, t.A�. c:� ,::,-.� l:-i'· •_..t,! ;-� ;_ .:r...a-" - ;

i; .�� � r -! fs11 t! � 9'�� ·1fa;; -:• i:.:.:i::.:::.-:e 't�:..� • l t • • • r • t;#e r�.::,._1,:.•.,,,,n •11.4' c...a-� � �.- i:.=� ,,,� l.":.:lZ.:! �;...�_1- c.-:-«-

��_;,.�� •1,-:1r pr<,7-r pfa�. !:, hh fin;: � :.n □ ��>;:::-ct �I) • - "'t • • .J1 • -,Y,/111':t:r f 1u.1t tc11r<.r.1:.: , :.::, �e::- tt::.."?71 a;-• .:.,7 :........ • :1: !t�

,,f tr,e rnt,rl..,.:tk c.d] v;:,0, er: .. :x� :� p.-.e -·- � :r·b...:.J.:. �(.(: ,.,,f1kh filled hirr. v,iu; �� �...de � (.:-x a � l:.. r:-=­-i.iJtnc..t he fdt 4!t hor:.c. ;.F.r. Ti♦ -t ;-...,,,. liv� c. d::=t u.r-r,;-;:� c-:-:­'l,rn!:' m1mth> he wr,,te :.�.,..:- c--� f .. "3-! i�;:,;:::cir.::.'¼ Q'! 6- 7-e::

}• J.J J.: •-.L. �- ,� . .. -m t 1lJ ,.,,,,ru.,._, a w<>nc e:.u:ay �- :.t'J .-..... 7 ... '"'-� :.:::Jo::'.:.:.c::. .:.::s :::!.... and rhe rhing� he fr.,W'),(! ;.�e. ,,Ji± r..:r--�-:::i �::;.::: a:::: Vl :-.,.::11

He u,uld h,aye written u,<Jt!: m.: • .-..e:,.,,_, i=.p.;!1!f"�""-� � . _; � ie"...-crc fac.a.dc of the ocilciing, o: &5'.!: ,.___.. cr-'-_:i.:_. �- t.:.i 1-t":

. __ .J j. • - ...J !" • • • • - �-� cloi.,ccr. He rarr� mmia:. ilD'A�• C':", :o ;., G!:Sal� c.: �

"1 AM I IAPPY IN MY CELL. .. ,,107

char is rhrearening.

He accepts the cell a n cl .

h' tmsei 'f as th ·croin char cell. He rces himself co look ffc

e pns oner l

at It, u cred bfury. As a resu c everything about him . na ms

ei.

Y £ ear or ror r I 1ese th're peer c mgs and the secret of ch ei

re. J. ma tself a ] n cl [h· tsr eX stence . is preserved.

Intimacy of the Cell

Solzhenirzyn,

in his book, The Gu.lau Arch

· il -rin e la :g. o, d escn .6 es a . s1m-ar exper. ience. W'th1

h' 1c h hawesome

o sensitivity h e

. wnres a b our the cell'm w e spent eleven years as a polirical pnsoner.

lt.

Aw l se

your expenence . life you

owill ly . m

remember rememb

it with an emonon . t h at you orher-� ering your first love. And those peo-

ple, who shared wtch you the floor and air of that scone cubicle dur­ing _chose days when you rethought your entire life, will from rimeco time be recollecced by you as members of your own family. [ .. . ]W�at you �pe�ience in your first[ . . ] cell paraJlds nothing in yourennre previous life or your whole .

subsequent life.30 The intimacy, the silence of a monastic cell, where it seems rimestands still, is actually an archaic image in our culture. The plain lines, the whire walls which carch rhe pale light cake away all heav­iness and fill rhe space with an intimate silence which produces the realization that there exists an inner order which assigns co all things rheir proper place. In his first Jeerer co his parents from Boxmeer Tirus wrote: "I am very happy in my cell." The silence of the monastic cell which embraced him gave him a profound peace which filled him with the sense that God was near. In this silence he felt at home. After Tirus had lived in rhis monastery for some months he wrote about the firsr impressions he had gainedin chis world, a world entirely new ro him. He described his cell,and the things he found there, with metic�ous acr�ntion ro detail.He could have wrirren about numerous 1mpress1ons, about thesevere facade of che building, or about the beautiful light in thecloister. He restricted himself, however, ro a d,escripcion of his

30 AJeksander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, New York, I-II, 1973, 180.