Solitude and communion

This article presents an essay by the Romanian monk Benoît Ghius (1904-1990), translated from Romanian by Anne Palanciuc, devoted to solitude as a fundamental spiritual reality. The approach combines theological meditation, recourse to the Desert Fathers — notably Saint Isaac the Syrian — and autobiographical testimony. The central idea is that solitude, far from being a sterile withdrawal, constitutes the condition for genuine communion: by renouncing the world as it presents itself, man receives it transfigured by divine love. The article articulates three moments: the definition of solitude as consented abandonment, its lived experience among the great hermits, and its possible forms in the lives of laypeople. The theological contribution lies in the actualization of the Eastern hesychast tradition, applied to the contemporary question of presence in the world without belonging to the world, according to the evangelical formula that the author places at the heart of every Christian vocation.