#friendship

The text evokes the figure of Costion Nicolescu through the author’s personal memories: her collaboration on the Tarkovsky project in 2012. In Bucharest, the differing hermeneutic approaches to the filmmaker’s work, their final meetings at Colentina Hospital and the atmosphere of the memorial services following his death all help to paint a portrait of an Orthodox intellectual characterised by the Philokalia, friendship and a love of beauty.

This tribute to Costion Nicolescu, editor-in-chief of the Alfa și Omega supplement and a leading figure in Eastern Christian culture, highlights his human and spiritual qualities: his ability to see the icon within each person, the gift of genuine communion, and a form of Hesychasm lived out in the city, transformed into a cultural apostolate through lectures, book launches and personal encounters.