Source: The Republic By ALISON MUTLER [Associated Press] BUCHAREST, Romania — The Romanian Orthodox Church said Thursday it is considering a Romanian monk persecuted by the communists and known as the “saint of Transylvania” for sainthood. The Metropolitan of Transylvania church authority said Thursday it had begun the lengthy process of canonization for Arsenie Boca, a Romanian Orthodox monk and priest whose grave in western Romania attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims every year. The Romanian Orthodox church is autonomous and makes its own canonizations. Boca, who became a monk in 1940, fell afoul of communist authorities because of his…