A monk among monks
The imprisonment of the Legionnaires, which began in 1941 under Antonescu, continued seamlessly into the collective imprisonment of the entire nation under the communist regime from 1945 until 1964 — nearly a quarter of a century for many of those who endured this long, motionless march through the darkness of communist captivity.
Under pressure from the West, the Communists were eventually forced to release political prisoners — twenty years after the war had ended.
Among those who stepped again into the light of freedom was Badia Traian, an unmistakable figure along this journey. He carried within him the light of the Spirit, opening for us the path toward Heaven, toward Jesus, toward the Blessed Virgin, and toward the living Christian doctrine of our Church. Through a life of prayer and asceticism — this monk among monks — he cultivated the Christian vertical, forming through his disciples a spiritual school that stretched across all prisons of the land.
He became a model of faith and endurance: a converted Țuțea, a spiritualised Steinhardt, surrounded by a multitude of priests, confessors, and monks — true builders of the Christian regeneration of the Church. His work bore fruit in those who followed him: Gheorghe Jimboiu, Gili Ioanid, Valeriu Gafencu, Bohotici, and others — saints of the prisons who entered the pantheon of the nation, inscribed upon the radiant walls of holiness.
In slavery, Badia Traian gave us the bread of faith that sustained our souls, against all reason and evidence. He taught us to smile again — even with one lung gone, the other riddled with cavities, a single kidney, and two frail legs dragging beneath the weight of chains. From beneath the hidden altars, he invited our sleeping nation to the wedding feast of the Bridegroom:
“Take, eat, this is My Body…”
In this sacrificial offering, he led us toward true life in Christ.
May the dust that covers you be as light as the light you have poured into our souls — as gentle as the reasons of the heart that you sowed within our minds.
May God and the good Jesus receive you in the joy of eternal life, together with your beloved friend, Marian.
(Testimony of George Dragon — I confess… Robul 1036, edited by Virgil Maxim, Editura Scara, 1998, pp. 76–77)