Father Cleopa Ilie – A waterfall of grace

Father Cleopas is a windy, rugged shepherd who grew up in a monastery and became the most respected figure of Orthodox asceticism and spirituality. There is no one like him. With a brilliant mind, a fabulous memory, a huge soul, a great gift of speaking, this shepherd became a living synthesis of all the Eastern saints and fathers.

He is a cascade of grace, wisdom and power, flowing through powerful prayer and Spirit-breathed speech. There is no more complete confessor than he. He is an impressive personality, famous even abroad, for some foreigners have come to ask him what grace is. But grace is alive in him, working and radiating from him. In his simplicity there is only the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is amazing.

Although he did not end up in prison, he remained hidden in a mountain village during all those years of atheist fury, because the Securitate suspected him of having links with the “Burning Bush”.

Father Cleopa is living proof of the mystical man. He is a complete, strong, deeply human personality. Truly human. The saint walks among us – that is the feeling you get around Father Cleopa.

(John Ianolide – Return to Christ. Document for a New World, Bonifaciu Publishing House, Bucharest, 2012, pp. 327-328)