Fr. Iov Volănescu, the Saint under the communist persecution
Fr. Ion Volănescu was a native of Cândeștii Buzăului, born in 1903 into a simple family. The young Ion Volănescu was educated in the field of economics, without any connection with his ecclesiastical training. He was caught up in the nationalist political currents of the inter-war period, but after the failure of the Legionary government he realised that the true path to follow was that of prayer.
In 1944, after serving his sentence, he entered the monastery of Ciolanu under the name of Iov, but because of his political past he was constantly under surveillance by the communist political police, and each time he had to find another monastery. In 1948 he found a place of prayer in the Hodoș Bodrog monastery. He was arrested in 1952 on a simple denunciation by the religious commissar, released for lack of evidence but after a tortuous investigation.
He was arrested again in 1959 for continuing his legionary activities in his monastic life. Sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour, he was released in 1964 during a general amnesty. After his release, he returned to Hodoș Bodrog, but the authorities forced him to leave when they saw him being sought by crowds of believers. In the last years of his life he served in the church of the Dealu monastery. He was wanted by the faithful. But the Securitate wanted to put an end to that. In January 1976, Father Iov’s body was found, shot in the back of the head. He was buried in the Viforâta monastery.
(Adrian Nicolae Petcu – Ziarul Lumina)