Holy Communion given by Saint Ilie Lăcătușu

While I was waiting for the “tutor”, a gentleman came up to me and said: “Mr Emanoil Pindu! Long before I was arrested, I hid a piece of Holy Communion in the hem of my shirt sleeve (it was Monday, the first day of Holy Week). Prepare yourselves, because on Saturday, the Holy Resurrection, I will give it to you”. Of course I had to ask him: how does he know who I am, because I could have put my hand in the fire that I had never seen him in my life. And secondly, how does he know where I’m going to be stationed, how does he know where he’s going to be stationed and… how is he going to be able to give me Holy Communion?

None of that. I took everything seriously and the next day, sitting alone in my cell, I began to prepare myself… Tormented by this truth, I confessed to the Creator, telling him every day all the evils I remembered. On Saturday, when the bells of the church near the prison began to ring, I heard through the MORSE attached to the ceiling of my cell: READY. I went to the window, and in front of a hole that someone had made in the shutter, which prevented the sun from shining on me, I saw a string hanging down, which brought me the REAL LIGHT.

My confusion, which had taken on alarming forms: “whether Holy Communion was given to me by Saint Ilie Lăcătușu or whether the evil one is mocking me by making me boast that a saint gave me Holy Communion”, was cleared up by the Most Reverend Abbot of the Petru Vodă Monastery, Justin Pârvu. When I learned that His Holiness was a close friend of Saint Ilie Lăcătușu and that they had endured the communist horrors of Aiud and Periprava together, at a time when I was also crawling there, I went to the Revered Abbot. He took the veil of my trembling and assured me that the Holy Communion of St Elias Locksmith was a reality. Since then I have realised that the hand of God protects everyone who prays. Lord, forgive me and have mercy on me.

(Emanoil Paraschivaș – The Game of Destiny, Brad Publishing House, pp. 133, 152)