“The figure of the saint, on which one could read the suffering of the torments endured during an ordeal of more than 20 years in communist prisons, exuded kindness, gentleness, mercy and above all love”.

In the face of Ioan Ianolide’s confessions, any addition is superfluous. Words would be too empty, unable to contain their completeness. […]

I met the aforementioned author after his release from prison in 1964. He was one of the few “colleagues” my father had in our house.

The face of a saint, in which one could read the suffering of the tortures he had endured during an ordeal of more than 20 years in communist prisons, radiated kindness, gentleness, mercy and, above all, love, creating a special state of mind, both of peace and tranquillity, of resignation to the point of forgiveness.

He moved with difficulty, his ankles and feet swollen from the wounds left by the chains he “once wore”. He did not hesitate to trudge up the Patriarchal Hill, holding the hand of his beloved granddaughter, to attend the entire Liturgy, sometimes standing for hours to receive Holy Communion.

I think he knew my father better than I, who was without a mentor even in my formative teenage years and in my choice of a career I would have liked to pursue.

Among the portraits of cultural figures in Ioan Ianolide’s book, Radu Gyr’s seems to me the most complete and eloquent. The controversies and insinuations thrown like poisoned arrows at the poet’s personality and character are answered by the testimony of the author of this book. […]

From the bottom of my heart, I place a flower of love and mercy on the tomb of this “saint of prisons”, as a tribute to his suffering, and I thank him, if he can hear me, for everything he wrote and above all for the “truth” he confessed about my father.

(Simona Popa, daughter of the poet Radu Gyr, Bucharest, 11.06.2008 – Blood of the Dungeon. Stigmata, Lucman Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009, pp. 309-311)