The life of Father Nicodemus Măndiță

Protosyngellos Nicodemus Mandita was an astute defender of Orthodoxy and a missionary monk without equal in our contemporary monasticism. This most holy priest was born in the village of Bunesti, Arges County, to pious parents. Between 1916 and 1918 he took part in the First World War, and in 1920 he made his monastic vows in the Măgura-Bacău hermitage. In the summer of the same year he was ordained a priest.

Between 1921 and 1923, he was a missionary priest in the village of Frumoasa-Bacău. Then, for another two years, he was confessor in the convent of the nuns of Giuergeni-Roman. Between 1925-1935 he was a missionary priest in Transylvania, in the villages of Piclisa-Alba, Harmasul Ciceului and Leurda Girboului-Cluj.

Between 1935 and 1945, he was confessor at the Agapia Monastery. For another 17 years he was confessor at the Varatec Monastery. He spent his last years, 1962-1975, in silence and prayer at Agapia, where he died in peace at the age of 86.

Facts and words of wisdom

1. This holy priest led a chosen spiritual life from childhood, loving above all prayer, fasting and the reading of holy books. That is why everyone benefited from his wisdom.

2. When he entered the Măgura – Tg. Ocna, the abbot saw his obedience and immediately made him a monk. Then, seeing that he was gentle and knew the Scriptures, he made him a priest and shepperd of souls. And he taught the faithful so beautifully that they came from afar to see him and receive from him words of wisdom.

3. Frumoasa-Moinești was a small village, without a priest and divided by sects. During his three years as parish priest, Father Nicodim profoundly changed the spiritual life of the faithful. First, he brought all the divided people back to Orthodoxy. Then he fought with great vigour against immorality, drunkenness and family quarrels, abolishing taverns and strengthening unity, good faith and humanity among all. And all this he achieved in three ways: by an exemplary personal life, by beautiful divine services and by the living and constant preaching of the Word of God.

4. His spiritual sons say that Father Nicodemus was full of love for God and man, and was very devoted to holy things. He loved the Church and the true apostolic faith to the point of sacrifice, and was well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, the services and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. For this reason he was always sought after by the faithful and feared by the wicked. Those who listened to his words were enlightened in their souls and turned to Christ with joy.

5. Again, his disciples say that he prayed much in his cell and did nothing without prayer. Every day he would read the seven praises, the psalms and other prayers. Then he would read some chapters of the Bible and the life of the saint of that day. Then he would talk to people, confess and write words of wisdom.

6. Father Nicodemus was a missionary priest in Transylvania for ten years. The Fathers who knew him say that he proved to be a great defender of Orthodoxy and of Romanian unity. He worked hard for the return of those who were lost in the sin of our Church. In a short time he achieved complete religious unity, skilfully eliminating confessional divisions and immorality and strengthening the right faith.

7. Seeing that the Orthodox faith and morals could not be defended by the spoken word alone, with the blessing of the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate and the Bishop of Cluj, he wrote and printed hundreds of pamphlets with deeply Orthodox moral content, embellished with images that the faithful could understand, which he then distributed free of charge. His literary and spiritual work comprises more than 40 volumes of more than 400 pages each, and more than ten thousand pages in manuscript, proving him to be a good teacher and a missionary priest, rarely seen in our monasticism.

8. It is said of him that in the village of Leurda Girboului he built a new church from scratch and furnished it with all kinds of religious objects donated by both the Transylvanian and Moldavian faithful. After four years of priesthood in this village, he returned to Moldavia.

9. It was also said about Father Nicodim that sectarians and tavern keepers could not live in his parish. The fanatical sectarians left for other villages because they could not make proselytes, and the tavern keepers left because no one came to buy their drinks. They were the only people who didn’t love this servant of Christ.

10. Once some people complained to the bishop that he was a heretic priest. So the bishop came to him, inquired of him, and said to him:

– Go, Father Nicodemus, back to your parish and teach the faithful as you have been doing, for it seems to me that it is not your holiness but those who have denounced you who are heretics.

11. In the monasteries of Agapia and Văratec, Father Nicodemus continued the same activity as confessor and missionary priest. He served the sacred things with the fear of God, prayed and read a lot in his cell, confessed, taught people and printed church books. After 1940 he became the most skilful confessor for lay people and monks in the area.

12. Fr. Nicodemus considered confession to be the most necessary means of knowledge, spiritual formation and Christian guidance. It is from here that spiritual ascent begins. And confession did this:

First he asked the believer to pray, to examine his conscience and to write down all his sins. Then he would confess him calmly, from childhood on, leaving him to speak freely about his sins. Then he would ask a few questions, tear up the paper in front of the penitent as a sign of forgiveness, give him back the canon according to his strength, and immediately read him the prayer of absolution. If someone had serious sins on his conscience, he would leave the penitent after confession for one or two hours to examine his conscience, and then he would read the prayer of absolution.

13. This skilful confessor never gave a harsh canon in confession. First he would ask the Christian to stop sinning, then to pray, he would ask him to read the seven lauds daily, to read the Holy Scriptures, the doctrine of the faith, the lives of the saints and other books of spiritual use. He laid special emphasis on the knowledge of the true faith and on holy prayer.

– He who does not read, he said, does not know. And those who do not know the Holy Scriptures and the Orthodox Faith easily fall into mortal sin and into the snare of sects.

14. Father once said to one of his disciples:

– Father, I do not give you fasting and many prostrations. The bear and the snake fast too. But the bear is still a bear, and the snake is still a snake. When it bites, it kills! So is man; sometimes he fasts much, but in his heart he is full of wickedness, and when he turns to eating and drinking, he falls into the sin of greed. So fast and pray according to your strength, but first read the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. Then you will teach yourself what to do, how to pray and fast, what to avoid and how to preserve yourself.

15. To another disciple whom he had confessed, he said:

– Brother, I give you no other rule than to read the New Testament five times. Four times, that it may be to you like the four walls of your house, and the fifth time, that your house may be a covering for the house of your soul.

16. An old woman who did not know to read asked him:

– Father, how can I read in the New Testament, since I don’t know how to read? And he answered her:

– But when you receive a letter from your son, don’t you go to a neighbour and have him read it to you? And so you do with the New Testament. Ask those who love you to read it to you, and you will both benefit from it.

17. It was said of him that when someone asked him a question, the old man would not answer immediately and directly. Instead, he would refer him to the Holy Scriptures, the Canons of the Church and the Holy Fathers, so that he alone could read, learn and find the answer he wanted.

18. These things were also said of him, that he never called anyone to confession, lest anyone should be forced. Nor did he ask others about his spiritual sons. He let each one work and seek Christ freely and consciously.

19. Sometimes he would say to his spiritual sons:

– Brethren, in addition to the reading of the holy books, I also give you this canon, that you may exhort one another to the Church, to confession, to almsgiving, and to the reading of the Holy Scriptures. For if you do not help one another in the way of salvation, you will give account to Christ for those who perish. Do you not see how the sectarians try to deceive the orthodox?

20. His disciples say that Father Nicodemus did not receive for confession monks and laymen who had other confessors without their blessing. Nor did he allow his spiritual sons to go from one confessor to another without good reason. But he advised the laity to confess to their priests and the monks to their monasteries.

21. Sometimes he would teach the monks, saying:

– When you go to someone who wants to learn and is lacking in knowledge, bring him a good book to read. Bring him some bread or other food. Can’t you see that fish don’t come on an empty hook? That we must use everything at hand to win souls for the kingdom of God. So that when the brother sees your love, he will gladly receive the word of life…

22. At other times he would say in confession:

– Brethren, I have decided to give you the reading of the Word of God for your obedience and canon. If you enlighten your minds with the Word of God, you will be able to lead a life full of good and useful works. If I give you much fasting and prostrations, I do not know your strength. If I give you alms, I do not know your material condition. And if you do not first show mercy to your soul, but leave it to starve, what good is mercy for?

So first enlighten your mind with prayer and the word of God, and then fast and give alms.

23. This holy priest was very prudent in all things, and of good account. In eating and in fasting, in prayer and in reading, in silence or in word, in the cell or at Liturgy. He did everything in silence and with great fear of God.

24. The monks who knew him say that he never brought up things from the past. When he spoke, he pronounced each word carefully so as not to make a mistake or mislead anyone. He was never heard to curse, quarrel or speak ill of anyone. Nor did he ever let someone else to snitch or scold his neighbour in his cell.

– Remember,” the old man said, “for every word that is spoken in vain, we will give an account on the day of Christ’s Judgment” (Matthew 12:36).

At other times he reminded them of the words of the Psalmist: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips.” (Psalm 140:3).

His word was wise, calm, seasoned with salt.

25. The Fathers also say that he did not receive alms, nor did he pray for those who did not read the Word of God. Nor did he receive for confession those who did not come to church and refused to read the holy books.

26. Father Nicodemus valued his time very highly and never wasted a minute.

– Time, he said, is as precious as the soul. If you have wasted time, you have wasted your soul! That if I had not saved time well and lived according to a schedule, I would have done nothing in life.

27. The old man asked his disciples to do everything with prayer, advising them to make their canons and prayers in advance for the time they would miss doing them by being out of the monastery.

28. Sometimes he taught the nuns, saying:

– If you only weep and do not start changing yourself, you are of no use. So let us be careful that death does not find us asleep. Woe to us if we find Death asleep. For “by what he finds us, he will judge us” (Rom 2:6).

29. Father Nicodemus said:

– There are four kinds of life in the world:

a) The devilish life of those who rise up against God, the Church and people. That is, those who hate the Holy Spirit and do evil to their benefactors.

b) The evil life, of those who take revenge on their fellow men, who return evil for evil, who do not forgive and do not tolerate injustice, and of those who live in drunkenness and fornication.

c) Human life, from those who repay good for good and love those who love them; from those who fall from sin and rise again.

d) Spiritual life, of those who seek to do good to their enemies. That is, those who forgive and pardon and speak good of those who hate them, and those who always consider the law of the Lord.

30. He said again:

– A Christian has four kinds of parents:

(a) carnal parents, who have born us according to the laws of nature;

b) spiritual parents, the godparents of baptism, marriage or monasticism;

c) spiritual parents, that is, priests and confessors; and

d) our Heavenly Father, who created us and cares for us in all things.

Our earthly parents are to be honoured and obeyed, and God is to be glorified and praised without ceasing.

31. Father Nicodemus said again:

– There are four kinds of communions:

a) by doing every good work according to the word of the Lord, which says: “He who does my commandments loves Me” (Jn 14:21);

b) by listening attentively to the Word of God, that is, by reading the sacred books, by attending holy srvices and singing hymns, according to the Word which says: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4);

c) by holy prayer, offered with humility and reverence; and

d) by partaking of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the supreme partaking without which no one can be saved.

32. The nuns of the monasteries of Văratec and Agapia said that Father Nicodemus was a man of prayer. He prayed in his cell with his hands raised to heaven, he prayed in the church, he prayed on the road, he prayed in the forest, he was always praising God. When he had finished praying, he would open the door of the cell and speak to the people, confessing and moving them all. Sometimes his face would light up with the gift of prayer and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

33. Once a troubled man came to the Father and said to him:

– Father, many troubles have come upon me and I can no longer bear them. Give me a word of help.

– Do not be troubled, brother, said the old man. Do you see these evils? Look, Christ walked this way. This is the way that John the Baptist, the Apostles, the Holy Martyrs and all the Fathers walked. This is the way we who follow Christ must walk. For there is no other way to salvation. We cannot acquire the joy of salvation until we have first tasted the cup of suffering and the sorrows of life.

34. One day a woman came to confess to Father Nicodemus, and he said to her:

– Read this book carefully, write down the sins you have committed, then kneel before the holy icons and repeat them seven times with caresses and tears. Then go to confession. Just as Nehemiah the Syrian immersed himself seven times in the waters of the Jordan River (IV Kings 5:10) and was cleansed from leprosy, so too should we repent in our hearts so that God may wash us from the leprosy of sin.

35. This famous confessor was very attentive to the salvation of those who came to him. He received them all with love, confessed them attentively and advised them wisely. For he was firm and resolute in his word and never changed. He did everything to save the souls of men.

36. And he taught about prayer:

– Brethren, let us pray without ceasing, with watchfulness and attention. Let not your minds wander while you are praying. For what you think about, that is what you also worship, and prayer becomes sin, because you worship idols of the mind and not Christ. So let us ask God to help us to pray properly. And if our thoughts stray, let us turn them back, as the shepherd turns back the sheep that stray from the flock.

37. Once his disciples said to him:

– Father, give us a useful saying. And the Elder answered them:

– Brothers, have faith in God, that what men cannot do, He will do in a moment. Fear nothing but God. Therefore keep His commandments as the apple of your eye, for to Him belongs the glory forever and ever. Amen.

38. Fr. Nicodim was very devoted to the Mother of God, to whom he dedicated many prayers and beautiful writings. And in the face of the sectarians, he defended the honour of the Blessed Virgin with great vigour, proclaiming her truly to be the Theotokos and the Intercessor of our salvation. He did not allow anyone to place ornaments and expensive objects on the icon of the Mother of God.

39. This tireless confessor had great concern for the salvation of all. He advised the monks to obey without grumbling and to pray without ceasing. He advised the laity to work with dignity for their daily bread and to go to church without ceasing. He advised married people to have children and bring them up in the fear of God, and to fight with great vigour against divorce and abortion. And he urged young people to obey their parents, to learn books, to avoid drunkenness and fornication, and to be useful to the society in which they lived.

He would shame them like a parent, teach them like a confessor, and caress them with a mother’s love. Even the sick he healed with prayer, for he was enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

40. A monk who loved silence asked him:

– Father Nicodemus, what is the most useful thing for monks today? To sit in silence and pray, or to help save others?

– Let him do both: first prayer and the most holy life, and then the mission, which is love and spiritual mercy. When you see your neighbour’s house in flames, can you sit in silence and pray until you throw a bucket of water on the fire? Today’s world is burning with the flames of hatred, lust and sin. Let us also help the monks in their quest for power to save people.

41. Father Nicodemus said to his disciples:

– When I was ordained a priest, I prayed to God in silence, asking Him to give me the gift of the Word, spiritual wisdom and the healing of souls on the way to salvation, so that I might lead as many Christians as possible to the Kingdom of Heaven. I thought at the time that I would not receive any money for the services. But when I saw that I was shaming others and that the faithful were complaining that I was denying them their gift, I decided before God that I would receive what the faithful gave me in church, but that I would give part of the money to the poor and part to the printing and purchase of holy books, which I would then give free of charge to the needy. This is what I have done all my life as a priest, and many souls have used and returned to Christ with the help of prayers, good advice and holy books.

42. To a disciple who was quarrelling with those around him, he said:

– It is not good or Christian to waste your time in arguments that lead to strife and division. He is victorious in disputes who at first seems to be defeated, but in the end manages to remain in peace and love with the one with whom he disagrees.

43. Sometimes the Elder said to his disciples:

– Our Christian people are very fond of God, of truth, of justice, but each one has only picked its pocket. Rarely has one been found here and there to help them, to guide them, to urge them on to what is truly good, to salvation. My heart aches that I cannot do more for this nation, for I too am bone of its bones, flesh of its flesh. If I could, I would go from house to house to talk to our believers, to teach them the right faith, to leave them a good book to read, to pray with them, to comfort them in their troubles and to rejoice with them, so that they may not feel lonely and abandoned.

44. Father Nicodemus attached great importance to the dissemination of good, orthodox books among the faithful. Sometimes he would say to his spiritual sons:

– A good Christian book is an angel of God, because it teaches you to know and love Him, to discover the beauty of life in Christ, to love people, to beware of sin and to care for the salvation of the soul. If in life you acquire holy books instead of money, and after death your heirs sell them, you will not lose their usefulness and it will be counted as a mercy to a soul, because wherever holy books go, they will spread light and bring souls to the knowledge of God. And if you leave money or property behind you and your descendants spend it in sins, not only will you not use it for anything, but you will be found guilty of having given your descendants occasion for sins by your avarice and greed. If you make a great feast to feed the whole village, if you clothe the poor with new clothes, if you even build churches from the ground up, the enemy will not be so angry as if you give someone a good book to read, a Christian book, in which he can see, as in a mirror, his spiritual state of moral decay and sinfulness.

45. A believer asked Father Nicodemus:

– Father, I live in a house which I inherited from an aunt of mine. What could I do for the benefit of her soul?

– In order to have more hope of her salvation, the old man replied, and also to find inner peace, it is good that of what you save, according to your means, you buy Christian books and give them as alms to those who are willing to read them and know the will of God. For in addition to the sacred services for the dead, Christians who give good books as gifts to those who desire the salvation of their souls gain great profit.

46. And as for Holy Confession, he said to his disciples:

– Take care of those whom you bring to confession. Do not make people travel long journeys unless they are determined to forsake their sins. Do not blindfold people, but tell them clearly and plainly what they must do for their souls. If they will not turn away from drunkenness, fornication, judging, strife, idleness, and all wickedness, leave such things to their own hearts. And if the fear of God and the thought of death should grow in their hearts, if they should decide to forsake the sins that enslave them, to fight the good Christian fight, to pray, to fast, to go to church regularly, to give alms, to make peace with their fellow men, to cease from desecrating the sacred things and to listen to the priests of the Church, then let them read soul-building books and help them prepare for Holy Confession. When they have thoroughly prepared themselves, let them write down the sins of their childhood, read them to themselves with penance before the holy icons with a lighted candle, and with a day of fasting, let them decide to leave them, follow a canon given by a priest and start anew. Only in this way should our faithful come to the mystery of Confession. And if they come in haste, without the resolution to leave their sins behind, and do not follow a canon set by a confessor priest, the sins will remain in their hearts, and to their damnation they will participate in the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

47. Father Nicodemus once said to a group of believers:

– My dear ones, even if you were not baptised, when it comes to suffering for the right faith or for the holy books, this suffering has the power to atone the sins of the one who suffers without murmuring. He who suffers for the right faith and for the holy books is counted among the martyrs of Christ’s Church. For nothing makes the enemy more angry than a good book, useful to the soul, given to the faithful. Through the holy books that we read, all the devil’s plans are thwarted. If you make a feast with the poor, he is not so angry. If you become a church choirboy, he doesn’t care. If you fast and pray, he gets very angry, but not like if you give someone a good soul-building book to read. Through such orthodox books, many souls are awakened from the bondage of the passions that hold them as from a drunkenness.

My brethren, let us love the holy book, beginning with the Holy Scriptures, the Lives of the Saints and the Prayer Books, and let us give them to others with an open heart for their benefit and salvation. Money spent on a holy book is an acceptable offering to God. We shall pass away sooner or later, but if we succeed in leaving as many holy books as possible to our descendants, we shall be leaving them a dowry of great value for them and for those who will follow them.

48. A spiritual son asked Father Nicodemus:

– Can a Christian who is zealous for good works and reads the holy books, but does not go to confession regularly and does not follow the advice of his confessor priest is he able to attain salvation?

– The Elder replied: “If a man has many holy books and is diligent in keeping God’s commandments, he cannot be saved without confession and obedience to a wise confessor. He is like a sick man who goes to the chemist’s to buy medicine, but the chemist is not there. Without someone to give him the necessary medicine, the sick man will not be cured.

The confessor is for his spiritual sons, doctor, teacher and spiritual father, a model of life in Christ, a prayer, a teacher, a guarantor before the Blessed Trinity, an intercessor before the Son and a source through which the grace of the Holy Spirit is poured out on his disciples.

Through his hands sins are taken away, through his words holy things are taught and through his prayer the grace of salvation descends. The good confessor plays a great role in the life of a Christian!

After 55 years of dedicated service to the Church of Christ, knowing his end in advance, Father Nicodemus commended his soul to the Lord on Sunday 6 July 1975, the Year of Salvation.

The nuns of Agapia and Văratec placed his body near the altar of the Church which he had served with dignity for more than half a century, until his Second Coming.

(Pr. Ioanichie Bălan – The Romanian Paterikon)