What does Nicolae Steinhardt’s baptism represent?
Whenever I have the opportunity to recall the baptism of Fr. Nicolae Steinhardt, I have the opportunity to recall Divine Providence in that I was an outstretched hand in the name of the Christian Orthodox Church, in the name of the Holy Trinity, and in the name of the former Jew, Fr. Nicolae, to be an outstretched hand to intellectuals and youth, telling them:
“Behold, I have known Christ through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, like Paul on the road to Damascus, for how else can one explain the state of happiness that I experienced immediately after receiving Baptism from my monk (Fr. Mina), than that Baptism is true, that the Holy Mysteries are true” (Journal of Happiness, Cluj, 1995, p. 85).
Yes, I come to say that here we see a hand of Divine Providence, a way of speaking to us, a way of communicating with us, the sons of the Church, the sons of His Kingdom, at a time when the power of pagan darkness had fallen upon us and humanity (a third of the Christian world) had fallen prey to the power of the Antichrist. The Sun, the Gospel of Christ, was overshadowed by the darkness of materialistic, communist ideology. The hierarchy of the Church had been thrown to the ground from the firmament of the heavenly Church, and Christian society had been enslaved, this is what we can say to the various social categories in the East who suffered like Nicolae Steinhardt when he was in Jilava prison in 1960.
I was in the same prison at that time, in cell 18 of the redoubt. It was a very crowded cell, bunk beds on three floors, I had a bed on the third floor; when one night the door opened noisily and a man was pushed into the cell with his bag under his arm, frightened and confused, not knowing what to do, all the beds were occupied, there were even two in one bed.
I noticed him and beckoned him to come to me. Then he thought he had nothing to do but “climb up like a monkey on a rope” (Diary of Happiness, pp. 82-84). I said to him: “Let’s sleep a little longer, it’s getting light”. “Many thanks”, replied the newcomer and obeyed meekly.
The next morning I found out that he was a Jew and a member of the Constantin Noica intellectual group. They were condemned for having their own club and for their Christian and Romanian spiritual beliefs, which did not conform to the atheistic materialist ideology, and were therefore sentenced to harsh terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. The Jew was sentenced to 11 years in prison because he was a member of this group (all members of the Writers’ Union) and did not denounce them, remaining faithful to his friends. Although he was neither Christian nor Romanian, Steinhardt proved to be a man of dignity, standing by his colleagues in the Writers’ Union and defending a right-wing cause.
From the beginning the Jewish prisoner was very fond of me, he was impressed by the fact that I showed no reserve towards him, even though he was a Jew and I a Christian monk. He was also impressed by the fact that I had been condemned for speaking out against the abuses of the communist authorities against the Church. This gave him moral support and strengthened his conviction that he was not wrong in choosing to fight for a just cause.
“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” (John, I, 46-48).
Yes, Nicholas Steinhardt came to know the One Moses wrote about in the Law. And the Lord brings him out and shows that he is truly without guile. When the Lord called him, he responded with self-giving to the point of self-sacrifice, with complete mortification.
Indeed, three times he showed that he accepted self-denial (mortification), namely:
– when he decided to remain faithful to the group of Christians and Romanians without betraying them;
– when he asked for Christian baptism, renouncing the Old Testament law;
– when he asked to take monastic vows in the Rohia Monastery, completely renouncing the worldly spirit.
Behold, the Lord is searching us through a group of intellectuals who have shown solidarity in their faith, confessing it even at the cost of their lives. For this, the Lord confirms their faith and their steadfast and dignified attitude, which he underlines by calling Nicolae Steinhardt to baptism. To show that baptism is true and all the sacraments are true.
In other words, you too, in the Noica group, are defending a just and holy cause.
The authenticity of Christian baptism, the presence of grace in the Holy Mysteries, is also confirmed by the state of happiness that Nicolae Steinhardt experienced immediately after his baptism.
This is how the Lord speaks to us at a very critical time, when intellectuals in particular were seriously falling away from the faith, spreading atheism and pagan rationalism.
Yes, the Lord speaks to us through the Israelite, in whom there is truly no deceit. “Come to Christ, I have found the Messiah of whom Moses wrote in the Law”.
Through this talk, I wanted to draw the attention of intellectuals and young people to the way in which the Lord speaks to us.
The intellectuals of the Noica group have confessed their faith, and the Lord answers them that their faith is indeed holy and right. Fighting for the right faith, defending the true faith.
I want this to be an incentive for us today to do more to defend the right faith.
(Fr. Mina Dobzeu)