“You, Bandit, stay inside!”
In the 1980s I did my military training in Bucharest, in the militia. It was around the 23rd of August, when all the detachments of soldiers, militiamen and secretaries were mobilised to monitor the population. I was young and ignorant. I dreamed of a military career “for the good of the country and the party”. I had tried several times to enter the military academy, but I was not accepted. Instead, I never missed an opportunity to prove my devotion to the good of the country and its leadership…
I remember that at that time I had to carry out a rather unusual mission, which was to accompany our superiors through the blocks of Bucharest to certain addresses that had been determined in advance. The militiamen went ahead of us, knocking loudly on various doors and threatening: “Bandit, stay inside!”
Behind them, we, 19-20 year old kids, repeated their gestures and words. We understood that we had to put up with dangerous criminals who endangered the peace and joy of the great day of 23 August. I didn’t know who these “criminals” were…
But after knocking on a door and threatening: “Bandit, stay inside,” the unexpected happened. The door opened and an elderly gentleman with grey, neat hair, a comb-over and a silver moustache stepped out onto the doorstep. He looked at me with a strange smile and made the sign of the cross. He blessed me. Then, just as discreetly, he closed the door. At that moment there was a short circuit and the whole communist system, with all its apparent indestructibility, went up in smoke. But the door closed and I remained on the other side, in the communist world.
More than 20 years have passed since then… Much has happened, by God’s grace. Now I’ve been in the monastery of St. Sava for several years. The rule of the place is silence and prayer… The all night vigils, the prayer ropes, the heat of the desert… From time to time a book arrives from the country. I was allowed to read “Return to Christ”… A bright and sad joy flooded my soul…
Then, one night, the mirrors broke… An old memory roared from deep inside: Bandit, stay inside!
I opened the book and looked at the photos, shaken… It’s him! In one of the photos, Ioan Ianolide’s eyes are looking at me with the same smile as 20 years ago.
I understand that his blessing has been with me until now. And I thank God for it…
(Testimony given by one of the Romanian monks who are in the monastery of Saint Sava in the Holy Land… It’s a simple story, but full of light, like an icon – Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Western and Southern Europe)