“I have lived for 30 years next to Father Sophrony. For 30 years, whenever I would hear him speak or whenever I would read his writings, I wished for the whole world to hear those words. But of course, being born on this soil and being part of the Romanian people, I was first and foremost thinking: Oh, if these words could only be heard in Romania! I do not know why … I did not know much about the Church when I left Romania, but I felt that what we heard from the Father was rare, something of quality that would win over your soul, even to your very bones, something that we had not heard from others, not heard from anywhere”, Father Rafail Noica was saying at a conference in Cluj.

On different scales, we have all lived something similar. We meet spiritual fathers, wonderful Christian families, brothers and sisters in Christ who take their lives seriously, and we benefit a lot from hearing and seeing them, and especially from what we live together with them. But it is a real shame that a great deal of this wealth is lost by not being  shared further than that. Inspired by the fact that many of the good books we read have come to life because someone next to an enriched Elder secluded himself in the silence of his room after each meeting, thirstily noting down every single word he had heard so none would be lost, I have decided to do the same. To write down what I have heard and lived in time, in different places, at different moments, with different people.

If I died today, the entire wealth I have accumulated in time would be lost. And the light would remain covered. And what would my answer be at the Judgment for the good I could have done and I have not?