On the Acceptance of the Calendar Reform by Sihăstria Monastery

Abbot Ioanichie Moroi (+1944)

(The predecessor of Elder Cleopa Ilie)

 

The responsibilities for the change of the calendar and festal calendar, which brought about Christian division within Orthodoxy, will pursue like a curse even into the next life those high-ranking officials—Patriarchs and Bishops—who collaborated and led the faithful astray, thus splitting the Church…

The simple folk in the world follow what they inherited from their parents. Born into the Old, they follow the Old! Born into the New, they follow the New!

Yet the responsibility for the division always remains with the great ones!

***

The history of the Holy Monastery of Sihăstria in Romania is closely connected with the Protosyncellus Ioanichie Moroi, who, after 1909, revived the monastery from its ashes for the fourth time in its history.

In 1944, he was succeeded by the greatest elder of the 20th century in Romania, Elder Cleopa Ilie, who turned the Monastery of Sihăstria into one of the greatest spiritual centers of modern Romania.

One of the greatest trials that Protosyncellus Ioanichie Moroi experienced in Sihăstria was the change of the calendar in October 1924. For nearly three years, the abbot did not want to change the calendar and follow the new one. He feared he might be making a great mistake.

Numerous monks and spiritual fathers also influenced him, advising him not to change the calendar.

Once, he was summoned to the Monastery of Neamț, where Metropolitan Nicodemus Munteanu, the abbot of the Lavra, said to him:

—Father Ioanichie, why are you showing disobedience? Here is the decision of the Holy Synod. Either you change the calendar, or I will depose you and the skete will be dissolved. Choose one of the two…

—Your Eminence, I respect the command of obedience, but I am afraid to change the calendar. I cannot do such a thing unless I receive a confirmation from above. Give me your blessing to fast for 40 days first.

—Forty days is too long. Fast as much as you can. But after this fast, you must absolutely tell me your decision.

The abbot returned to Sihăstria saddened.

—Fathers, it is over. Either we change the calendar, or our skete will be dissolved. Know this: as of Monday, I am beginning a forty-day fast. You must do the same.

Pray with all your strength in your cells so that God may teach us what we must do. No one is allowed to enter my cell. Whoever enters will receive a penance without forgiveness.

A week passed, then another, but the abbot showed no signs of life. The entire brotherhood was worried. They wanted to enter his cell, but they feared the abbot’s restriction. When the 21st day came, the hierodeacon Glykerios, the abbot’s disciple, said to the other brothers:

—Our father is in great danger. We cannot let him die. If you wish to obey, so be it. But as for me, I will go in. Give me your blessing to break the door!

But the others said nothing, except this:

—We do not wish to disobey the rule that the abbot gave.

Then the hierodeacon knocked on the window and the door.

—Bless, holy abbot!

Not a single reply. Then he broke the first door.

—Fathers, give me your blessing to break the second door as well.

But they remained silent. They were afraid.

—It is better that I die under a curse than for the abbot to die — said Hierodeacon Glykerios — and making the sign of the Cross, he said: “Lord, help me!”

And he broke down the second door as well. All the fathers entered the cell. The abbot was lying on the ground, face upward, with his hands at his sides. His eyes were half-open. The Psalter was beside him, and the vigil lamp was extinguished.

—Bless us, holy abbot! they all said.

But they noticed no reaction on his face. Then the fathers turned pale and began to weep.

—Woe is us! The holy abbot has died!

—No, he is not dead. His eyes are open. It’s as if he’s watching us with his gaze, but he cannot speak. He is completely weak. I can barely feel his pulse.

They quickly brought the Holy Gifts. Then Hieromonk Pambo communed him and gave him warm water. After that, they began to feed him little by little with soft bread crumbs, and after two days, the good spiritual shepherd was able to stand on his feet. However, he could only speak in a whisper.

After yet another week, the elder went to the common refectory. Everyone was waiting for him to say something—some counsel, some sign regarding the change of the calendar. After much pleading, he said to them:

— I thank God that I passed through this trial. The toil was great, the temptations great and many, but the Lord did not overlook His servant.

Until the tenth day I was able to stand upright and kneel, and I continually read from the Psalter. Then I began gradually to grow weak, my eyes became dim, I fell down and could not rise until you came. But in my mind I prayed day and night and asked mercy from God.

Yet I suffered greatly during this time from the demons. They came upon me with great fury: they struck me, they threatened me, they frightened me. They beat me with something like fiery rods. At one point, four demons rushed at me, dressed in long black garments, with red fezzes on their heads and sharp swords in their hands.

—Come, let’s tear this old man to pieces, because he wants to become a saint, they were saying to one another.

Then, after they struck me hard in the ribs with their swords and in the chest, they came close to my ears and screamed chillingly:

—Who told you that saints are still made nowadays?

—And who told you that they are not? I answered them.

They came a second time, and they were more in number. They were dressed the same, and their rods were like flame. They struck me again violently, to the point that I believed I would die.

Then they shouted fiercely over me:

—You fast in vain; you will end up in our hands anyway…

—I hope in the mercy of God, and I will not fall into your hands, I replied.

A few days passed—I do not know how many—and I was sitting on the ground praying in my mind, when suddenly I saw the roof of the cell move from its place, and I could clearly see the sky and the stars shining.

—"What is this?" I wondered.

Then I saw a ray of light descending from heaven toward me. Upon this ray I saw three hierarchs coming down, dressed in radiant and multicolored vestments. The one in the middle appeared to be Theodosios, the former Bishop of Roman, who had also been my spiritual father.

I felt a great joy in my soul and did not know what to believe. Yet I prayed with tears to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Theotokos to deliver me from the snares of the enemy.

Those three hierarchs—who perhaps were Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Basil the Great, and Saint Gregory the Theologian—stopped above me, about ten paces away. Then the one in the middle, with a thin voice like a trumpet, said to me:

— Ioanichie, why do you doubt and refuse to be obedient? Do you not know that disobedience is a great sin? Or have you not read in the Holy Scripture that obedience is greater even than sacrifice?

Therefore, be obedient, as the elders instruct you—you will not give an account for the change of the calendar...

After these words, the three hierarchs placed their hands crosswise on their chests and blessed me all at once. Then they began to ascend toward heaven upon the same ray of light, which receded behind them, until I could see nothing more. Suddenly, I saw the ceiling of the cell, the icons, and the vigil lamp.

From that year onward, the brotherhood of Sihăstria accepted the new calendar without further objection.

Thereafter, many faithful and monks from those regions, upon hearing this, abandoned the old and followed the new, since they had Ioanichie as their spiritual father.

 

Translation [into Greek] by Fr. Georgios Konispoliatis

Original Romanian source: Ieroschimonahul Ioanichie Moroi – Egumenul Sihastriei [Hieroschemamonk Ioanichie Moroi – Abbot of Sihăstria], ArchimandriteIoanichie Balan, Sihăstria Monastery, 2021.

Greek source online: https://www.kivotoshelp.gr/index.php/palaio-menu/1148-orama-thavmaston-kai-apokalyptikon-peri-tis-allagis-tou-imerologiou