by Hieromonk Lavrentie | February 17, 2026
A holy elder, who lived a hundred
years and died after the fall of communism, Antonie, left as a legacy very
beneficial words, especially about the end times, which have already been
present in the Romanian sphere for some time in the form of two visions. The
center of his attention is the seeking of salvation, peace of spirit, lack of
compromise, and not the sophisticated reading of the times and entry into
endless discussions without a spirit rightly ordered. Below is a fragment of
his wisdom (three small excerpts originating from the 1990s) on facing the
challenges of apostasy without making concessions, but also without entering
into unjustified disturbances and attitudes contrary to the saving and
peace-giving truth of God, which can be understood only with a mind made
tranquil by prayer.
***
Who still prays now? No, I am not
speaking about the reading of prayers, but about prayer itself. If there were
only a few such people who truly pray, those end-times would not even come.
But, unfortunately, we only read our rule of prayer, we read our morning and
evening prayers, yet we do not pray. Whereas our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
showed us an example of prayer—unto sweat and blood. Who remembers this?
(…)
Exactly [as in the communist
camps] it is happening in our days as well—the world has now directed all its
powers toward the effort to distract people’s attention from the most important
thing—salvation. But the most terrible thing is that, in order to achieve this
objective, the powers of darkness make use of seemingly good aims and
intentions. It would seem that, in essence, the unification of the Russian
Orthodox Churches (the Patriarchate and the one in exile, ROCOR) could be a
very good thing. But here too the enemy does not rest, but draws people into
the “struggle for truth.” And that is it—from then on salvation no longer takes
place! Everyone wants to prove something, to reinforce everything they say with
quotations, to confirm their words by bringing as arguments certain similar cases
from the history of Byzantium and of Russia… But where is salvation?! Where is
the struggle with one’s own passions, with one’s own sin?!
Behold, there once came to me—and
it was not the first time they had come—some people who said about themselves
that they were my spiritual sons. These listened to my counsels, only they did
not hear them and, therefore, did not fulfill them. Invoking their rights as
spiritual sons, they entered my room, not giving heed to the people who had
gathered at the door of my cell and to the fact that I was then confessing a
widow, beside whom I was praying and weeping for her lost son. If you listen to
them, you would say that they are confessors of the faith, shield and sword of
the Church militant. But all this—done with passion, beside themselves, in a
kind of frenzy.
I listened to them, seated them
on chairs, and then began to receive my brothers who were humble, humbled by
life and by the world. I prayed and wept together with them. I, the sinner, did
not give them advice, but strove to make each one hear for himself the voice of
his Lord. I bowed my head to the fulfillment of His holy will.
Thus several hours passed. The
bewilderment of my “sons” was replaced by reflection. Then by prayer, after
which tears also followed. In the end, they began to ask forgiveness and to
thank me for the teaching! And what was that teaching: “Peace be to you!”—as
the Savior said (Luke 24:36). Peace in the soul as the pledge of His salvation.
If there is no peace, there is no salvation. And peace means the striving for
salvation, the renunciation of everything that has no connection with it.
Here are your “whys.” Yes, such
things exist, yes, they are very, very troubling. Even so, you do not spend
whole days thinking about why there are clouds in the sky and how it is that
the sun no longer shines. Is that not so, Father?
(…)
The scattering of the mind, I
believe, is nevertheless the principal cause [of evil]. Everything in this
world is now directed against the exhortation of the Savior: “Watch!” (Lk.
21:36). We pay attention neither to the words of Scripture nor to the counsels
of the Holy Fathers. You know, Father, people bring me many, many books written
by contemporary theologians. Or rather, by certain authors who approach
Orthodox subjects. I will tell you plainly—most of them end up in the fire. I
ask my spiritual sons to read to me now from one, now from another, yet I do
not find salvation in them! They have now come to criticize
everything—Protestantism, occultism, shamanism, as well as certain things still
unintelligible. One struggles passionately to prove something, another to
preach something, another to convince… But to what extent do all these things
have any connection with salvation?! They have no connection at all; indeed,
they are very far from it. So far that it is hard for them even to understand
this. Yes, it is a difficult thing to understand, since nowadays all people, in
one way or another, live in the modern world, full of diabolical laws. Or
rather, they live according to these laws.
(Elder Antonie, Am văzut sfârșitul lumii. Mărturisirile unui stareț care a trăit o sută de ani, Vol. 2, Sophia Publishing House, Bucharest, 2025.)
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