Blondina Gobjilă, commonly known as “Mother Blandina,” was born on February 24, 1906, in the village of Grușenți-Chelmești in Bessarabia, into a priestly family. Her father was named Zaharia Popovici, and her mother Serafima. They had two more daughters and a son, Blandina being the youngest of them all. Her name comes from the Holy Martyr Blandina, who lived in the second century in the region of present-day Lyon and was martyred in the year 177 during the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius (161–180). The meaning of the name, derived from the Latin blandus, -a, -um, meaning “gentle, comforting, pleasant, charming, inviting,” very well describes both her character and the way she related to people throughout her life, regardless of the difficulties she encountered.
She received an excellent education, both moral and intellectual. The priestly family into which she was born deeply influenced her upbringing and personality. Faith, piety, love for the holy services, respect for one’s neighbor, and self-sacrifice were virtues she cultivated from earliest childhood until the end of her life. From the age of six she attended daily the services celebrated by her father, read at the chanter’s stand, knew the order of the services, replaced the chanter when needed, and knew the Divine Liturgy by heart. She attended elementary school and gymnasium, eventually becoming a teacher for grades one through seven.
On August 27, 1926, she married Gheorghe Gobjilă, an agronomist engineer and son of a priest, with whom she had one son, Vladislav-Slavcic. From this point, Mother Blandina’s life may be divided into three periods of fifteen years each: 1926–1941 were years spent in peace and happiness with her husband and their son; 1941–1956 was the period in which she was deported to Siberia; and from 1956 until 1971, when she departed to the Lord, she lived her years of freedom in Iași, at the Metropolitan Cathedral near Saint Paraskeva.
We do not have many details about the first fifteen-year period, its climax being the beginning of 1941, when after Bessarabia was annexed by the USSR, the regime began persecuting intellectuals and prosperous families. On May 5, 1941, her husband was arrested, and on June 21 Blandina herself was arrested — the main accusation being that she intended to flee to Romania, and thus she was considered an enemy of the people. On the road to Siberia she was imprisoned for a time in Kazan, in a prison set up inside the Church of the Mother of God of Kazan, which had been transformed into a prison by the communists. There, following the teaching of Christ the Savior, Mother Blandina together with her cousin offered themselves to carry the “parasa” (the prison bucket used as a toilet by the inmates) outside and thus serve their suffering brothers.
While still in the prison at Kazan, one night she dreamed that at the small window of the cell the Savior appeared wearing the crown of thorns upon His head, crucified on the Holy Cross. Blood flowed from His head around the crown, and Jesus moved His head from right to left in pain, causing the blood to flow even more. She wanted to go and wipe His wounds and stop the blood, and Jesus said to her: “Do you see how I also suffer unjustly, though innocent?” Through this dream, Mother Blandina testified, Jesus gave her peace, strength, comfort, and an indescribable consolation. This dream remained with her throughout all the years of imprisonment and exile in Siberia, and throughout her whole life.
Her husband had also arrived at the prison in Kazan, and in a miraculous way they managed to communicate through a crack in the wall. There he was subjected to extremely brutal interrogations, receiving kicks in the stomach and other blows of cruel violence. From the last words he addressed to Mother Blandina, one can see the way they had lived until then — with fear of God and concern for a moral life: “I beg you, if God helps you to be released, convey my love to our dear child, and tell him that I, dying innocent under terrible sufferings, ask him always to be an honorable and honest man.”
Her interrogation soon followed. The thought with which Mother Blandina went before the investigators was this: “And when they bring you before rulers to judge you, do not fear what you shall say, for the Holy Spirit will speak for you...” (cf. Luke 12:11–12). She made the sign of the Holy Cross and said within herself: “Lord, into Your hands I commend my life” (cf. Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59; Psalm 30:5).
From the prison at Kazan she was transferred to Sviyazhsk, where one of the monastery buildings there had been turned into a prison. The conditions were among the harshest, and she became ill, her whole body covered with sores. Even in this state she did not lose her faith, but entrusted herself to the conviction that “everything is in God’s hands. From death He makes life, and from life, death.” Because of deprivation and the harsh conditions, her weight dropped from 96 kilograms to only 45. While sick, she received God’s help through a female doctor who treated her and suggested that she work in the hospital and in turn care for the disabled there. It was there that she met the Catholic bishop of Ismail, Ioan Hondru, whom she cared for with great love, offering him comfort in the last days of his life. From him she herself received strength to continue; she was spiritually strengthened so that she could endure hardships with patience and thanksgiving, seeing how he thanked God for everything and encouraged her before departing to the Lord, asking her to remember him in her prayers. This shows that although she herself was weak, she never ceased praying, even though at times she felt despair. Working as a laundress in the hospital, she recovered, as she herself says, “both physically and spiritually,” growing stronger in faith, casting aside despair, and increasing in her trust that God would help her endure the years of imprisonment.
Because she proved herself to be a conscientious and honest woman, she was appointed administrator of the kitchen. After two years she was transferred to the prison camp in the locality of Orlovo Rozovo. There she was assigned to field labor, but since she could not keep pace with the other prisoners, the camp chief — “a man with a gentle and beautiful face and a kind heart” — appointed her as a night cook. Finding herself in difficult circumstances, she said: “I worked and, from time to time, I went to the cooks’ cabin, fell on my knees, and asked the Mother of God for help.”
One day, 200 nuns from the Monastery of Saint John of Kronstadt were brought to the prison camp at Orlovo Rozovo, condemned for religious propaganda. Mother Blandina hoped to receive much moral and spiritual support from them: “During meals, I tried to stay with the nuns, because after eating they spent their rest time in prayer and spiritual hymns. Together with them we recited the Akathists to the Mother of God, to the Savior, and to Saint Nicholas the Hierarch, and I learned them by heart from them, since they knew them by memory. Many times in the evenings they participated in long services together with the priests, and prisoners from other camps also came, and the prayers there were more sincere than in churches, because all the listeners wept aloud. Some informers would report these religious gatherings to the camp chief, and he would say to them: ‘Leave them alone, for this is all they have.’” Whenever she had a little free time, she spent it with the nuns in prayer and hymn singing.
After a long time, she received the news that her husband had died of hunger on May 27, 1943. This news made her long even more for death herself, while at the same time considering her husband blessed because he had escaped suffering and had departed as a martyr. From that moment she resolved never to remarry, and she fulfilled that resolution.
Because she carried out all her assigned duties with great care and conscientiousness, she was given another task, apparently easier — that of working in a butter factory. But in a labor camp nothing could truly be easy. She had to process alone approximately 3,500 liters of milk every day, with a schedule beginning at 3:00 in the morning and ending at midnight. This exhausted her so greatly that she became ill once again. After recovering, she was assigned to manage a food warehouse. Although there was severe scarcity there and she initially refused, at the urging of the imprisoned nuns she accepted this obedience while praying unceasingly. She would say: “Mother of God, be with me!” And indeed, she received help.
In the courtyard of the warehouse there was also a nursery. One of the imprisoned nuns suggested that they baptize the children, “for this is proper.” And when the woman supervising them was absent, they baptized about thirty-five children up to one year old, reciting the Creed, immersing each child in water three times, and pronouncing the baptismal formula.
She received an excellent education, both moral and intellectual. The priestly family into which she was born deeply influenced her upbringing and personality. Faith, piety, love for the holy services, respect for one’s neighbor, and self-sacrifice were virtues she cultivated from earliest childhood until the end of her life. From the age of six she attended daily the services celebrated by her father, read at the chanter’s stand, knew the order of the services, replaced the chanter when needed, and knew the Divine Liturgy by heart. She attended elementary school and gymnasium, eventually becoming a teacher for grades one through seven.
On August 27, 1926, she married Gheorghe Gobjilă, an agronomist engineer and son of a priest, with whom she had one son, Vladislav-Slavcic. From this point, Mother Blandina’s life may be divided into three periods of fifteen years each: 1926–1941 were years spent in peace and happiness with her husband and their son; 1941–1956 was the period in which she was deported to Siberia; and from 1956 until 1971, when she departed to the Lord, she lived her years of freedom in Iași, at the Metropolitan Cathedral near Saint Paraskeva.
We do not have many details about the first fifteen-year period, its climax being the beginning of 1941, when after Bessarabia was annexed by the USSR, the regime began persecuting intellectuals and prosperous families. On May 5, 1941, her husband was arrested, and on June 21 Blandina herself was arrested — the main accusation being that she intended to flee to Romania, and thus she was considered an enemy of the people. On the road to Siberia she was imprisoned for a time in Kazan, in a prison set up inside the Church of the Mother of God of Kazan, which had been transformed into a prison by the communists. There, following the teaching of Christ the Savior, Mother Blandina together with her cousin offered themselves to carry the “parasa” (the prison bucket used as a toilet by the inmates) outside and thus serve their suffering brothers.
While still in the prison at Kazan, one night she dreamed that at the small window of the cell the Savior appeared wearing the crown of thorns upon His head, crucified on the Holy Cross. Blood flowed from His head around the crown, and Jesus moved His head from right to left in pain, causing the blood to flow even more. She wanted to go and wipe His wounds and stop the blood, and Jesus said to her: “Do you see how I also suffer unjustly, though innocent?” Through this dream, Mother Blandina testified, Jesus gave her peace, strength, comfort, and an indescribable consolation. This dream remained with her throughout all the years of imprisonment and exile in Siberia, and throughout her whole life.
Her husband had also arrived at the prison in Kazan, and in a miraculous way they managed to communicate through a crack in the wall. There he was subjected to extremely brutal interrogations, receiving kicks in the stomach and other blows of cruel violence. From the last words he addressed to Mother Blandina, one can see the way they had lived until then — with fear of God and concern for a moral life: “I beg you, if God helps you to be released, convey my love to our dear child, and tell him that I, dying innocent under terrible sufferings, ask him always to be an honorable and honest man.”
Her interrogation soon followed. The thought with which Mother Blandina went before the investigators was this: “And when they bring you before rulers to judge you, do not fear what you shall say, for the Holy Spirit will speak for you...” (cf. Luke 12:11–12). She made the sign of the Holy Cross and said within herself: “Lord, into Your hands I commend my life” (cf. Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59; Psalm 30:5).
From the prison at Kazan she was transferred to Sviyazhsk, where one of the monastery buildings there had been turned into a prison. The conditions were among the harshest, and she became ill, her whole body covered with sores. Even in this state she did not lose her faith, but entrusted herself to the conviction that “everything is in God’s hands. From death He makes life, and from life, death.” Because of deprivation and the harsh conditions, her weight dropped from 96 kilograms to only 45. While sick, she received God’s help through a female doctor who treated her and suggested that she work in the hospital and in turn care for the disabled there. It was there that she met the Catholic bishop of Ismail, Ioan Hondru, whom she cared for with great love, offering him comfort in the last days of his life. From him she herself received strength to continue; she was spiritually strengthened so that she could endure hardships with patience and thanksgiving, seeing how he thanked God for everything and encouraged her before departing to the Lord, asking her to remember him in her prayers. This shows that although she herself was weak, she never ceased praying, even though at times she felt despair. Working as a laundress in the hospital, she recovered, as she herself says, “both physically and spiritually,” growing stronger in faith, casting aside despair, and increasing in her trust that God would help her endure the years of imprisonment.
Because she proved herself to be a conscientious and honest woman, she was appointed administrator of the kitchen. After two years she was transferred to the prison camp in the locality of Orlovo Rozovo. There she was assigned to field labor, but since she could not keep pace with the other prisoners, the camp chief — “a man with a gentle and beautiful face and a kind heart” — appointed her as a night cook. Finding herself in difficult circumstances, she said: “I worked and, from time to time, I went to the cooks’ cabin, fell on my knees, and asked the Mother of God for help.”
One day, 200 nuns from the Monastery of Saint John of Kronstadt were brought to the prison camp at Orlovo Rozovo, condemned for religious propaganda. Mother Blandina hoped to receive much moral and spiritual support from them: “During meals, I tried to stay with the nuns, because after eating they spent their rest time in prayer and spiritual hymns. Together with them we recited the Akathists to the Mother of God, to the Savior, and to Saint Nicholas the Hierarch, and I learned them by heart from them, since they knew them by memory. Many times in the evenings they participated in long services together with the priests, and prisoners from other camps also came, and the prayers there were more sincere than in churches, because all the listeners wept aloud. Some informers would report these religious gatherings to the camp chief, and he would say to them: ‘Leave them alone, for this is all they have.’” Whenever she had a little free time, she spent it with the nuns in prayer and hymn singing.
After a long time, she received the news that her husband had died of hunger on May 27, 1943. This news made her long even more for death herself, while at the same time considering her husband blessed because he had escaped suffering and had departed as a martyr. From that moment she resolved never to remarry, and she fulfilled that resolution.
Because she carried out all her assigned duties with great care and conscientiousness, she was given another task, apparently easier — that of working in a butter factory. But in a labor camp nothing could truly be easy. She had to process alone approximately 3,500 liters of milk every day, with a schedule beginning at 3:00 in the morning and ending at midnight. This exhausted her so greatly that she became ill once again. After recovering, she was assigned to manage a food warehouse. Although there was severe scarcity there and she initially refused, at the urging of the imprisoned nuns she accepted this obedience while praying unceasingly. She would say: “Mother of God, be with me!” And indeed, she received help.
In the courtyard of the warehouse there was also a nursery. One of the imprisoned nuns suggested that they baptize the children, “for this is proper.” And when the woman supervising them was absent, they baptized about thirty-five children up to one year old, reciting the Creed, immersing each child in water three times, and pronouncing the baptismal formula.
On June 21, 1949, she was released after eight years of severe suffering. Even so, she was not permitted to go wherever she wished, but was taken, together with other released prisoners, to Novosibirsk. The reason given was that, although they were free, they still remained enemies of the people. Therefore, the government decided to send them to another part of Siberia to work on a collective farm. They arrived in Camașova. On Sundays and major feast days, together with a Russian family with whom she had become friends, they would go to church somewhere about forty kilometers away.
Life there was extremely difficult. She suffered many injustices. Besides being imprisoned unjustly a second time, now without even being tried, she was without hope for anything better and without any expectation that she would ever return home, for she had signed a document “voluntarily” agreeing to remain in Siberia until death.
In this bleak situation, she received news that her mother wished to come to Siberia and live with her. This news gave her hope, but also caused her concern, since the conditions there were extremely harsh. Together, mother and daughter managed to make a household for themselves, using the money her mother brought to buy a house, a cow, and poultry. In their little home they received a priest who was also living there under forced residence, and he helped them with household work. After about five years, Mother Blandina’s mother departed to the Lord on February 22, 1955. The loss of her mother deeply unsettled her. She then received a telegram informing her of the death of an aunt in Pyatigorsk who had also helped her. Together with this news she received a letter and a photograph in which her son appeared. He begged her to confirm that she was still alive so that he could begin the procedures for her repatriation to Romania. This moment restored her desire to live, lifted her out of the darkness into which she had been sinking, and rekindled the hope that she would return to Romania. Thus the words of her mother were fulfilled, who had told her that she would return to Romania and would not remain alone, but that the Mother of God would always care for her. On June 11, 1956, she received a note that read: “By this notice, the citizen Gobjilă Blondina is set free and is permitted to go wherever she wishes.” On the journey home, she stopped at Novosibirsk, venerated in the city cathedral, attended the service on the Saturday of Pentecost, filled her soul with joy and the hope that God was with her everywhere and always, and prayed with tears of gratitude. She remained there for two more days, attended the divine services, and prayed that she might safely reach her homeland.
After a long and exhausting journey, she arrived in Chișinău, and after resting, she went to church to thank God for this blessing, remaining there for half the day. She stayed in the village of Chișla until she received permission to come to Romania. On Sundays and feast days, she went to church and helped at the chanter’s stand, after which the priest would invite her to a meal as a reward.
On January 15, 1957, she received her Romanian passport and set out for Bucharest, where her son Vladislav was waiting for her. Not long afterward they moved to Iași, since her son had to work there, and they lived together. Mother Blandina went daily to Saint Paraskeva at the Metropolitan Cathedral, having both the Mother of God and Saint Paraskeva as her protectors and helpers. She stayed with her son and daughter-in-law for one year, for one day the daughter-in-law, who was an atheist and could not tolerate Mother Blandina’s keeping the customs of the Church, consulted with her husband and demanded that she choose, giving her three days to decide: “Either your God, or us!”
To this pagan proposal, Mother Blandina answered immediately: “Do not give me three days to choose God. I always have God. I may renounce anything, but I will not renounce God! I do not need three days to think about it. I tell you now: if I cannot be with both God and you, then I choose God.”
These words reveal her love and faith toward God, for she did not hesitate, but chose God, refusing, like the Savior, the demonic temptation to bow before the enemy and deny Him in order to remain with her son and daughter-in-law. Her son Vladislav told her they had to separate, saying to her: “Go wherever you want!” He feared that because of his mother, he and his wife, both engineers, would lose their livelihood.
Bearing this heavy burden, she went to the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral and, with bitter tears, prayed to the Mother of God and Saint Paraskeva not to abandon her and to help her in this immense sorrow. Shortly afterward, she received a letter from an uncle in Arad who earnestly begged her to come to them. She went to the Metropolitan Cathedral and thanked the Lord, His Mother, and Saint Paraskeva for this miracle, and after receiving a blessing, she departed. While in Arad, where she had to do many difficult tasks, she had a dream in which Saint Paraskeva said to her: “Do not worry, I will be with you!” And so it was, for she received unexpected help in the work she was doing. There she also experienced another miracle worked by Saint Demetrius Basarabov. She says: “One day my left hand began to hurt so badly that I could do no work at all. I told nothing to my relatives, but continually prayed to the Mother of God to heal my hand so that I could work, help the elderly couple, and not eat bread in vain. One night I felt someone gently touching my sick hand. I became frightened and asked who it was. I received the answer: ‘I am Saint Demetrius of Bucharest.’ To this day that hand has never hurt again. Truly, I venerate Saint Demetrius Basarabov very much.”
After four months she returned to Iași, where she had “neither house nor table.” One morning, arriving at the Metropolitan Cathedral at six o’clock, Deacon Laurențiu, who also served as sacristan, asked her to help him with work. She accepted gladly, considering it an honor to clean and wipe the holy icons. She did everything voluntarily, out of love, without being paid. The fathers at the cathedral and the nuns received her with joy, and she was very happy to be every day in the house of the Lord, finding comfort in the beautiful services and feeling that she was useful to the church, considering this a miracle of Saint Paraskeva. On Sundays and feast days she went to the Frumoasa Church, where she wept bitterly over her hardships and poverty. There at Frumoasa she met a young woman who regularly attended church and noticed how deeply Mother Blandina wept. She asked her what sorrow she had, and after hearing her story, invited her to come and stay at their home. This was Mrs. Elena, the mother of Father Mircea Stoleriu. Although they themselves lived in modest conditions, they received her. Later they all moved into an apartment block where the conditions were better.
Another moment from the life of Mother Blandina came when her son sought her out to ask forgiveness for what he had done, for a month after they had thrown her out of the house, he was forced to resign from the institution where he worked. Vladislav said to her: “I have seen that God protects you and punishes me.” Mother Blandina promised that she would pray for God to forgive him for the injustice he had done to her and to help him find work. Ten days later, her son Vladislav came and thanked her, because he had been reinstated in the very position from which he had been forced to resign. She also prayed for her daughter-in-law, who could not stand her, that she would not separate from her son, for the woman worked in Galați while he commuted to Iași. Not long afterward, she too had to commute to Iași for work. According to the recollections of Father Mircea Stoleriu, she stayed in their home whenever she came to Iași, and Mother Blandina gave her daughter-in-law her own room while she herself went to sleep in the kitchen.
Mother Blandina remained in the home of Father Stoleriu’s family, even though her son and daughter-in-law eventually became financially secure. Through her prayers they were granted a daughter named Irina, whom, after many difficulties, she managed to have baptized, although the daughter-in-law had initially opposed it. According to Mother Blandina’s own account, her son was healed from a serious illness through the help of Saint Paraskeva. Even the doctors treating him said: “Engineer, you must have someone praying to God for you!” He replied: “Yes, I have my mother.” They answered: “We are not surprised. Only a mother’s prayers can work such miracles.”
In 1969, Mother Blandina became ill with cancer, and doctors performed several operations on her. Saint Paraskeva healed her, and she was able to resume her duties at the Cathedral. She had wished to die of cancer because, as she said, “death from cancer is a martyr’s death for whoever can endure the pain.” Then she added: “I do not know why this time God did not listen to me, for I asked Him to let me die of cancer!”
Not long afterward, on May 24, 1971, Mother Blandina departed to the Lord and was buried in Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași, in the Stoleriu family grave. She had wished to die between Pascha and Ascension so that “Christ is Risen” would be sung for her. And God arranged it so, for the Ascension of the Lord fell on May 26, 1971.
Life there was extremely difficult. She suffered many injustices. Besides being imprisoned unjustly a second time, now without even being tried, she was without hope for anything better and without any expectation that she would ever return home, for she had signed a document “voluntarily” agreeing to remain in Siberia until death.
In this bleak situation, she received news that her mother wished to come to Siberia and live with her. This news gave her hope, but also caused her concern, since the conditions there were extremely harsh. Together, mother and daughter managed to make a household for themselves, using the money her mother brought to buy a house, a cow, and poultry. In their little home they received a priest who was also living there under forced residence, and he helped them with household work. After about five years, Mother Blandina’s mother departed to the Lord on February 22, 1955. The loss of her mother deeply unsettled her. She then received a telegram informing her of the death of an aunt in Pyatigorsk who had also helped her. Together with this news she received a letter and a photograph in which her son appeared. He begged her to confirm that she was still alive so that he could begin the procedures for her repatriation to Romania. This moment restored her desire to live, lifted her out of the darkness into which she had been sinking, and rekindled the hope that she would return to Romania. Thus the words of her mother were fulfilled, who had told her that she would return to Romania and would not remain alone, but that the Mother of God would always care for her. On June 11, 1956, she received a note that read: “By this notice, the citizen Gobjilă Blondina is set free and is permitted to go wherever she wishes.” On the journey home, she stopped at Novosibirsk, venerated in the city cathedral, attended the service on the Saturday of Pentecost, filled her soul with joy and the hope that God was with her everywhere and always, and prayed with tears of gratitude. She remained there for two more days, attended the divine services, and prayed that she might safely reach her homeland.
After a long and exhausting journey, she arrived in Chișinău, and after resting, she went to church to thank God for this blessing, remaining there for half the day. She stayed in the village of Chișla until she received permission to come to Romania. On Sundays and feast days, she went to church and helped at the chanter’s stand, after which the priest would invite her to a meal as a reward.
On January 15, 1957, she received her Romanian passport and set out for Bucharest, where her son Vladislav was waiting for her. Not long afterward they moved to Iași, since her son had to work there, and they lived together. Mother Blandina went daily to Saint Paraskeva at the Metropolitan Cathedral, having both the Mother of God and Saint Paraskeva as her protectors and helpers. She stayed with her son and daughter-in-law for one year, for one day the daughter-in-law, who was an atheist and could not tolerate Mother Blandina’s keeping the customs of the Church, consulted with her husband and demanded that she choose, giving her three days to decide: “Either your God, or us!”
To this pagan proposal, Mother Blandina answered immediately: “Do not give me three days to choose God. I always have God. I may renounce anything, but I will not renounce God! I do not need three days to think about it. I tell you now: if I cannot be with both God and you, then I choose God.”
These words reveal her love and faith toward God, for she did not hesitate, but chose God, refusing, like the Savior, the demonic temptation to bow before the enemy and deny Him in order to remain with her son and daughter-in-law. Her son Vladislav told her they had to separate, saying to her: “Go wherever you want!” He feared that because of his mother, he and his wife, both engineers, would lose their livelihood.
Bearing this heavy burden, she went to the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral and, with bitter tears, prayed to the Mother of God and Saint Paraskeva not to abandon her and to help her in this immense sorrow. Shortly afterward, she received a letter from an uncle in Arad who earnestly begged her to come to them. She went to the Metropolitan Cathedral and thanked the Lord, His Mother, and Saint Paraskeva for this miracle, and after receiving a blessing, she departed. While in Arad, where she had to do many difficult tasks, she had a dream in which Saint Paraskeva said to her: “Do not worry, I will be with you!” And so it was, for she received unexpected help in the work she was doing. There she also experienced another miracle worked by Saint Demetrius Basarabov. She says: “One day my left hand began to hurt so badly that I could do no work at all. I told nothing to my relatives, but continually prayed to the Mother of God to heal my hand so that I could work, help the elderly couple, and not eat bread in vain. One night I felt someone gently touching my sick hand. I became frightened and asked who it was. I received the answer: ‘I am Saint Demetrius of Bucharest.’ To this day that hand has never hurt again. Truly, I venerate Saint Demetrius Basarabov very much.”
After four months she returned to Iași, where she had “neither house nor table.” One morning, arriving at the Metropolitan Cathedral at six o’clock, Deacon Laurențiu, who also served as sacristan, asked her to help him with work. She accepted gladly, considering it an honor to clean and wipe the holy icons. She did everything voluntarily, out of love, without being paid. The fathers at the cathedral and the nuns received her with joy, and she was very happy to be every day in the house of the Lord, finding comfort in the beautiful services and feeling that she was useful to the church, considering this a miracle of Saint Paraskeva. On Sundays and feast days she went to the Frumoasa Church, where she wept bitterly over her hardships and poverty. There at Frumoasa she met a young woman who regularly attended church and noticed how deeply Mother Blandina wept. She asked her what sorrow she had, and after hearing her story, invited her to come and stay at their home. This was Mrs. Elena, the mother of Father Mircea Stoleriu. Although they themselves lived in modest conditions, they received her. Later they all moved into an apartment block where the conditions were better.
Another moment from the life of Mother Blandina came when her son sought her out to ask forgiveness for what he had done, for a month after they had thrown her out of the house, he was forced to resign from the institution where he worked. Vladislav said to her: “I have seen that God protects you and punishes me.” Mother Blandina promised that she would pray for God to forgive him for the injustice he had done to her and to help him find work. Ten days later, her son Vladislav came and thanked her, because he had been reinstated in the very position from which he had been forced to resign. She also prayed for her daughter-in-law, who could not stand her, that she would not separate from her son, for the woman worked in Galați while he commuted to Iași. Not long afterward, she too had to commute to Iași for work. According to the recollections of Father Mircea Stoleriu, she stayed in their home whenever she came to Iași, and Mother Blandina gave her daughter-in-law her own room while she herself went to sleep in the kitchen.
Mother Blandina remained in the home of Father Stoleriu’s family, even though her son and daughter-in-law eventually became financially secure. Through her prayers they were granted a daughter named Irina, whom, after many difficulties, she managed to have baptized, although the daughter-in-law had initially opposed it. According to Mother Blandina’s own account, her son was healed from a serious illness through the help of Saint Paraskeva. Even the doctors treating him said: “Engineer, you must have someone praying to God for you!” He replied: “Yes, I have my mother.” They answered: “We are not surprised. Only a mother’s prayers can work such miracles.”
In 1969, Mother Blandina became ill with cancer, and doctors performed several operations on her. Saint Paraskeva healed her, and she was able to resume her duties at the Cathedral. She had wished to die of cancer because, as she said, “death from cancer is a martyr’s death for whoever can endure the pain.” Then she added: “I do not know why this time God did not listen to me, for I asked Him to let me die of cancer!”
Not long afterward, on May 24, 1971, Mother Blandina departed to the Lord and was buried in Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași, in the Stoleriu family grave. She had wished to die between Pascha and Ascension so that “Christ is Risen” would be sung for her. And God arranged it so, for the Ascension of the Lord fell on May 26, 1971.
From this brief presentation of the life of Mother Blandina, based on the book The Sufferings of Mother Blondina – A Martyr of Siberia, one can clearly see the strength of faith of this woman who endured so many sufferings and who, with all the rises and falls that accompany spiritual growth, showed unwavering steadfastness and holy boldness in the things of God. The good seed planted by her parents from early childhood grew and bore beautiful fruit in the soul and life of Mother Blandina. Wealth and poverty, peace and turmoil, ease and hardship, hope and despair, love and suffering, forgiveness and prayer wove together a radiant crown with which Mother Blandina was adorned. The example of her life remains a source of inspiration for all who knew her and for those who wish to learn about her life.
Although there are now few people still alive who can testify to Mother Blandina’s acts of faith, several accounts remain. The most detailed belong to Father Mircea Stoleriu, alongside whose family she lived for many years after returning from Siberia.
Out of humility, in the aforementioned book Mother Blandina made very few references to her prayer rule and the charitable works she performed. Yet it would have been impossible for someone to undertake such a monastic discipline unless it had been a constant way of life. Every day she was at the Metropolitan Cathedral by six in the morning, spending the whole day working and praying there. In the evening, when she returned home, she continued praying with Father Stoleriu’s family. Together they prayed, read from the Paterikon, and sang church hymns. Then she continued her own prayer rule, reading Akathists and serving the Midnight Office. Her presence was discreet and full of modesty. She tried not to trouble anyone and contributed as much as she could to the needs of the household. When she was not praying, she translated from Russian and hand-copied Akathists, which she gave to priests in Iași, especially Akathists to the patron saint of each church where they served. She had boldly requested and received from the Moscow Patriarchate an Akathist book containing services to many saints that had not yet been translated into Romanian or were unavailable for liturgical use.
She was always ready to help, to do good deeds, and to care for those in need. She participated in the patronal feasts of the churches in Iași and, assisted by a group of women friends, labored to prepare everything necessary for the proper celebration of the feast. Whenever help was needed, they did whatever was required. She would not allow anything to remain unfinished. Although careful not to offend anyone, she strove to persuade priests to carry out whatever work needed to be done. Bishop Irineu called this group of women “Mother Blondina’s band.”
At Mother Blandina’s funeral there were very many priests, almost all those serving in Iași. A huge crowd also came to accompany her and pray for her soul. Not only did they fail to fit inside Nicoriță Church, where the funeral service was held, but the streets for several hundred meters around were filled with people. Her son Vladislav was also present and said: “So many people valued and loved her, and I did not know how to value her!... I realize now that I never truly knew my mother — I had a holy mother.” During the funeral sermon, many priests spoke about what she had hidden during her life: her faith, love, prayer, and good works.
From the testimony of Mrs. Elena Rambă, the wife of Father Gheorghe Rambă of Bogata de Sus, who later served in several parishes in Transylvania, we learn of Mother Blandina’s humility, for she shared the story of her life with almost no one. When Father Gheorghe spoke at her funeral, the entire church was in tears and sobbing, because they had not truly known how much she had suffered. A nun from the Metropolitan Cathedral candle stand, to whom Mother Blandina had given her memoirs to read, and who used to trouble her constantly, after reading them said: “So that is why you never complained or said anything — because you were a martyr!”
While she was still alive, Mother Blandina and Mrs. Elena made several pilgrimages together, including one to Sihăstria Monastery. There Mother Blandina saw Father Ioanichie Bălan, who was then still young, almost like a schoolboy, and said to Mrs. Elena: “Look at that young man — he will go far.” And so it came to pass.
Although Mother Blandina’s son Vladislav caused her great suffering, her maternal love and faith that he would return to the right path made her pray constantly for him. Before her death, she entrusted Mrs. Elena with a message for her son: “May he never forget God and may he raise his daughter — Irina — in the fear and faith of God.” At the funeral, weeping bitterly, her son promised, lifting his eyes to heaven: “I will take care of her and obey her words!”
After Mother Blandina’s death, Mrs. Elena had several dreams about her. In one of them, she dreamed of her spiritual father, Father Vasile Gladeon, who had already departed to the Lord, an elder of holy life. She asked him for spiritual advice and asked whether he had met Aunt Blandina. He replied: “Oh… she is far ahead.” Another time she dreamed of Mother Blandina wearing an apron filled with loaves of bread, which she gave to Mrs. Elena so that her house too might always be full. In another dream, a friend who had died in 2010 appeared standing on the shore of a sea. Suddenly Aunt Blandina appeared, and without a word lifted the woman above the waters and departed with her.
Another testimony concerning Mother Blandina’s faith comes from Nun Maria of Galata Monastery. Although she did not know her closely, they often met at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Nun Maria testified that Mother Blandina was a woman of very deep faith.
Though she passed through many harsh and difficult trials, Mother Blandina never complained or rebelled against God. She accepted these sufferings and endured them to the end, trusting that the Lord would deliver her from them all. The decisive answer she gave her son when he demanded that she choose between him and God is the clearest proof of her faith, for she fully fulfilled the words of Christ the Savior:
“Whoever confesses Me before men, him I also will confess before My Father Who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father Who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:32–38)
Surely she also kept in mind those Gospel words that promise the reward prepared by the Lord for those who love Him:
“Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:28–29)
Likewise, during one encounter an acquaintance said to her: “Blandina, you ought to preserve at least a little dignity for yourself… you have come to washing floors in church?” With great sorrow for the woman who had asked this question, she answered: “I am never ashamed to wash the feet of the Savior!” Another acquaintance asked her why she went so early to church. She replied: “How could I not go, when God gives me such a great blessing? If only you knew what fragrances God gives me when the church doors are opened! A scent so sweet and unlike anything in this world…”
Without error we may say of Mother Blandina that she always kept the words of Holy Scripture in her heart and fulfilled them, as much as she was able, never being ashamed of her faith for even a moment. The orthodoxy of Mother Blandina’s faith was confirmed by orthopraxy — that is, by attitudes and deeds directed toward the glory of God and the help of others.
She is a symbol of the suffering of the deported Romanians and of resistance through faith. Although she did not die as a martyr of ancient times, slain for the faith, her life itself was a true martyrdom. She was deported to Siberia, where she endured cold, hunger, humiliation, and forced labor, yet she did not lose her faith. On the contrary, she grew stronger in prayer. Even though persecuted, she held no resentment toward her tormentors. She lived her life in humility, praying for everyone, including those who had tortured her. After her release, Blandina Gobjilă lived in extreme modesty, dedicating herself to the Church. She attended services daily, cleaned the church, and spent her life in prayer. The presence of such a great multitude at her funeral shows how loved and respected she was within the community. Many probably continued to commemorate her and regard her as a model of holiness, keeping her name in their family prayer lists.
The entire life of Mother Blandina was filled with wondrous deeds. That she managed to preserve her faith uncorrupted was the result of her ceaseless prayer. That she managed to save her soul, even though her body was often nearly destroyed, was likewise a miracle of God accomplished in response to her faith and spiritual struggle. Surely those who come to know her and offer prayers for — and even to — Mother Blandina, asking for her help, will receive an answer. For God appoints a time for each of His saints to become known and honored as is fitting.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Although there are now few people still alive who can testify to Mother Blandina’s acts of faith, several accounts remain. The most detailed belong to Father Mircea Stoleriu, alongside whose family she lived for many years after returning from Siberia.
Out of humility, in the aforementioned book Mother Blandina made very few references to her prayer rule and the charitable works she performed. Yet it would have been impossible for someone to undertake such a monastic discipline unless it had been a constant way of life. Every day she was at the Metropolitan Cathedral by six in the morning, spending the whole day working and praying there. In the evening, when she returned home, she continued praying with Father Stoleriu’s family. Together they prayed, read from the Paterikon, and sang church hymns. Then she continued her own prayer rule, reading Akathists and serving the Midnight Office. Her presence was discreet and full of modesty. She tried not to trouble anyone and contributed as much as she could to the needs of the household. When she was not praying, she translated from Russian and hand-copied Akathists, which she gave to priests in Iași, especially Akathists to the patron saint of each church where they served. She had boldly requested and received from the Moscow Patriarchate an Akathist book containing services to many saints that had not yet been translated into Romanian or were unavailable for liturgical use.
She was always ready to help, to do good deeds, and to care for those in need. She participated in the patronal feasts of the churches in Iași and, assisted by a group of women friends, labored to prepare everything necessary for the proper celebration of the feast. Whenever help was needed, they did whatever was required. She would not allow anything to remain unfinished. Although careful not to offend anyone, she strove to persuade priests to carry out whatever work needed to be done. Bishop Irineu called this group of women “Mother Blondina’s band.”
At Mother Blandina’s funeral there were very many priests, almost all those serving in Iași. A huge crowd also came to accompany her and pray for her soul. Not only did they fail to fit inside Nicoriță Church, where the funeral service was held, but the streets for several hundred meters around were filled with people. Her son Vladislav was also present and said: “So many people valued and loved her, and I did not know how to value her!... I realize now that I never truly knew my mother — I had a holy mother.” During the funeral sermon, many priests spoke about what she had hidden during her life: her faith, love, prayer, and good works.
From the testimony of Mrs. Elena Rambă, the wife of Father Gheorghe Rambă of Bogata de Sus, who later served in several parishes in Transylvania, we learn of Mother Blandina’s humility, for she shared the story of her life with almost no one. When Father Gheorghe spoke at her funeral, the entire church was in tears and sobbing, because they had not truly known how much she had suffered. A nun from the Metropolitan Cathedral candle stand, to whom Mother Blandina had given her memoirs to read, and who used to trouble her constantly, after reading them said: “So that is why you never complained or said anything — because you were a martyr!”
While she was still alive, Mother Blandina and Mrs. Elena made several pilgrimages together, including one to Sihăstria Monastery. There Mother Blandina saw Father Ioanichie Bălan, who was then still young, almost like a schoolboy, and said to Mrs. Elena: “Look at that young man — he will go far.” And so it came to pass.
Although Mother Blandina’s son Vladislav caused her great suffering, her maternal love and faith that he would return to the right path made her pray constantly for him. Before her death, she entrusted Mrs. Elena with a message for her son: “May he never forget God and may he raise his daughter — Irina — in the fear and faith of God.” At the funeral, weeping bitterly, her son promised, lifting his eyes to heaven: “I will take care of her and obey her words!”
After Mother Blandina’s death, Mrs. Elena had several dreams about her. In one of them, she dreamed of her spiritual father, Father Vasile Gladeon, who had already departed to the Lord, an elder of holy life. She asked him for spiritual advice and asked whether he had met Aunt Blandina. He replied: “Oh… she is far ahead.” Another time she dreamed of Mother Blandina wearing an apron filled with loaves of bread, which she gave to Mrs. Elena so that her house too might always be full. In another dream, a friend who had died in 2010 appeared standing on the shore of a sea. Suddenly Aunt Blandina appeared, and without a word lifted the woman above the waters and departed with her.
Another testimony concerning Mother Blandina’s faith comes from Nun Maria of Galata Monastery. Although she did not know her closely, they often met at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Nun Maria testified that Mother Blandina was a woman of very deep faith.
Though she passed through many harsh and difficult trials, Mother Blandina never complained or rebelled against God. She accepted these sufferings and endured them to the end, trusting that the Lord would deliver her from them all. The decisive answer she gave her son when he demanded that she choose between him and God is the clearest proof of her faith, for she fully fulfilled the words of Christ the Savior:
“Whoever confesses Me before men, him I also will confess before My Father Who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father Who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:32–38)
Surely she also kept in mind those Gospel words that promise the reward prepared by the Lord for those who love Him:
“Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:28–29)
Likewise, during one encounter an acquaintance said to her: “Blandina, you ought to preserve at least a little dignity for yourself… you have come to washing floors in church?” With great sorrow for the woman who had asked this question, she answered: “I am never ashamed to wash the feet of the Savior!” Another acquaintance asked her why she went so early to church. She replied: “How could I not go, when God gives me such a great blessing? If only you knew what fragrances God gives me when the church doors are opened! A scent so sweet and unlike anything in this world…”
Without error we may say of Mother Blandina that she always kept the words of Holy Scripture in her heart and fulfilled them, as much as she was able, never being ashamed of her faith for even a moment. The orthodoxy of Mother Blandina’s faith was confirmed by orthopraxy — that is, by attitudes and deeds directed toward the glory of God and the help of others.
She is a symbol of the suffering of the deported Romanians and of resistance through faith. Although she did not die as a martyr of ancient times, slain for the faith, her life itself was a true martyrdom. She was deported to Siberia, where she endured cold, hunger, humiliation, and forced labor, yet she did not lose her faith. On the contrary, she grew stronger in prayer. Even though persecuted, she held no resentment toward her tormentors. She lived her life in humility, praying for everyone, including those who had tortured her. After her release, Blandina Gobjilă lived in extreme modesty, dedicating herself to the Church. She attended services daily, cleaned the church, and spent her life in prayer. The presence of such a great multitude at her funeral shows how loved and respected she was within the community. Many probably continued to commemorate her and regard her as a model of holiness, keeping her name in their family prayer lists.
The entire life of Mother Blandina was filled with wondrous deeds. That she managed to preserve her faith uncorrupted was the result of her ceaseless prayer. That she managed to save her soul, even though her body was often nearly destroyed, was likewise a miracle of God accomplished in response to her faith and spiritual struggle. Surely those who come to know her and offer prayers for — and even to — Mother Blandina, asking for her help, will receive an answer. For God appoints a time for each of His saints to become known and honored as is fitting.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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