{"id":366848,"date":"2022-04-27T23:42:49","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T20:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=366848"},"modified":"2022-04-27T23:48:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T20:48:14","slug":"ukrainian-woman-who-fled-to-romanian-monastery-receives-baptism-on-holy-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/ukrainian-woman-who-fled-to-romanian-monastery-receives-baptism-on-holy-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian woman who fled to Romanian Monastery receives Baptism on Holy Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 42-year-old atheist Ukrainian woman, who took refuge in Varatec Monastery in eastern Romania, converted to Orthodoxy and was baptised on Holy Saturday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stavrophore Iosefina Giosanu, the abbess of Varatec Monastery, told Doxologia about the event that took place a day before Easter in the Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Humule\u0219tii Noi, Neamt county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the help of the Good Lord, we have concluded the Great Lent ordained by our Church, in which each of us was on the battlefield with ourselves to perfect ourselves in Christ, according to the strength of each. Some wept more, some fasted more, some prayed more fervently, some laboured more, and the most helpless struggled as best they could to find comfort and joy in Christ. Among these truth-seekers was a woman, whose journey happened to be a wonderful discovery and fulfilment,\u201d abbess Iosefina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about a Ukrainian woman from a group of refugees who have been staying at Varatec Monastery since the beginning of the war in the neighbouring country, a soul who had today, on Holy Saturday, the fulfilment of a burning desire to become a Christian, with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Teofan of Moldavia and Bukovina.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war with its horrors and interests did not stop Inna Zacharova from becoming a daughter of the Orthodox Church,\u201d abbess Iosefina Giosanu added.<\/p>\n

Inna became Maria<\/h1>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this dream could not be realised earlier. Being 42 years old and coming from a family of atheists, Inna had many trials in life and incidents. Still, God kept her search as an absolute need for life and, as best she could, with a 12-year-old Christian child named Maxim, she set out on an unknown path,\u201d the abbess continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe set out, like her other compatriots, from her homeland in Romania for a place safe from bombs, nightmares and death. On this road, walking desperately, a light awaited her at its end. The light of the Holy Spirit that today has fallen upon her, becoming Maria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inna Zacharova was born on 19 November 1979 in Chernivtsi. She became an orphan after her father Nikolai died when she was 15. Her mother, Ludmila, died when she was 28.<\/p>\n

She married, but her husband died two years ago of a heart attack, leaving Inna to raise their only child, Maxim, now 13.<\/p>\n

Although her parents did not baptise her, she wanted her son to be baptised by her childhood best friend, Anna Pownal, also an Orthodox Christian, now settled and married in the Netherlands. Anna also arranged for Inna and her son Maxim to come to Romania, fleeing the horror of the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

At Varatec Monastery, she was received with great love by abbess Iosefina and the nuns, who offered them everything they needed for their soul and body comfort. The prayers during Lent and the spiritual peacefulness of the monastery led Inna to the desire to be baptised. So, she was catechised by another \u201cfellow refugee\u201d, Ekaterina Romanova, a graduate of the Theological Seminary and an icon painter.<\/p>\n

Her godparents were Father Vasile and presbytera Georgeta and Ekaterina Romanova. The Holy Baptism was celebrated at the Parish of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Humule\u0219tii Noi by the secretary of T\u00e2rgu Neamt Deanery, Fr. Ovidiu Dediu, and parish priest Vasile Porumbescu, who read prayers in old Slavonic.<\/p>\n

Amid conflict, she found peace<\/h1>\n

\u201cThis is what a refugee\u2019s diary entry looks like. Maria will remember a diary entry for a long time to come, telling her grandchildren how she found peace, joy, and fulfilment in the Sacrament of Baptism amid conflict. A diary entry that reminds us all of the catechumens of yesteryear, dressed in the white garment of Light, awaiting the Baptism of Easter Day. Christ is Risen!\u201d Mother Iosefina noted.<\/p>\n