The Pinnacle of Nihilism: An Interview With Elder Justin Parvu

 

The Pinnacle of Nihilism

An interview with the Blessed Elder Justin Parvu, conducted by Nun Fotini on the 7th of October, 2009 and excerpted from Issue 8 of ATITUDINI Magazine.

—Father, how do you advise the people to proceed regarding these criminal vaccines that will be forcibly imposed on our children, pregnant mothers, and possibly everyone in the future?

—My dear ones, it is difficult to give an answer to an entire people because we only have painful solutions. This is the harsh reality we live in. I have said from the beginning of the year that we must prepare for martyrdom, and there is nothing more to say beyond that. But people are too weak in spirit and mind to understand. It is not easy to live today. Yet, if the Lord has willed that we suffer these times, we must submit and joyfully accept all that comes upon us as from the hand of God, and not the enemy. It is harder now because we have become accustomed to comfort, television, and all sorts of indulgences and freedoms. Well, my dear ones, only now do we see the harmful effect of these freedoms; they have weakened the powers of our soul. Our mind is burdened, our body weakened, also due to the poisoned food provided by our leaders. We are not used to fighting any kind of war, neither spiritual nor physical. Therefore, I urge you not to seek solutions anymore. There are no human solutions, my dear ones! The solution is death for Christ. Father will hand over son, and a mother, her daughter, to death. We are witnessing the fulfillment of this prophecy. If a mother allows her child to be vaccinated, it is as if she is handing them over to death. I have often said we should follow the example of Brâncoveanu [Constantin Brâncoveanu], who, with a great soul, looked upon the martyrdom of his youngest son, Matei [Matthew].

Teach the children to live according to Christian law. These customs they should especially learn. No other knowledge, no school is needed. Our children are poisoned not only by these vaccines but also by many false pieces of information about God's creation, by the computer, and by all sorts of movies that provide an anti-Christian education. If you cannot withdraw from this society that is hostile to God, stay in your places and confess Christ, opposing all the cunning measures of human extermination. Because this is what the enemy desires to do: to destroy God's creation. The greatest envy of the devil is the creation of the human being. Why does God love man so much? Precisely for this reason, we should gain strength and courage, because if we are so fiercely fought against and surrounded on all sides by so many dangers and needs, it means that the enemy's envy increases due to God's growing love for us, His image and likeness. But see how much God loves us that He still endures all our sins and transgressions. Only the devil does not understand God's mercy and forgiveness, for if he had understood it, I believe he too would have repented.

That is why I tell you, have trust that the Lord will give you the strength to confess Him. We live in an anarchic world; the entire political class is hostile to Christ and serves evil. Therefore, simply living without renouncing our Christian principles is a daily testimony and martyrdom.

So, do not accept this vaccine and anything new brought by today's political powers. The Jews rule the world, and the Americans work for them, believing they have come to dominate it because they have no more shame. Everything is visible, and they are aware that they no longer have any feared adversary and are fighting for the extermination of the population so that the few who remain will bow to them. Now they study and screen, and the way they will distinguish people among themselves is through [micro]chips. Do you have a chip or not? For, after all, what is the chip? A weapon against man. And we no longer have weapons. Our youth is tired, so much so that even if they wanted to rise from the spell in which they live, they no longer have the strength. Our only weapons are spiritual: prayer, humility, love, and also confession. There cannot be love without confession [of faith]. Love is sacrificial, and if we are afraid to confess the truth, what sacrifice do we have? Or if we do not care about our neighbor who is ignorant and do not inform him, letting him fall prey to this system, what love do we have? Those who still fight today to awaken their brother, who have not remained indifferent to the future of their nation and their Church, are children of God's love, who lay down their lives for their brothers.

Therefore, mothers, educate your children in the Christian faith, and do not leave them uncontrolled! Do not let them do as they please, do not leave them prey to the education of this society, for you have ensured them both spiritual and bodily death! Instead, leave this society and raise your children in love and simplicity. Poverty and hardships will strengthen both the mind, soul, and body more. Do you not see that through so many liberties and children's rights, they come to have the right to kill, the right to destroy a nation?

—St. Paul the Apostle says we should submit to our rulers and leaders. To what extent can we still submit under such conditions?

—St. Paul also says we should obey God more than men. We have no one left to whom we may listen [i.e., give obedience], my dear ones, except God. The devil has embodied this political system and fights against us through them more fiercely than ever. He first offers all causes of sinning: taverns and alcohol, debauchery and images of depravity, amusement, and all kinds of freedoms. This is how a leader is chosen: by God's grace and the nation's will, right? But what grace from God do they have? These ones are ravenous wolves. It is no longer a chosen rulership but an anti-Christian one, hostile to Christ. If it opposes Christ, the voice of that ruling should no longer be obeyed. What kind of rulership is this that gives us poisoned bread to eat? That kills our children? Do you not see that they have started with the children, with these innocent souls? Why? Because the innocence of children kills them. The Church of Christ began with the martyrdom of children; now, the persecution of this last age also begins. But I believe that the innocent sacrifice of these children will not be unfruitful; it will give power to the chosen ones of Christ's Church.

And I believe that there will be a crowning of Christianity through the sacrifice of innocent children. It is very dangerous now to be ignorant. We all see the danger we are in and are obligated to inform ourselves and others, our simpler and helpless brothers. No one will be able to say they did not know this vaccine is deadly… and for those who truly did not know, for them, the Church, through its priests and servants, is responsible and will answer for their souls. Man comes to be formed in the Church, and what formation do we give if we preach the same teachings as the anti-Christian state? The Church is not indifferent to this entire political and social conjuncture and is obliged to be involved both in society and politics, as long as political laws hinder God's commandment. The priest, at ordination, swears to submit to God and His commandments, but also to state authority. To whom do we swear? Presidents and parliamentarians who legalize prostitution and [the micro]chip?

The role of the priest is not just to marry and bury, is it? No! He is the salt of the earth and the light of the people. What light does he bring if he submits to the dark laws of this age? And if he is silent, it means he refuses to bring light to people. Are they not the successors of the apostles, to whom the Savior commanded: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15)? He did not command them to be silent.

If an elite of priests and monks were to rise, truly engaged in the service of the Truth, the situation would change. And by this change, I do not mean the improvement of living conditions or even the character of those who govern us, but I mean a change in the souls of the faithful, a strengthening of faith that will give us the strength to testify together, and will give us unity and love of sacrifice. The important thing is to oppose all antichrists and die with dignity; not to have a position of cowardice. And how can the people mobilize, how can they have spiritual strength if they have no leaders?

—Perhaps these priests fear being removed from their positions and thus no longer able to catechize the faithful they still have.

—Reprisals have always existed and will continue. We must not calculate how much catechism time we have available. It may be a week, but let me fulfill my duty with all sacrifice for the Gospel of Christ and my nation. There were 12 Apostles, and even there, division and betrayal entered.

And what catechism is that if you remain silent? It should not concern me that they will replace me and send another priest in my place, much weaker, to meet the minimum standard. If we suffer anything for Christ, we will bring more benefit to the nation. Sacrifice gives birth to life. It is not enough to confess a truth only to those under your epitrachelion; it must be proclaimed to everyone. We have a duty to bring the truth to light. You can withdraw out of strategy, but how long does this strategy last? The people suffer from so much strategy, and [to the point that] we do nothing. Let us not confuse strategy with laying down arms.

We are not made only for good days. Who will sustain a war? And who are the fighters? Are we not those from this world? Why is it called the “Church Militant”? Fighting means day by day to sustain an attack against the powers of darkness. An ascetic withdrawal into individuality is no longer a truth confessed in its fullness. I was reading something very beautiful earlier from Evdokimov: The Church should not assume the concrete affairs of the city, but the Christian conscience is called to act fully even in the most technical matters. Politics, economics, and development are common spheres where believers and non-believers meet. And what an immense task it is to perfect the world through the qualitative conciliarity of all, to sow in culture the light of Tabor. A man of light carries a light that shines over the whole world.

The great spiritual fathers say that any asceticism devoid of love and which is not a sacrament of fraternity is empty. Speaking of the Eucharist, St. John Chrysostom says: Here is the upper room where the disciples sat; from here, they went to the Mount of Olives. Let us also go in search of the hands of the poor, for they are for us the Mount of Olives. Indeed, the multitude of the poor is like an olive grove planted in the house of God. From there flows the oil we will need to present ourselves, like the wise virgins carrying full lamps before the Bridegroom.

Our greatest problem now is that we find ourselves in the darkness of ignorance and consider the sin of ignorance a great privilege. This generation has reached the pinnacle of nihilism. And what if they do this? Ah! It's nothing! You take the chip: Ah, it's nothing! You serve with the Catholics: Ah, it's nothing, and so on… everything is nothing. Nihilism has given birth to this libertinism, and this state somehow entitles you to do anything, whatever you want; to mix light with darkness, to go with both God and Mammon. In this case, we are no longer disciples of Christ.

 

Archimandrite Justin Pârvu (1919-2013) was a revered elder and the abbot of Petru Vodă Monastery, serving as a modern beacon of Orthodoxy. Born in 1919 in Poiana Largului, Neamț County, Elder Justin embraced the angelic life early, entering Durău Monastery at 17. He then enrolled in the Cernica Theological Seminary and eventually joined the brotherhood of Durău Monastery, where he served as a priest and confessor.

During World War II, Elder Justin provided pastoral care as a missionary priest on the Eastern Front. After the war, he was imprisoned for 16 years under the communist regime, enduring martyric suffering in the notorious communist prisons of Aiud, Baia Sprie, Gherla, and Periprava. Despite the torturous conditions, Elder Justin described his time in prison as “days of light and joy.”

“Prison,” he said, “forced you to learn asceticism, fasting, and prayer, as well as communion with, and love for, your neighbor.” He recounted that he had never prayed with such fervent prayer as when he served the Divine Liturgy on the chest of a dying man: “While serving, I truly felt the warmth, the fervor, of the Spirit.”

Released in 1964 after the fall of the communist regime, he returned to monastic life, serving as priest and confesor of Secu and Bistrița monasteries until ultimately founding Petru Vodă Monastery in the autumn of 1991, where he lived and served as abbot. The monastery was dedicated to the Romanian New Martyrs under communism. In 1999, he began the restoration of a convent for nuns in Paltin, where his labors also extended to establishing a nursing home, an orphanage, and a hospital.

Elevated to the rank of Archimandrite in 2008, he continued to serve as a spiritual guide for the faithful until the end of March 2013, when the stomach cancer he had secretly endured for several years metastasized, leading to severe complications. Elder Justin bore these trials with great longsuffering until his repose on June 16, 2013, at the age of 94. His life was one of prophetic, apostolic, martyric, and Christian witness, with many miraculous events reported after his venerable repose.

 

Blessed Elder Justin, intercede in our behalf!