The CNSAS (National Council for Research on the Communist Secret Service Archive) has decided that His Holiness Calinic was involved in the political police. I have got no knowledge of the record on this high clergy member, but I intend to analyze it the first time I reach Romania. Providence (or fate) has it that His Holiness Calinic has been one of my friends in Arges for about four years now. His love of literature and writing, of cultural chatting and not last of ATV rides, has brought us closer to each other. His spontaneity put a spell on me, although when I first met him I was shocked, because I had never seen a bishop sing novelettes so lovely. By temper and behavior, His Holiness Calinic is not at all like Bishop Corneanu, also a friend of mine in the Holy Synod. His Holiness Calinic did all his best to vanish away in order not to meet the CNSAS summons. In late August I begged him, in a friendly, but urging manner, to prove courage and face the hunting for the high clergy who had collaborated with the ex Securitate (Communist Secret Service in Romania) like a man. After all, the courage to confess can sometimes equate or be more than the courage to resist. About a quarter of an hour later he phoned me to read an epistle to reach the CNSAS members and invite them to come to Curtea de Arges. Well, this may do, I told myself. It is insignificant, but it is one step, anyway. But I can now see the CNSAS has reached verdict and it must be obeyed. There are two reasons why I am writing this. First, I am not at all fond of hiding the dirt under the mat and His Holiness knows it. When the same CNSAS unmasked Sorin Antohi, his friends in the CNSAS pretended to be ignorant of it. No apologizes, no explanation, no response from them! Antohi? How can this be? One was busy buying himself some estate in Campulung, the other was busy buying cracknels for the launch of the "Septuaginta"! Secondly, I am writing because I truly care about my friend's torment. I wouldn't exchange a friendship for a CNSAS verdict, but I don't want this friendship to smell like vanilla with garlic. The last minute has not come and will only come once with the Last Judgement. I am kindly asking His Holiness Calinic, this time publicly, to think only about the Cross he crosses himself in front of every day and go all the way. I am asking him to let the devil handle the useless vanities and proceed to 'mea culpa', sincerely and healthily. After all, we have got lots of reasons to beg God forgive us every day. Or it is the Destroyer who has the last word. The false friends will advise him not to surrender and oppose the verdict as much as he can. They will sneak hatred and immortal grudge in his soul. They will sentence him to sleepless nights and cowardliness. If he wants the pell mell and the dirt to come to an end, he must do what he should at once and with no hesitation. It would be tremendous relief for his true friends and an extraordinary proof that the people of the Church don't obey such defiled times, but only the terrifyingly soothing eternity of Christ. Some 7-8 years ago I was in Paris attending the commemoration of a painter. And I ran into a former so-called scholar. I knew he had been a diligent informer of the ex Securitate and I felt no wish to talk to him. Then someone from the Diaspora, who had left Romania in the 64s, approached me. After learning why I was sad, he gave a remarkable reply: "Let me tell you something, sir: the guy sure didn't sell himself for nothing. He was a GENERAL!" I burst into laughter, poured myself some cider and decided to run straight into the GENERAL! I don't know how come that right now, after learning the CNSAS verdict on my friend Calinic, this has crossed my mind. Well, I am telling myself, after all, the man didn't sell himself for nothing, he became a bishop and a very efficient one. But before we toast with some Norman cider glasses, he must say at least "I am sorry! It was this wretched life!" loud and in public.

Cristian BADILITA