One day when it was allowed to get out for fresh air, in the cold cage, while walking and praying I heard all of a sudden the voice of a pigeon. I looked upwards above the cage with the height of four meters but I couldn’t see anything. I continued my walk and prayer and I heard the same voice of pidgeon but when I looked again I still didn’t see anything. Suddenly I saw a feather falling at my feet.
I took it and put it in the book I had with me. I felt such a great joy that it seemed like flying! I glorified God! I became a different man, I wanted to cry: Thank you, my Lord! I felt like romping. I was feeling like a child.
`Thank you, my Lord, thank you that You continue to help me!`
But my joy ended when the bars of the cage opened, because the time for fresh air was over. Going back to my cell I felt changed. I think that if I had had a mirror, I would have seen myself very glad and bright, I was full of Christ’s presence!
I lied down in the small metal cot and started the prayer. But all of a sudden I hear again that merry sound of the pigeon and when I turned around I noticed a white pigeon standing on the high peep hole of the cell. It was such a great joy that I cannot express it in writing. That pigeon stood there at the window till my last day of prison. When I went to the cage for fresh air I heard him, he was somewhere above. He was my companion. God, when I think about all these I don’t know how to thank you for the unspeakable joy You gave me of coming near You, of improving, of becoming a good Christian!… Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me!
Excerpt from the book Testimony of the religious conversion of a former convinct – Father Paisios my saint and teacher, Egumenița Publishing 2016
