Father Ioanichie was born on February 10, 1930 in Stăniţa, Neamț County, to a family of pious peasants, Constantin and Elena Bălan, who had nine children. His name at birth was Ioan Bălan.

Ioan was a particularly gifted child whose outstanding learning abilities were evident early in life. At the elementary school which he attended in his home village he was always the best student in his class. During the following seven years he attended the Commercial High-School in the city of Roman. There he excelled in his school work and started to compose his first literary pieces. He proved to be really talented and was appreciated by teachers and schoolmates alike. Moreover, during all that time he felt a deep calling for the monastic life.

On November 4, 1949 Ioan joined the community of Sihăstria Monastery, which was spiritually flourishing as a result of Father Cleopa Ilie’s leadership, an elder renowned for his holy life. The new abbot of the monastery, Father Ioil Gheorghiu, gladly welcomed brother Ioan and put him in charge of the monastery office shortly after his arrival. Over the years, he would also serve as guide of the monastery, librarian, and professor of Liturgics, Typicon and New Testament History at the monastery school.

Brother Ioan was tonsured and received the name Ioanichie on April 14, 1953. The next day he was ordained a hierodeacon by Metropolitan Sebastian of Moldavia and Suceava. Over the years that followed—despite any prospects that his works would be published, given the atheist political regime of the time—Father Ioanichie tirelessly wrote thousands of pages: one monograph on the Sihăstria Monastery, various volumes of sermons, two volumes concerning holy monks at Romanian monasteries—particularly in Neamț region—one volume of spiritual conversations, and many others. Before and during the 1959 persecution against monasticism, his many poems—which circulated anonymously—helped strengthen the monks who had been cast out of the monasteries.

In the early 1970s Father Ioanichie’s activity became more and more scrutinized by the repressive communist regime. He was closely monitored, and repeatedly searched and interrogated. In 1971 he was unwillingly transferred to Bistrița Monastery near Piatra-Neamţ in order to be watched even more closely.

Father Ioanichie graduated from the Theological Institute of Bucharest in 1975. He wrote a thesis about the holy monks of the Neamț monasteries. On February the 2nd, 1979 at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iași, Father Ioanichie was ordained a hieromonk by Metropolitan Teoctist of Moldavia and Suceava.

As a spiritual father, Father Ioanichie guided many disciples who later on became monks and abbots at various monasteries. Between 1970 and 1980 he undertook numerous journeys within the country, and to the Holy Land, Greece and Italy, where he collected many notes that he later used for his most important works. With the help of God, through his own perseverance, and with the support of several personalities of the Romanian cultural and ecclesiastical milieu of the time—who helped him overcome censorship—he managed to publish several volumes of reference, which have since placed his name in the history of monastic literature. The Romanian Patericon (1980) is a major work which comprises the lives of many Romanian fathers and saints. The Hearths of the Romanian Hermitage (1981) presents the role of monasticism in the history of the Romanian people. Spiritual Conversations—a book which contains dialogues with great Romanian fathers and theologians—was edited in two volumes (1984 and 1988). Romanian Testimonies at Holy Places (1996) presents the places of pilgrimage in the Holy Land, Sinai, Greece, and Italy, and mentions the numerous donations made by Romanians who helped them survive across the centuries. Despite their semi-clandestine circulation during the communist regime, the importance of these books was overwhelming, providing a true support for believers and bringing many people to Church.

In 1990 after the fall of the communist regime, Father Ioanichie returned to Sihăstria Monastery where he continued to write. The following are some of the numerous books that he published:

• Spiritual Stories (1991);
• Spiritual Words (1992);
• Orthodox Guidance in Church (1992);
• Orthodox Guidance in the Family and in Society (1993);
• The Rite of Holy Confession and Holy Eucharist (1993);
• Father Paisie The Confessor (1993);
• The Power of Holy Unction (1993);
• Spiritual Conversations with Orthodox Theologians from Abroad (1995);
• The Life of Father Cleopa (1999);
• Holy Bishop Ioan (1999);
• Holy Relics of Romania (1999);
• Holy Wonderworking Icons of Romania (1999);
• Old Gheorghe Lazăr (2001);
• Hieroschema Monk Ioanichie Moroi, Abbot of Sihăstria (2002);
• Saint Paisie of Neamț (2002);
• Saint Teodora of Sihla (2003);
• Spiritual Poems (2006).

Father Ioanichie also edited The Lives of Saints in 12 volumes, as well as Father Cleopa’s books: Sermons for Feasts and Saints’ Days During the Year; Sermons for Sundays During the Year; Wonders of God in the Creatures; Guide to the Orthodox Faith; and How to Reach Heaven.

In 1993 Father Ioanichie began to edit a few series of books which became very popular: Father Cleopa Speaks to Us (19 volumes), and Father Arsenie Speaks to Us (3 volumes). In this way, Father Ioanichie contributed to the popularization of our great 20th-century spiritual Elders.

Several of his books were translated into various languages. The best known among them is The Life of Father Cleopa, published in Greek, English, Polish, Italian, French, Finnish, Serbian, Arabic and Russian.

The books of Father Ioanichie, especially the Romanian Patericon, played an important role in canonizing some of the Romanian saints who were introduced in the calendar after 1990. In addition to that, he composed or helped to elaborate religious services and akathist hymns for some of the newly canonized saints.

Furthermore, he distinguished himself as a great preacher and a gifted spiritual guide and was sought by many believers. In 1992, in recognition for his entire activity, Father Ioanichie was ordained an archimandrite by Metropolitan Daniel of Moldavia and Bucovina.

A few days after fulfilling 58 years of monastic life, on November 22, 2007, at the age of 77, Father Ioanichie left this world to join his beloved spiritual fathers, hieroschemamonk Paisie and archimandrite Cleopa, as well as all the saints whom he made eternal in his writings.

After his departure to God, two more volumes entitled Portraits of Holy Monks were published posthumously, based on the remaining manuscripts, as well as his biography entitled I Long for Heaven. His biography contains both novel pages from the diary he kept over his first years in the monastery, and testimonies of his spiritual disciples. The books that he left us as a heritage, written in accessible and touching language, have made Father Ioanichie one of the most read and appreciated authors of Romanian monasticism today.

Photo Source: Orthphoto

Text provided by Sihastria Monastery