Dracula lebt 4: die Burg Gottes

The youth.

This time is crucial, groundbreaking.

The age.

This time is crucial, groundbreaking.

In between lies

irrelevance.

We are on the way to Moldovita Monastery, one of the countless Romanian Orthodox monasteries. Not an ordinary one. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Founded in 1532 by Petru Rares, it is a monastery, monument and fortress against the Ottomans from the East. The monastery is the castle of God, with impressive exterior paintings about the conquest of Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul and the family tree of Jesus Christ.

Exterior painting of Moldovita monastery church.

Claudia and Uwe are actively concerned about my mental state during the bus ride to the monastery, but they still don't believe me that I haven't taken any hallucinogens. "We understand that, it's a bit much religion. Or is it still the effects of last night?" He alludes to our nightly drinking session with Angelo and others in the group. I wave him off. Claudia finally reveals the secret of the inscription under the clock: "VERBUM DOMINI MANET IN AETERNUM. The word of God remains forever!" Moldovita Monastery, I think. That's the next piece of the puzzle.

Nun Svenja, the rock of the monastery

Life, light.

Sister Svenja has lived in the monastery for many decades. She is a determined person who does not tolerate tourists disrupting her tour, which she gives in German, by constantly taking photos and chattering. She studied in Germany, near Munich, and was a teacher in her first life. Your tours through the monastery grounds are full of energy and passion. Again and again she makes sentences like: "The two most important qualities in life are Forgiveness (she raises her left arm, bends it) and Love (she raises her right arm, bends it). Without forgiveness there is no love, and without Love can't fly!", she flaps her wings funny with both arms. It looks funny, lovely, the way she flutters with both arms in her black nun's habit. Like a penguin trying to fly.

The Christian faith plays a major role in Romania. He is omnipresent. Romanian Orthodox churches with their graceful Byzantine domes are everywhere. Almost every village has a church. Her icon paintings seem almost naive, they are so simple. I almost envy the men and women who, inspired by their faith, are on their knees smooching off ornate metal plates. They, the believers, present their requests, fears, longings and wishes in the hope that the divine power will relieve them of responsibility for their own lives, forgive their sins and reward them with eternal life in paradise at the end of their torment. How hypocritical, how simple, how calculating. In all religions.

Fear, darkness.

Everything Sister Svenja says seems logical. She has incredible knowledge in her subject area. Also her answer to my question as to why Almighty God allowed this ancient metropolis of Constantinople, which was so important for the Orthodox Church, to fall into the hands of these infidels. "That's just how it is when people fall away from the faith. But that's not the end!" Every now and then she makes striking allusions to her male colleagues and speaks of the defensive nuns who fought to preserve the monasteries and the many works of art during the communist era.

"Men," she means her opportune colleagues, "just need strong women behind them; but women" - here it comes - "women don't need men who takes them from behind!" Her harsh Eastern European accent reinforces her message. Isn't that funny, this deliberate nod to her cock-controlled colleagues? For me she is refreshingly alive. Nothing to be taken for granted for believers who grumpily wait for life after death.

Preparing for the inevitable

Only now do I understand the instructions. The Black Church, Moldovita Monastery. They stand for a universal truth, the light within us, the shadow within us. In each of us. There's not much time left to live. It runs through your hourglass. Too late for corrections. You can play saint, become a monk or nun instead of wasting your life on money, family and career - in that exact order. Consequently, you will notice: everything is useless. There comes a point in life, that crucial point of grueling regret: you mourn your missed opportunities, the illusion of another fulfilling life that never was. Young person, old person. Always lived below your possibilities. The Last Supper calls you. Are you hungry? Have you reserved? Let's go on your last journey! You can save yourself your pitiful, pitiful answers. You won't be asked anymore anyway. Now finally ignore your fear. She is irrelevant. Have you lived?

Now it's Angelo who leans over me. The man with Italian roots and the funny Rhineland accent. "It'll go away! It's happened to me too. I stopped doing it a year ago!"