Trăiesc din nou by Ileana princess of Romania

“I was trained to do my duty to my country in all things … to be loyal to family and friends.” It is this sense of duty and loyalty suffused with a deep faith and fervent love for her country, her people, and her family that weaves through tale after amazing tale. “Duty was the keyword of my childhood and youth,” Princess Ileana explains. Princess Ileana writes passionately, frankly, and compellingly of her country, Romania, and of a royal life intertwined with the stark and frequently brutal realities of World Wars I and II and of the Communist takeover of her country.

This is not the story of a fairytale princess. Within weeks of its publication, I purchased the book and entered, entranced, into Ileana’s story. My visit coincided with the 50th year of the monastery’s founding, and with this anniversary I Live Again: A Memoir of Ileana was to be reprinted by Ancient Faith Publishing.

It was there that I first learned of Princess Ileana, who in her later years took up a monastic vocation and, as Abbess Mother Alexandra, founded the first English-speaking Orthodox women’s monastery on American soil in the hills of western Pennsylvania. The beauty and serenity of the monastery, the prayerful services, and the sisters’ warm hospitality provided a needed respite after a busy Lenten season. Last spring, I visited the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration near Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.

Faţă de regina Maria, care se voia – şi efectiv era – o remarcabilă scriitoare, domniţa Ileana are în plus o mai sigură privire asupra politicului, o luciditate şi o obiectivitate a judecăţii care-i permit o perfectă detaşare.“ (Al. Talentul ei literar este asemenea cu al reginei Maria în ce priveşte evocările, tipurile şi caracterele umane, intuirea sentimentelor, percepţia detaliilor amuzante sau emoţionante, înţelegerea imediată, chiar divinaţia şi asumarea suferinţei semenilor. Ca autoare, domniţa Ileana, care nu a scris decât ca să explice americanilor tot ce aceştia ignoră sau nu pricep din Europa, mai cu seamă din România, dovedeşte un talent portretistic şi un simţ de observaţie prompt şi infailibil, cu expresie percutantă, definitivă. „ Trăiesc din nou este istoria unei prinţese care devine o femeie ca oricare alta, învăţând să gătească, să spele vasele, să facă piaţa, să muncească pentru hrana zilnică a copiilor ei, aşa cum Dumnezeu a osândit-o de la începutul lumii.

Trăiesc din nou by Ileana princess of Romania