I did locate the missing second part of the narrative by the Professor above. Like the interview directly above, this informal account was published on Orthodox Christmas, though 5 years earlier.
Each person's version of the story of this brave monastic yields a few different details. Here, for example, Professor McDougall discloses the name of the Greek Monastery in Ohio where Fr Sava spent time before going to Europe.
I had done a search to find out which men's monasteries exist in that state. Only this St Gregory Palamas in a place called Hayesville, and the Rocor-Mp St John the Theologian Skete in Hiram came up. Looking at the history page of the former, I saw no mention of a Fr Sava, so I figured it must have been another monastic refuge. However, it's confirmed below :
"FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2011
Father Sava's Story
We walked perhaps two kilometers up the snowy road above the lake and between the evergreens, and then turned back. On the way up the road, I asked Father Sava to tell me his tale. I shall relate it from memory....
Father Sava was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Roman Catholic parents who sent him to parochial schools that he says were the best schools in the city. He went on to become a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans, with a major in accounting. I assure you, he has an excellent education, and speaks English with nary a trace of a southern accent.
After college, at some point Father Sava's interests became focused on his Christianity, and his story jumps to when he was in his thirties, and finds him living as a newcomer in the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Gregory Palamas in north central Ohio.
While at the Ohio monastery, Stephen found a book on the Spiritual History of Romania. He says it was so powerful a story that while still in Ohio, he started to study the Romanian language. From Ohio he went to Mt. Athos in Greece (The Holy Mountain, located on a peninsula that juts into the Aegean Sea southeast of Thessaloniki, and on which there are some twenty monasteries), where he spent time in two monasteries, seeking his Place. He was committed personally to a monk's life, but had not yet found his Place. He asked at one monastery to be admitted as a novice, but was told no, because they were a monastery for Greek monks, could not accept foreigners beyond 20% of the population, and had filled that quota already. At a second, very famous and respected monastery, he stayed as a guest for weeks, loved it and its brethren, and asked for an opportunity to meet its abbot, and ask permission to join the flock.
As Stephen tells of the encounter, "The abbot and I had never met. In fact, I doubt he even knew my name before this meeting. I was nervous, but I was able to tell him how many days I had lived there, and how right it felt. Then, before I could specifically request admission, the Abbot said 'Oaşa.' I said, 'Excuse me, Father. What did you say?' He then proceded to tell me that God wanted me in a monastery called 'Oaşa' in Romania. He asked me to go there and see for myself. So, I did. That was ten years ago. I have just celebrated my tenth anniversary here."
Stephen clearly was comfortable in his mountain retreat. He now speaks Transilvanian [< this must be the Romanian spelling ] Romanian fluently, of course, and he never for a second evinced doubt that the Greek abbot that sent him here was simply transmitting God's Will to him.
The rest of the talk got pretty personal, as we shared certain of our experiences as American newcomers to Romania that had convinced us both that there are no coincidences, and that we both are here because we belong here. It was as if we were brothers, which, of course, we are, in many senses of the word."
POSTED BY DUNCAN MCDOUGALL
http://dcmcd2.blogspot.com/2011/01/fath ... story.html
We readers gain a new bit of information in the fact that Fr Sava learned not just Romanian but the TRANSYLVANIAN dialect !
For me the fact that Oasa is in Transylvania is even more interesting because I had traveled throughout the country in the mid 80s, and much enjoyed that colorful region. It is of course most known in the West as where the concept of vampires originated. As I wrote in my article about that trip, the key to avoiding any still haunting the Transylvanian terrain is to carry garlic [ the Romanian folk remedy to ward off the vicious demons ] -- and of course, to pray.
Thus one sees a new aspect to the assignment of this monk to such a spiritually challenging area by the Mt Athos Abbot. Perhaps Fr Sava is helping stop all sorts of varieties of black magic...
However, it would be a marvelous idea if some Old Calendar True Orthodox groups could open their own monasteries here.
About the author of this blog, who appears to have retired as he is described in one place as Professor Emeritus :
"Professor of Business Duncan McDougall received his B.A. in fine arts from Amherst College...He received his MBA with high distinction and later his Doctor of Business Administration degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. Dr. McDougall was named Graduate Distinguished Teacher for the MBA program in 2004.
....Dr. McDougall teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate business programs. His courses include management accounting and operations management, as well as administrative policy, entrepreneurial ventures and international business.
....Duncan McDougall has many years of experience in manufacturing, including work for General Motors, Rochester Shoe Tree Company, and Rockwell International. He has published a variety of articles on performance measurement and corporate strategy, which have appeared in journals such as Operations Management Review and Harvard Business Review."
https://www.plymouth.edu/department/bus ... mcdougall/
Last but not least of Professor McDougall's accomplishments, he was the proud owner of Klaus - the faithful car who took him and his Romanian students on their pilgrimage to Oasa Monastery [whether they thought of the trip in those terms, or not ] - !