the unrest started in timisoara, in transylvania, following the arrest of pastor laszlo tokes. laszlo tokes, who was an outspoken critic of the government, refused to leave when the secret police came to arrest him. several hundred churchgoers gathered to stop them. i did not want to become a revolutionary. but step by step, my attitude was radicalised because we had to speak out. he was a stalinist—type dictator. the romanian system became more and more cruel. we were under total control by the securitate, the romanian secret service. the church became a centre of peaceful opposition. i did not make politics. i only tried to express that we must obey god, rather than men. it wasn't just that he was a gifted preacher, he was the first man they had ever known who was prepared to stand up and challenge the ceausescu dictatorship and its deadly security network. people began to gather around my church. looking out through my windows, on the large crowd, sincerely to say i was frightened of the probable consequences of their brave demonstration. i remember people began to sing patr