Baltagă was held in high esteem, loved, and regarded as a spiritual father by his "enoriași". It is being reported that he repeated many times "I would not allow my flock to be swallowed by the red wolves" (an allusion to the Bolshevik danger). When the "Kazan Mother of God Icon" was being shown around Bessarabia, his church was among those that displayed it. With the onslaught of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, Baltagă remained to serve in his church, despite the fact that it was well known that the former Sfatul Țării members were prime targets of the Soviets.