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This Is Life!: Revolutions Around the Cruciform Axis

An occasional record of one man's struggle for the salvation of his soul; or, the intersection of the Faith once for all delivered to the saints with the life of a man and a father.
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Christmas Eve in the Gulag

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 by Benedict Seraphim This from a 1987 AGAIN magazine article (link opens a Word document le) on Pastor Richard Wurmbrands experience in a Soviet prison, regarding an Orthodox priest and the man who tortured him, in the pastors own words: When I was in jail I fell very, very ill. I had tuberculosis of the whole surface of both lungs, and four vertebrae were attacked by tuberculosis. I also had intestinal tuberculosis, diabetes, heart failure, jaundice, and other sicknesses I cant even remember. I was near to death. At my right hand was a priest by the name of Iscu. He was abbot of a monastery. This man, perhaps in his forties, had been so tortured he was near to death. But his face was serene. He spoke about his hope of heaven, about his love of Christ, about his faith. He radiated joy. On my left side was the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest almost to death. He had been arrested by his own comrades. Dont believe the newspapers when they say

that the Communists only hate Christians or Jewsits not true. They simply hate. They hate everybody. They hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate anti-Semites, they hate anti-Christians, they hate everybody. One Communist hates the other Communist. They quarrel among themselves, and when they quarrel one Communist with the other, they put the other one in jail and torture him just like a Christian, and they beat him. And so it happened that the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest nearly to death had been tortured nearly to death by his comrades. And he was dying near me. His soul was in agony. During the night he would awaken me, saying, Pastor, please pray for me. I cant die, I have committed such terrible crimes. Then I saw a miracle. I saw the agonized priest calling two other prisoners. And leaning on their shoulders, slowly, slowly he walked past my bed, sat on the bedside of this murderer, and caressed his headI will never forget this gesture. I watched a murdered man caressing his murderer! That is lovehe found a caress for him. The priest said to the man, You are young; you did not know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart. But he did not just say the words. You can say love, and its just a word of four letters. But he really loved. I love you with all my heart. Then he went on, If I who am a sinner can love you so much, imagine Christ, who is Love Incarnate, how much He loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tortured, know that they forgive you, they love you, and Christ loves you. He wishes you to be saved much more than you wish to be saved. You wonder if your sins can be forgiven. He wishes to forgive your sins more than you wish your sins to be forgiven. He desires for you to be with Him in heaven much more than you wish to be in heaven with Him. He is Love. You only need to turn to Him and repent. In this prison cell in which there was no possibility of privacy, I overheard the confession of the murderer to the murdered. Life is more thrilling than a novelno novelist has ever written such a thing. The murderednear to deathreceived the confession of the murderer. The murdered gave absolution to his murderer. They prayed together, embraced each other, and the priest went back to his bed. Both men died that same night. It was a Christmas Eve. But it was not a Christmas Eve in which we simply remembered that two thousand years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was a Christmas Eve during which Jesus was born in the heart of a Communist murderer. These are things which I have seen with my own eyes. Posted in Orthodoxy, Prayer | 7 Comments
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7 Responses
1. on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 at 10:50 | Reply s-p This is the Faith. Thanks for posting this.

2. on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 at 15:45 | Reply Margaret I can only echo Steve, anything else I might say would be fatuous.

3. on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 at 0:59 | Reply Adrian The prison Wurmbrand is writing about was a hospital-prison in the city of Targu Ocna Romania ( not in Soviet Union). I would like to add that the man who saved pastor Wurmbrand (by handing him over his medicine) is was Valeriu Gafencu, known as The Saint of the Prisons. With love in Christ, from Romania.

4. on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 at 6:43 | Reply Benedict Seraphim Adrian: Thank you for that important clarication. I wish I read Romanian (?). Your website looks interesting.

5. on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 at 13:34 | Reply Enough said Clumsy Orations of an Orthodox Catechumen [...] This is Christianity. [...]

6. on Saturday, 19 December 2009 at 22:44 | Reply sophocles Amazing story, thanks for posting this. Glory to God! Im going to link it in Facebook, Clifton. A Blessed Nativity to you and your family.

7. on Monday, 21 December 2009 at 14:35 | Reply Christmas Eve in the Gulag Orthocath's Blog

[...] Christmas Eve in the Gulag By orthocath H/T to This is Life: [...]

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