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Life of Father Arseny
Where Two or Three Are Gathered in My Name
Excerpted from the Book: Father Arseny: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual
Father
During one of the winters, a young man was assigned to Father
Arseny's barracks. Aged 23, he was a student and had been sentenced
to twenty years in the camp. He had no experience of camp life because
he had been sent to this special camp directly from the strict Butirki
Prison in Moscow. Still young, he did not fully understand what
lay ahead of him. As soon as he entered the death camp, he encountered
the criminals.
His clothing was still good for he had only been in prison a few
months. The criminals, led by Ivan the Brown, decided to get hold
of the young man's apparel. They proposed a card game with clothing
at stake. Everybody knew that this lad would soon be naked, but
no one could do anything about it; even Sazikov dared not intervene.
The camp rule was that whoever interfered would be killed. Those
who had been in the camp for a while knew only too well that if
the criminals decided to play for your rags, to resist would be
the end of you.
Ivan the Brown won all the young man's clothes. Ivan approached
him and said, "Take everything off, my friend."
At that point things started to go sour. The young man, whose
name was Alexei, thought that the game had been for fun and refused
to hand over his clothing. Ivan the Brown decided to make an exhibition
of it. He began with mocking kindness; then he started beating him.
Alexei tried to resist, to fight back, but by now the whole barracks
knew that he would be beaten until he could no longer move, or even
to death. Everyone sat still and watched as Ivan bashed Alexei.
He bled from the mouth and face and was swaying. Some criminals
mockingly urged him to fight.
Father Arseny had not seen the beginnings of the fight; he had
been piling up logs near a stove at the other end of the barracks.
He suddenly saw what was happening. Ivan was going to kill Alexei.
By now Alexei could only cover his face with his hands; Ivan was
slamming him and smashing him repeatedly. Father Arseny silently
put the logs near the stove, calmly walked over to the fight and,
before the amazed eyes of the whole barracks, grabbed the arm of
Ivan the Brown. Ivan looked surprised, shocked! The priest had interfered
in a fight. This meant he must die. Ivan hated Father Arseny. He
had never dared touch him for fear of the rest of the barracks,
but now he had a true reason to kill him.
Ivan stopped beating Alexei and pronounced, "O.K. Pop, it's
the end for both of you. First the student, then you." A knife
appeared in his hands and he lunged towards Alexei.
What happened? Nobody could understand, but suddenly the gentle
and weak Father Arseny straightened himself up and slammed Ivan
on the arm so hard that the knife fell from his hand. Then he pushed
Ivan away from Alexei. Ivan stumbled and fell, and hit the corner
of a bunk with his face. Father Arseny went to Alexei and said to
him, "Go, Alyosha, wash your face, no one will hit you anymore."
Then, as if nothing had happened, he went back to his work.
Everyone was taken aback. Ivan the Brown stood up. The criminals
did not say a word. They understood that Ivan had lost face in front
of the whole barracks. Somebody discreetly wiped the blood from
the floor with his foot. Alyosha's face was completely smashed up,
his ear was torn, one eye was closed, and the other one was dark
red. Everyone was completely silent. They knew that it was all over
now for both Father Arseny and Alexei. The criminals would kill
them both.
But in fact things turned out differently; the criminals looked
upon Father Arseny's actions as bold and brave. Even though everyone
feared Ivan, Father Arseny had not faltered when Ivan the Brown
had held a knife, and they respected a man who showed no fear. They
already knew Father Arseny for his kindness and his unusual ways;
now they respected him for his courage. Ivan retreated to his bunk
and whispered with his friends, but he realized that they did not
really support him—they had not come immediately to his aid.
The night passed. In the morning everyone went to work; Father
Arseny was busy tending the stoves, cleaning up and scraping dirt
off the floor. In the evening the prisoners returned from their
labor and suddenly, just before the barracks was locked for the
night, the supervisor ran in with several guards.
"Attention!" he shouted. All the men jumped down from
their bunks. They stood motionless while the supervisor walked along
the line of men. When he came to Father Arseny he began to beat
him. Meanwhile Alexei was dragged from his place in line by the
guards.
"P18376 and P281 to punishment cell No. 1, for 48 hours,
without food or water, for breaking camp rules, for fighting,"
shouted the officer.
Ivan had reported them to the authorities. To do so was considered
by the criminals to be the lowest and most despicable act possible.
Punishment cell No. 1 was a tiny house that stood by the entrance
of the camp. In this house were several rooms for solitary confinement;
there was also one for two people which held a narrow board instead
of a bed. This board was less than 20 inches wide. The floor and
walls were covered with sheets of metal. The whole room was not
wider than three quarters of a yard and two yards long. Outside
it was -22°F and windy, so that it was hard to breathe. You
had only to step outside to become immediately numb. The occupants
of the barracks understood what this meant: certain death. Father
Arseny and Alexei would be frozen within two hours. No one had ever
been sent to that cell in such cold. Occasionally, someone was sent
to it when the temperature reached -21° or -22°, but this
only for 24 hours. The only ones who stayed alive were those who
could jump up and down the whole 24 hours to keep their blood from
freezing. If you stopped jumping, you froze. And here it was -22°,
Father Arseny was an old man, Alexei had just been beaten up, and
both men were exhausted.
The supervisors seized them both and started dragging them out
of the barracks. Avsenkov and Sazikov dared to come out of the line
and said to the officer, "Comrade Officer, they will freeze
to death in this weather. You can't send them to that cell!"
The supervisor slammed them both so hard that they flew dazed against
the barracks wall.
Ivan the Brown lowered his head. Fear gripped him as he realized
that his own people in the barracks would kill him for this.
Father Arseny and Alexei were dragged to the punishment cell and
shoved inside. They both fell, cracking their heads against the
wall. It was pitch black inside. Father Arseny stood up and said,
"So, here we are. God has brought us together. It is cold,
Alyosha, and there is metal all around."
They heard the outer door close, the locks click, the voices and
the steps of the guards fade away. The cold seized them and constricted
their chests. Through the small window with iron bars the moon shone
its milky light into the cell.
"We are going to freeze, Father Arseny," moaned Alexei.
"It is because of me that we are going to freeze. We are both
going to die. We need to keep moving, to jump up and down, but it
is impossible to keep that up for 48 hours. I already feel so weak,
so battered. My feet are already frozen. There is no room here,
we cannot even move. Father Arseny, we are going to die. They are
inhuman, it would be better to be shot!" Father Arseny was
silent. Alexei tried to jump, but it did not warm him up. It was
hopeless to resist such cold.
"Why don't you say anything, Father Arseny?" Alexei
shouted.
As if from somewhere very far away Father Arseny's voice answered,
"I am praying to God, Alexei!"
"What's there to pray about when we are going to freeze?"
Alexei muttered.
"We are here all alone, Alexei; for two days no one will
come. We will pray. For the first time God has allowed us to pray
aloud in this camp, with our full voice. We will pray and the rest
is God's will!" The cold was gradually conquering Alexei and
he was sure that Father Arseny was losing his mind. Making the sign
of the cross and quietly pronouncing some words, Father Arseny stood
in the ray of moonlight. Alexei's hands and feet were numbed by
the cold; he had no strength in his limbs. He was freezing and no
longer cared.
Father Arseny was silent now, and suddenly Alexei heard Father
Arseny's words clearly, and understood that this was a prayer. Alexei
had been in church only once, out of curiosity. Although his grandmother
had baptized him when he was a child, his family did not believe
in God. They simply had no interest in religious matters. They did
not know what faith really was. Alexei himself was a student, a
member of the Komsomol. How could he believe?
Through the numbness and the pain from the blows he had received,
Alexei could clearly hear the words that Father Arseny was saying:
"O Lord God, have mercy on us sinners! Ever-merciful God! Lord
Jesus Christ who because of Thy love became man to save us all.
Through Thine unspeakable mercy save us, have mercy on us and lead
us away from this cruel death, because we do believe in Thee, Thou
our God and our Creator." And so the words of prayer poured
forth, and in each of these words lay the deepest love and trust
in God's mercy, and unconditional faith in Him.
Alexei started listening to the words of the prayer. At first
he was perplexed, but gradually he began to comprehend. The prayer
calmed his soul, took away the fear of death, and united him with
the old man standing beside him.
"O, Lord our God, Jesus Christ! Thou didst say with Thy purest
lips that if two or three agree to ask for the same thing, then
Thy Heavenly Father will grant their prayer because, as Thou didst
say, 'When two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them.'
" Alexei was repeating these words after Father Arseny.
The cold had taken over Alexei completely; his entire body was
numb. He no longer knew whether he was standing, sitting, or lying
down. But suddenly the cell, the cold, the numbness of his whole
body, his pain from the blows he had received and his fear all disappeared.
Father Arseny's voice filled the cell, but was it a cell? Alexei
turned to Father Arseny and was stunned. Everything around had been
transformed. An awful thought came: "I am losing my mind, this
is the end, I am dying."
The cell had grown wider, the ray of moonlight had disappeared.
There was a bright light and Father Arseny, dressed in brilliant
white vestments, his hands lifted up, was praying aloud. The clothing
on Father Arseny was the same as the priest Alexei had once seen
in church.
The words Father Arseny spoke were now easy to understand, they
had become familiar—they entered directly into Alexei's soul.
He felt no more anxiety, no more suffering, no more fear, only the
desire to become one with these words, to understand them, to remember
them for the rest of his life. There was no more cell: now they
were in a church. How had they gotten here? And why was there someone
else here with them? Alexei saw with surprise that there were two
men assisting Father Arseny. Both were dressed in the same bright
vestments and both shone with an undefinable white light. Alexei
did not see their faces, but sensed that they were beautiful.
Prayer filled Alexei's being. He stood up and started praying
together with Father Arseny. It was warm and easy to breathe, and
happiness filled his soul. Alexei repeated everything Father Arseny
was saying, yet he was not simply repeating, but praying together
with him. It seemed like Father Arseny had become one with the words
of his prayer, but Alexei understood that Father Arseny had not
forgotten him and was helping him all the while, helping him to
pray. The certainty that God existed, that He was with them, came
to Alexei. He saw God with his soul. At times Alexei thought that
perhaps they were both already dead, but the firm voice of Father
Arseny and his presence kept bringing him back to reality.
How much time had passed he did not know, but Father Arseny turned
to him and said, "Go, Alyosha! Lie down, you are tired. I will
keep praying, you will hear me." Alexei lay down on the metal-covered
floor, closed his eyes, and kept on praying. The words of prayer
filled his whole being: " ... will agree to ask anything, it
will be given to them by my Heavenly Father ... " In thousands
of ways his heart responded to these words: "gathered in my
name ... " "Yes, yes! We are not alone," thought
Alexei from time to time as he continued to pray.
All was peaceful and warm. Suddenly out of nowhere his mother
appeared. She covered him with something warm. Her hands took his
head, and she pressed him to her heart. He wanted to speak to her,
"Mama, can you hear, can you hear how Father Arseny is praying?
I've learned that God exists, I believe in Him."
As if she had heard him speak, she answered him, "Alyoshenka!
When they took you, I also found God. This is what has given me
the strength to live."
Everything that was awful had disappeared, his mother and Father
Arseny were near him. Words of prayer which had been unknown to
him now rekindled and warmed his soul. It was important not to forget
these words, to remember them all his life. "I never want to
be far from Father Arseny, I want always to be with him," thought
Alexei.
Lying on the floor at Father Arseny's feet, Alexei listened, half-asleep,
to the beautiful words of the prayer. Father Arseny prayed, and
the two others in bright garments prayed with him and served him.
They seemed amazed at how Father Arseny could pray. Father Arseny
no longer asked for anything, he only glorified God and thanked
Him. How long all this lasted no one could say.
The only things that remained in Alexei's memory were the words
of the prayer, a warming and joyful light, Father Arseny praying,
the two others in clothes of light, and an enormous, incomparable
feeling of inner renewing warmth.
Somebody struck the door, the frozen lock squealed, and voices
could be heard from the outside of the cell. Alexei opened his eyes.
Father Arseny was still praying. The two in garments of light blessed
him and Alexei and slowly left. The blinding light was fading and
the cell at last became dark and, as before, cold and gloomy.
"Get up, Alexei! They have come for us," said Father
Arseny.
Alexei rose. The head of the camp, the doctor, the main head of
the special sector, and the Major were coming in. Somebody behind
the door was saying, "This is inexcusable—someone could
report this to Moscow. Who knows how they will look at this. Frozen
cadavers—this is not the modern way."
In the cell stood an old man in a patched up vest and a young
one in torn clothes with a bruised face. Their faces were calm and
their clothing was covered with a thick layer of frost.
"They're alive?" the Major asked in amazement. "How
did they survive here for two days?"
"We are alive, sir," said Father Arseny. All looked
at each other in amazement.
"Search them."
"Come out!" shouted one of the supervisors. Father Arseny
and Alexei walked out of the cell. The supervisors removed their
gloves and started frisking them. The doctor also removed a glove,
put it under Father Arseny's and then Alexei's clothing and, to
nobody in particular, said, "Amazing! How could they have survived?
It's true, though; they're warm." The doctor walked into the
cell, looked around it and asked, "What kept you warm?"
"Our faith in God, and prayer," Father Arseny answered.
"They are simply fanatics. Send them back to the barracks
right away," said one of the supervisors in an irritated voice.
As he was walking away, Alexei heard somebody say, "It's amazing.
In this cold they could have lived no longer than four or five hours.
It's unbelievable, considering it's -22° F out. You supervisors
sure got lucky. There could have been some unpleasantness in store
for you."
The barracks met them as if they had risen from the dead.
Everyone asked, "What saved you?"
They both answered, "God saved us."
Ivan the Brown was transferred to another barracks within days.
A week later he was killed by a falling rock. He died in terrible
pain. It was rumored that his own friends had helped the rock to
fall.
Alexei became a new man, as if reborn. He followed Father Arseny
whenever he was able to and asked everyone he could about God and
about Orthodox services.
This story was told by Alexei and confirmed by several witnesses
who lived in the barracks at that time.
Father Arseny, pray to God for us!
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