“The race is on, and, it is now only a question of who shall come in first–death or blindness.” With these words Tatyana Shchipkova reveals the price she is now paying for confessing Christ. After holding a post as lecturer at the Smolensk Pedagogical Institute, Tatyana Shchipkova was arrested and sentenced on Jan. 8, 1980…
I was 25 years old when for the first time I had the text of “Our Father” before me. I read it slowly, giving a thought to each word. When the depth of the meaning dawned upon me, it was a sudden conversion to Christianity…It took me another two years of prayer, thinking and pilgrimages…
I thank God that He judged me worthy to suffer for all that is best in the world; our generation also needs martyrs…There is nothing in the world a man should fear except his own baseness, his own fall… (from Igor Ogurtsov’s letters to his parents) On August 22, Igor Ogurtsov will celebrate his 44th birthday–his…
Orthodox America; Issue 10; Vol. I, No. 11-12 Pray Keston reports that nun Valeriya Makeyeva has been transferred from the Kazan Special Psychiatric Hospital to Moscow Psychiatric Hospital No. 5. She was tried in April 1979 (see “Orthodox America” No. 5-6) on charges of engaging in illegal production of handicrafts (she embroidered monastic belts with…
Orthodox America; Issue 10; Vol. I, No. 11-12 It is no news that the Soviet Union is the fiercest enemy of Christianity – it should be evident to the entire world. It is unfortunate that this matter does not have sufficient emphasis in the free world…. Fr. Vasily Romanyuk, “A Voice in the Wilderness” For over…
Orthodox America; Issue 9; Vol. I, No. 10 The joyous Paschal season is here. We celebrated the glorious Resurrection of Christ in churches ablaze with lighted candles, the clergy in resplendent vestments greeting us with the life-giving news: “Christ is risen!” and our jubilant cries filling the air in reply: “Truly He is risen!” Behind…
Orthodox America; Issue 8; Vol. I, No. 9 “Now, more than ever, we need to understand each other and all that is happening. This is no time to sit in judgment. I wish for mercy, not sacrifice, we hear in the Gospel; and it is mercy that I ask of you…” (Fr. Dimitri Dudko in a…
Orthodox America; Issue 7; Vol. I, No. 8 Keston College has received a report that Hieromonk Raphael, brother of Alexander Ogorodnikov, has been expelled from the Pskov diocese, where he had been a monk in the Pskov Caves Monastery. After Alexander’s trial, Fr. Raphael asked the authorities for permission to visit his brother in prison…
Orthodox America; Issue 7; Vol. I, No. 8 The increasing interest in religion among Soviet young people, has led to the spontaneous growth of groups who meet to discuss religious and philosophical questions. One such group of recent converts to the Orthodox faith began in 1973 to form under the leadership of Alexander Ogorodnikov. With…
Orthodox America; Issue 7; Vol. I, No. 8 Before our eyes, from the ashes of the persecuted Russian Orthodox Church, there grows and is revealed a renewed creative spirit which no terror can extinguish. (A. Ogorodnikov) The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the God of Jacob defend thee. (Ps. 19:1) The Gulag continues…
