Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Ransom and Release for Work in the West A total of fourteen years in prison passed for me. Dur­ing all this time I never saw a Bible or any other book. I had forgotten how to write. Because of the starvation, drugging, and tortures, I had forgotten the Holy Scriptures. But on the day that I fulfilled fourteen years, out of oblivion came into my mind the verse: “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed but a few days to him be­cause of the love he had for her” (Genesis 29:20). Very soon after this I was released through a general amnesty given in our country, very much under the influence of American public opinion. I saw my wife again. She had waited faithfully for me for fourteen years. We began our new life in poverty, because those who are arrested have everything taken from them. The priests and pastors who were released were allowed to have small churches. A church in the town of Orsova was given to me. The Communist Department of Cults told me it had thirty-five members in it and warned that it must never have thirty-six! I was also told that I must be their agent and report to the secret police on every member and keep all youth away. This is how the Communists use churches as their “tool” of control. I knew that if I preached, many would come to hear. So I never tried even to begin working in the official church. In­stead, I ministered again in the Underground Church, sharing all the beauties and the dangers of this work. During the years I was imprisoned, God had moved wonderfully. The Underground Church was no longer abandoned and forgotten. Americans and other Christians had begun to help us and pray for us. One afternoon as I rested in the house of a brother in a pro­­vincial town, he awoke me and said, “Brethren from abroad have come.” In the West there were Christians who had not forgotten or abandoned us. Rank-and-file Christians had organ­ized a secret work of relief for families of Christian martyrs, and were smuggling in Christian literature and help. In the other room I found six brethren who had come to do this work. After speaking with me at length, they told me that they had heard that at this address there was someone who had spent fourteen years in prison, and they would like to see him. I told them that I was the man. They said, “We expected to see someone melancholic. You cannot be this person be­cause you are full of joy.” I assured them that I was the imprisoned one and my joy was in knowing that they had come and that we were no longer forgotten. Steady, regular help began to come to the Underground Church. By secret channels we got many Bibles and other Christian literature, as well as relief for families of Christian martyrs. Now, with their help, we of the Underground Church could work much better. It was not only that they gave us the Word of God, but we saw that we were beloved. They brought us a word of comfort. During the years of brainwashing, we had heard, “Nobody loves you anymore, nobody loves you anymore, nobody loves you anymore.” Now we saw American and English Christians who risked their lives to show us that they loved us. We later helped them develop a technique of secret work, so they could creep undetected into houses surrounded by the secret police. The value of the Bibles smuggled in by these means cannot be understood by an American or an English Christian who “swims” in Bibles. My family and I would not have survived without the mate­rial help I received from praying Christians abroad. The same is true with many other underground pastors and martyrs in Com­munist countries. I can testify out of my own expe­rience about the material and even greater moral help that has been given to us by special missions formed for this purpose in the free world. For us, these believers were like angels sent by God! Because of the renewed work of the Underground Church, I was in very great danger of still another arrest. At this time, two Christian organizations, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance, paid the Communist government a ransom of $10,000 for me—over five times the stan­dard price for a political prisoner. I could now leave Romania. Why I Left Communist Romania I would not have left Romania, despite the dangers, if the leaders of the Underground Church had not commanded me to use this opportunity to leave the country, to be the “voice” of the Underground Church to the free world. They wished me to speak to you of the Western world on their behalf about their sufferings and needs. I came to the West, but my heart remained with them. I would never have left Romania if I had not understood the great necessity for you to hear of the sufferings and the courageous work of the Underground Church, but this is my mission. Before leaving Romania, I was called twice to the secret police. They told me that the money had been received for me. (Romania sells its citizens for money, because of the economic crisis that communism has brought to our country.) They told me, “Go to the West and preach Christ as much as you like, but don’t touch us! Don’t speak a word against us! We tell you frankly what we plan for you if you do tell what happened. First of all, for $1,000 we can find a gangster to kill you, or we can kidnap you.” (I have been in the same cell with an Ortho­dox bishop, Vasile Leul, who had been kidnapped in Austria and brought to Romania. All of his fingernails were torn out. I have been with others from Berlin. Romanians have even been kidnapped from Italy and Paris.) They told me further, “We can also destroy you morally by spreading a story about you with a girl, theft, or some sin of your youth. The Western­ers—especially Americans—are very easily deceived.” Having threatened me, they allowed me to come to the West. They had great confidence in the brainwashing through which I passed. In the West, there are now many who have passed through the same things as I, but who are silent. Some of them have even praised communism after having been tortured by the Communists. The Communists were very sure that I, too, would be silent. So in December 1965, my family and I were allowed to leave Romania. My last deed before leaving was to go to the grave of the colonel who had given the order for my arrest and who had ordered my years of torture. I placed a flower on his grave. By doing this I dedicated myself to bringing the joys of Christ that I have to the Communists who are so empty spiritually. I hate the Communist system but I love the men. I hate the sin but I love the sinner. I love the Communists with all of my heart. Communists can kill Christians but they cannot kill their love toward even those who killed them. I have not the slightest bitterness or resentment against the Communists or my torturers.