p. 16 | How the Truth Has Made Its Way in Russia

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 2, 1908

How the Truth Has Made Its Way in Russia

By H. J. LOEBSACK

Reminiscences of the Days of Our Imprisonment—No. 3

How the Truth Has Made Its Way in Russia

H. J. LOEBSACK

FROM Taganash, we went back on the same road, by way of Tschihir, where we met with the brethren in a very profitable meeting held by Brother G. Tetz, as “prisoners for the truth’s sake,” to Perekop, where Brethren Conradi and Perk were taken prisoners six years before. We stayed overnight at Tartarenau, and went from place to place under the guidance of different officers and coach drivers. In one village we met a Separatist minister to whom we had sold books in the Don territory, but he, too, was fleeing, for the police were after him.

The Ispravnik (district supervisor) released us immediately on our own signature until the time of the judicial examination. As we came out into the street, we felt so completely transformed that, unmindful of ourselves and all about us, we shouted for joy. It was as if we had been transported to a better world. The sun did not seem the same sun at all, and the snow seemed whiter than usual. We had sown in tears, and reaped in joy. It was more than a full compensation for what we had suffered, a heavenly recompense for earthly sorrow.

Our books were examined by a Roman Catholic priest who received no pay for his services from the police, and consequently gave a favorable report of the books. A sample of each kind was sent to the governor, who returned them without proscribing them; so in this way we obtained our first legal permission to circulate our books in the district of Perekop, and by this means we were enabled to distribute them in the entire territory and in the district of Odessa.

In the winter of 1895, Brother Tetz and I visited in Bessarabia. In the colony of Tarutino, one Friday evening while at meeting, we were arrested. The chief of police delivered us over to the custody of the guard in his own house, because the prison was being remodeled. The guard was a Christian, and gave us his own bed to sleep in, while he slept near the door. May the Lord reward him for it. We were examined, and because the first of the fifteen witnesses summoned had declared our discourse to be consistently orthodox, the others were sent home, and after Brother Kleist had paid our bail, we were given the liberty to stay where we chose. We had a month’s freedom in the village, in which to make visits as prisoners and hold Bible readings until the returns and passports arrived from headquarters, and we were free.

Caucasus, Russia.