Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father : Being the Narratives Compiled by the Servant of God Alexander Concerning His Spiritual Father by VERA BOUTENEFF, TRANS - June 1998

St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, June 1998. Paper Back. New. <i>One of the sick men told him that his name was Sazikov. Father Arseny prayed quietly while he was helping him. Sazikov noticed it and mumbled, 'you're praying, eh, Priest?! You pray to get forgiveness of your sins and this is why you help us! You're afraid of God! Why's that? Have you ever seen Him?' Father Arseny looked at Sazikov with surprise. 'How could I not have seen Him? He is here among us and unites you and me!' 'What are you saying, Pop? God is in this barracks?' he laughed. Father Arseny looked at him and said quietly, 'Yes, I see His presence. I see that your soul is black with sin, but there is room in it for light. Light will come to you Sazikov, light and your Saint, Saint Seraphim of Sarov will not abandon you.' Sazikov's face distorted, he trembled and whispered with hatred, 'I'll kill you, silly priest, I'll kill you...I hate the way you think.' Father Arseny turned around and walked away repeating, 'Have mercy on me, a sinner!' </i>Sazikov, a hardened criminal, Fr. Arseny, an eminent art historian turned priest-monk - thrown together, as were unknown millions of common and political prisoners, into the unspeakable horror of Stalin's gulag. Eventually the light came to Sazikov, and the darkness could not overcome it. The collection of accounts of encounters with Father Arseny that became this book originally circulated in samizdat form. In it the witness of all the martyrs and confessors becomes lovely and intimate, assuming the face of one remarkable priest. 279 pp.