The House of Terror and Pieces of Joy

Yesterday, day three of the Missiological Studies conference which I am attending was devoted to what was called "Exposure Trips". I travelled to the one entitled "Christianity under an Ideology", which essentially wanted to expose us to what the Church in Hungary was doing during 41 years of a Totalitarian regime (one year of national socialism and 40 years of Communism). It was an extremely moving and interesting day. First, we went to see the House of Terror: both the Nazi's and Communists used this house as a detention center and torture place for "enemies of the state". Next, we went to hear from four Church leaders, representing the basic four Christian streams in Hungary(Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and Baptist, regarding their experience under Communism. I was most moved by the Benedictine priest who served 10 years in the Gulag, the Communist version of a concentration camp in Siberia, and I feel compelled to share the highlights of his story.

Father Oloffson's words moved me deeply, not just because of his story, but from the quiet power that emanates from words forged during the crucible of suffering. I scribbled furiously as he spoke, trying to capture the words themselves, but being conscious that I could not capture his fiery spirit which exploded from his body in animated gestures and through his loud, passionately expressive voice. In fact, although he was 92 years old, the best word to describe his demeanour is LIFE: he radiated a full and joyous life. Perhaps you can see this in the picture that was taken of he and I!

He said that shortly before he was sentenced to the Gulag, God gave Him a special experience in which He revealed his assignment in the Gulag: to encourage his fellow prisoners. "We were not heroes", he claims, "but we wanted to survive the hell, because it was hell". To do this, he and some others came up with four rules that enabled their survival over the next 10 years of nine hours a day, seven days a week of gruelling manual labor in the harsh Siberian climate.

1. "We should not dramatize suffering, because it makes you weaker". In other words, they did not allow complaining, and when one member of their little group began complaining, he was forced to start talking about his former occupation before the Gulag.
2. "We should not be looking for suffering...suffering will come on its own, but we should be searching for the little joyous moments of life". In fact, they went so far in this as to have "Pieces of joy Olympics". At the end of a day, they would compare who had found the most moments of joy and the two highest would compete the next day. The final winner would have his favorite song sung to him by the others. One such piece of joy is as follows: They would not be forced to go outside to work when the temperature hit negative 20 below Celsius because it was too cold for the horses. Although a horse's life was considered more important than theirs, they found the joy in remaining inside for the day!
3. "At the right moments, boost your self esteem (when you are treated like an animal, he said it is difficult to maintain your own thoughts as a human being) by proving yourself better than your captors and oppressors".
4."The one who has someone to hold onto, it is easier for him/her to survive suffering.We believers cling to the Lord, and we discover that He wants our survival".

Although not all the group of 26 Hungarians were believers before this experience, they all survived and are all now believers. From stories like this, I always ask myself what sort of Christian I will be when confronted with impossible circumstances. Will I be able to follow the suffering Christ down such a narrow road? Would I be able to take a special assignment in the Gulag and carry it out faithfully during 10 years of hell? I think it is difficult for Americans such as myself to really understand such a regime, but we have much to learn from such people who have had such life experiences. Yesterday, I was humbly aware that I was in the presence of greatness. I close with a last quote from Father Oloffson:

"Why am I so happy? Because I am a child of the gospel. And that was my task, to bring this happiness into that situation".