[This is taken from here.]
In his book The Traces of God in a Frequently Hostile World, Diogenes Allen tells the story of Iulia de Beausobre. In the early 1930s Iulia was arrested and tortured in Russia during the reign of Stalin when millions were tortured and died. She lived in solitary confinement for three months, and spent three more months in the “Inner,” the worst part of the prison. Most prisoners could only endure this type of interrogation and torture for about six weeks. She lasted six months. She was brutally tortured by “scientists” trying to discover how to make people become pure instruments of the state by erasing their personal will.
During her suffering Iulia discovered that there were three possible responses to her tormentors: one, she could fight them and make it a battle of wills. She saw prisoners who fought, and they often did not survive. Two, she could become utterly passive and withdrawn from her tormentors. Prisoners who did this retreated into an inner world for self-preservation, but they too rarely survived. She considered these two responses but felt both made her less human.
So she chose a third response. She chose to notice everything going on around her. She chose to look her tormentors in the eyes, willing them to connect with her and become human. And when she did, she experienced Christ’s presence with her in a special way. By being fully present, a creative possibility opened up. When the tormentors saw “her,” they connected with her as human beings. Ultimately her oppressors were unable to continue their torture, and they came to respect her and care for her. Because she accepted their capacity to have value, they had to accept her value.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[This is taken from The Inner Kingdom by Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware (buy it here).]
What is a martyr? What is it that changes suffering from a destructive to a creative force, that transforms a violent death into an act of martyrdom, a miscarriage of justice into an atoning sacrifice?
The answer is provided by a Russian Christian, Iulia de Beausobre. One day in Moscow during the late 1920′s, with her husband interned by the GPU [Stalin's secret police, predecessor of the KGB] but not yet herself arrested, she was preparing his weekly food parcel to deliver to the prison. She felt engulfed by a sense of hopelessness; her husband’s suffering, her own and that of those round her seemed so meaningless and futile. “To what end?” she asked herself. Suddenly, as she was moving from one room to another, she felt a blow on the back of her neck, and heard what she describes as “the unspoken words of Another.” They were words that marked a new dawn in her life:
Of course it’s no earthly use to you. It can only cripple your bodies and twist your souls. But I will share in every last one of your burdens as they cripple and twist you. In the blending heat of compassion I will know the full horror of your deliberate destruction by men of your own race. I will know the weight of your load through carrying it alongside of you, but with an understanding greater than yours can be. I want to carry it. I need to know it. Because of my Incarnation and your Baptism there is no other way―if you agree.
Good post Mike. I’ve always meant to read Diogenes Allen. He’s a Presbyterian out of Princeton, right? How was the book?
Wish I could say I’ve read it. Saw this excerpt/description which fit with the theme and went with it. But do want to read it soon.