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oday Victor and I have been writing, typing and catching up on events. The telephone lines are either short-circuited with water, broken or stolen so Victor cannot transmit with his laptop PC.The attentive Svetlana Mondich has looked after us and we are we rested and fed.
At 4.0 pm Victor Pavliy took us to where the Khust church meets and where Mission Nazareth is officed. The roads are worse than last year. We drove across the large square which is like a huge parade ground dominated by the usual concrete Soviet mouments, a Stalin-Gothic government building designed with the same imagination as a shoe box, surrounded by a few depressing almost empty shops. At one corner is the old cinema shaded by an oasis of lime trees. The first floor has been well converted into a simple church, it is clean, fresh and cared for. Young members are gathering for a sing-a-long. Victor meets with his niece Nadya, one of the students who is working on a summer-long project teaching English as a Second Language to young people in Khust. They went off and spent an hour talking about family and life. One boy, Sasha, spoke fluent English which he learned since first grade at school. He had never been out of Ukraine and was only 15 years old. We in the West believe that education requires modern buildings and equipment. Here they have teachers.
Victor Pavliy took us into the large cinema auditorium; it was packed with every type of aid, including food and and medicines, all sent by Compassion Humanitarian Relief and the United Church of God. The system of distribution is for a needy family to attend the mayor's office and a certificate completed confirming the size of the family, their requirements and signed by the mayor. A family member then attends the centre and collects. In this way the Khust church is performing a vital social service.
While at Mission Nazareth, Victor and I were added to its board. I will be a consultant regarding medical questions, Victor will advise on humanitarian aid distribution.
At 8:30 pm we set off for the village of Rokosova, six miles away in the Carpathian foothills to visit the home of Ivan and Anna Pavliy. He is the uncle of Victor Pavliy. Ivan is a builder employing 18 men whom he pays well for which reason he was once fined. Michael Palchey founded the Ukrainian Sabbatarian church in Rokosova in 1946, but recently other denominations have arisen in the village. The villagers comment that it is easier to belong to other denominations which just sing and clap, than to belong to a teaching church.
Ivan and senior members have done much study and research into the annual holy days following the visit of Victor in 1993. Ivan is responsible for producing booklets on this subject. Here is a man who has been subject to severe persecution for his beliefs yet his face lights up with enthusiasm and he speaks with profound biblical knowledge. The church has a good relationship with other denominations in the village, but he says he would not break the law of God to do so. When there is a biblical disagreement, he does not speak evil of others, but invites them to study the word of God with him. As another Sabbatarian said, "If I am wrong, I will change, but if you are wrong, I trust you will change." Sabbatarians have recently stopped having television in their homes. There are good programs on television but they have become the Trojan horse for the entry of evil.
Ivan dictated a message that he would like read in all Sabbatarian churches. Men and women who have the spiritual strength to survive the KGB, hardship and for some Siberia, without wavering are worth listening to.
"Brethren, our churches are happy about all churches who stand strong. We admire churches who have not stepped away from the Truth. I and my brothers salute you and pray that you continue to stand strong. We are glad that you have not followed the majority. We accept Jesus Christ in our heart with what He has in His heart and we want to fulfil His will. How can we accept Jesus Christ without accepting what is in His heart?"
Ivan Pavliy, on behalf of the Rokosova church
Ivan spoke about the deeds of the law which many denominations believe include the Ten Commandments, but he pointed out that there are no deeds in the Ten Commandments and the fourth commands that no work be performed on the Sabbath. He also believes that the Holy Spirit is the power of God, and not a face. Ivan and his wife were baptised in the River Tissa nearby at
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midnight in 1969 and 1970 respectively in secret to avoid the police. They were the only church in the area that was suppressed and declared illegal. It was not allowed to teach children how to play musical instruments without permission in case they were used in church services.
In 1984 Ivan found his son wearing the Lenin badge and red neckscarf which were obligatory to wear in school. He forbade his son to wear these symbols because they went against the second commadment. So the pin of the badge was deliberately broken and the badge put in his son's pocket. The teacher gave his son new Lenin badges, but somehow all the pins broke! Ivan was interviewed by the teacher and he explained his reasons; he would not bow down, serve or salute Lenin and the red neckscarf represented the blood of men killing men. Ivan then had to appear before a council of town citizens and teaches and he was denounced. They wrote down all Ivan said, he signed it as correct and they told him they would take the document to the KGB. "Don't bother," he replied, "I'll take it myself." We talked into the night and left at 2.0 am.
But for Perestroika, such a breed of men and women would have disappeared in the night, but a people who are afraid to die do not live. The foundation of their faith is not the theological fashion of the moment, but the rock of Truth which cannot be shaken.