Christmas, the night when Father Gherasim Iscu put Christ back into the heart of his torturer

When I was in prison I was very ill. I had tuberculosis in both lungs and four vertebrae were affected by tuberculosis. I also had intestinal tuberculosis, diabetes, heart failure, hepatitis and other illnesses I can’t even remember. I was close to death. On my right was a priest called Gherasim Iscu.

He was the abbot of a monastery (Tismana). This old man, about 40 years old, had been so tormented that he was close to death. But he had a peaceful face. He spoke of his hope for salvation, of his love for Christ, of his faith. He was full of joy. To my left was the communist tirturer who had beaten the priest almost to death. This communist had been arrested by his own comrades. Don’t believe what the newspapers say about communists hating priests or Jews. It’s not true. They just hate. They hate everybody. They hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate anti-Semites, they hate anti-haters, they hate everybody. A communist hates another communist. They hate each other. And when a communist hates another communist, he puts him in prison and beats him and tortures him like a Christian.

So it happened that the communist torturer who had tortured this priest almost to death – had also been beaten almost to death by his comrades, and he gave his soul. His soul was tormented in the jaws of death.

At night he woke me and said:

– Sir, be good, pray for me! I can’t die, I’ve committed a terrible crime!

Then I saw a miracle. I saw the priest, on the verge of death, calling two other prisoners. Leaning on their backs, he slowly walked past my bed, sat down on the edge of his murderer’s bed and stroked his head.

I’ll never forget that gesture! A crippled man continues to stroke his murderer. That is love. He could find a caress for him. Then the priest said to the man:

– You’re young, you didn’t know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart.

But he didn’t just say those words. You can say ‘I love you’ and it can be a simple six-letter word. But this one really said “I love you with all my heart”. Then it went on:

– If I, who am a sinner, can love you so much, imagine how much Christ, who is love incarnate, loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tormented, know that they forgive you, they love you and Christ loves you. He desires your salvation much more than you desire it. You doubt if it is possible for your sins to be forgiven… He wants to forgive your sins more than you want to be forgiven. He wants you to be with Him in heaven more than you want to be with Him in heaven. He is all love. But you have to turn to Him to repent.

In that prison cell, where no more secrets were possible, I heard the confession of the murderer to his own victim. Perhaps life is more impressive in novels. But no novelist has ever written anything like this. The victim, on the verge of death, received the confession of his murderer, and the tormented one gave absolution to his murderer. They prayed together and embraced. The priest then returned to his bed and they both died the same night. It was Christmas night. But not a Christmas night where we simply mentioned that two thousand years before Christ Christ had been born in Bethelhem. It was the night that Christ was born into the heart of a communist torturer.

These are things I have seen with my own eyes.

(Richard Wurmbrand)