Chapter 3 -- "Protection of the Mother of God"
The first group to greet the first train load of Old Believers from Harbin was the United World Council of Churches, an international Christian organization designed with the purpose of preserving the unity of all Christian faiths. Like a protecting mother, the Council desired to take the wandering flock of Old Believers under its expansive wings. To the Council, these Orthodox Russians were also part of the whole Christian Mother Church.
"Thank God we finally were able to get you out of Communist China," said Rev. Billy Freeman, a representative for the Council.
Rev. Freeman approached Ivan and his friend Alyosha with an extended right hand. Ivan was not used to the western handshake, but he nevertheless accepted the powerful handshake as a token of his appreciation for the westerner's help. Ivan had heard that a worldwide organization was instrumental in delivering his people from the Communist world. So he was more than grateful to extend his friendship, his gratitude, and his right hand.
"Bolshaya blagodarnost vam," began Ivan.
An interpreter immediately rushed to Rev. Freeman's side to translate Ivan's words.
"He says, 'Thank you very much,'" quickly stated the Anglo interpreter.
"Tell the young man here," said Rev. Freeman, pointing to Ivan, "that we are thankful to God for his help in bringing the Russian people out of the Communist world."
The Anglo interpreter translated the words of the reverend into an anglicized form of Russian for Ivan and the group of Old Believers that had clustered around the nucleus of the council representative and the young spokesman for the Old Believers. Ivan felt as if the mantle of his grandfather had fallen upon his shoulders and that he was singled out as the new spiritual leader for his people.
"Skazhetye vashemu predstavetelyu, shto mi blagodarni Bogy za pomoshch kotoruyou vi ukazali nam," said Ivan as he smiled at Rev. Freeman.
Ivan looked at the western man dressed in a gray suit with a white shirt and blue and yellow striped tie. Ivan dismissed the nagging thought that his benefactor was a beardless man. Instead he thought of the kindness that he saw in the Englishman's eyes as he listened to the interpreter replay his words into the English language.
"This man told me to tell you as our representative, that he and his group are grateful to God for the help and assistance that you have given to them," translated the black-haired interpreter with black-rimmed glasses.
"Your wilderness experience is over now, and, with God's help, we will now try to find you a suitable country to live in," explained Rev. Billy Freeman.
The interpreter struggled through the long sentence, hoping to make sense of the phrase "wilderness experience." Ivan's eyebrows curled upward several times as he tried to comprehend the interpreter's exact meaning. Ivan was especially concerned about the words "suitable country."
"Ya dumal shto vsyo bilo ustroyeno uzhe nam perekochevat v amariku?" (I thought it was definite that we were migrating to America?) questioned Ivan.
The interpreter looked puzzled for a moment as he tried to thumb quickly through his Russian-English Dictionary for the world "perekochevat." He found it under "kochevat," which meant to wander like a nomad from one place to another.
"He says that he thought everything was already arranged for them to migrate or move to America," translated the young Anglo. He put his pocket dictionary back in the inner pocket of his black suit jacket.
"Tell him that it will take some time for us to find sponsors, and we are still not sure which countries will be willing to take them in," said Rev. Billy Freeman, whose smiling face had turned into a serious business-like demeanor. He spoke directly to the interpreter without looking at Ivan.
By now Ivan began to sense that all was not well and that his grandfather was right after all in going back to the bosom of Mother Russian instead of crawling for help to foreigners in whose hands they were helpless and defenseless. Ivan felt inadequate and insecure. He didn't know the language or the people who were supposedly his benefactors and who were nominally interested in his freedom. He felt like a helpless animal running from the claws of one enemy only to fall unawares into the hands of a more subtle enemy; the subtle enemy was the one who promised one thing and delivered something completely unexpected. Ivan listened with shocked ears as the interpreter relayed the message that several countries in South America might be willing to take them and even provide them with free land.
Masha felt as if all her dreams had been shattered when she realized her dream of America might not come true after all. She whispered a short prayer to the protectress, the Mother of God: "Presvyataya gospozhe Bogoroditsa, moli Bogu nas greshnikov." (Holy Lady, Mother of God, pray to God for us sinners.) She placed her hands on her womb and whispered an encouraging word to the stirring child-to-be: "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you no matter where we go or where we live."
Ivan began conversing with his fellow Old Believers, whose angry faces began to show behind their manly beards. One thin man with a receding hairline anxiously spoke up: "How will we live while we wait for them to find us a country?" Another older man with a bald spot on the top of his head called out: "What about the promise from our consulate in Harbin that we would be allowed to migrate to America?" The commotion and questions caused disorder in the lobby of the train station, and the reverend representative was embarrassed at the unruly behavior of his guests.
"Please, don't worry," said Rev. Billy Freeman, raising both his hands into the air and raising his voice to draw attention to himself. The interpreter had been busily translating some of the concerns to the reverend, who saw a need to respond to the rising tumult. "The World Council of Churches has agreed to pay for your stay in Hong Kong while we make arrangements with countries willing to take you in. Some of you will be staying at the Empress Hotel, where is Sinkiang group is already staying. The others will be taken care of by the Red Cross."
The interpreter waved his hand at Rev. Freeman, requesting a chance to translate before he forgot what had been said. The group of Old Believers calmed down as they listened to the words of reassurance.
Ivan was thrilled at the mention of the Sinkiang group. He had heard about them from his Grandfather Iov, and he had always wanted to meet them.
During the next two weeks Ivan and Masha, along with the band of Harbin Old Believers, became acquainted with a state of existence which resembled limbo. It was a "sit and wait" situation, and their patience was slowly running out. Ivan tried to kill the boredom of waiting by visiting with the group from Sinkiang, which was also waiting to go to a free country. Ivan made friends with a tall, strong young man who was two years younger than he was and who was called Vasily Velikov.
Vasily was the first man to relate the news to Ivan on October 4, 1957 that the Soviets had launched a Sputnik ("wanderer") capsule into space. Ivan recalled the young lieutenant's words that Russia was going to reach for the stars. Some of the Old Believers, however, doubted if Russian had actually launched a Sputnik that had sailed up into space, for they believed that God wouldn't permit man to travel beyond the confines of earth.
During their long hours of conversation, Vasily related to Ivan how life in Kulkja (in the Sinkiang Province) had been and how they had raised wheat and watermelons along the Ili River for a living.
"You know," Vasily would say as they sat in Ivan's hotel room, "life was unbearable by the river. You should have seen the size of the mosquitoes near the swamp where we lived. They were huge, and they were everywhere. I don't blame my father for going back to Altai, although I regret what happened to him at the hands of the savage Kirghiz."
"What happened to him?" Ivan would say, as he sat listening to Vasily's endless stories.
"Well," began Vasily, as he gazed out the window at the flowing traffic on Chatham Road. "I remember hearing from a friend who escaped from the vicious Mohammedans (Mahomets), that the Kirghiz men made sport of my father and the nastoyatel (elder) who was with him. They built a huge bonfire one night when the moon was full, and while they were feasting and drinking, the head clansman got into a religious argument with the nastoyatel about praying and about God. They head clansman didn't like the way the nastoyatel kept crossing himself and bowing to the ground and praying, 'Lord, Isous Hristos, be merciful to me a sinner.' He said there was only one God, Allah, and the nastoyatel should pray only to him. When the nastoyatel disagreed, the head clansman in a drunken rage decided to throw both men into the bonfire to see if their God would rescue them. You can imagine the blasphemy that those Mohammedans committed as they tied my father and the nastoyatel to stakes and began saying that Isous was only a prophet like Mahomet, and not a savior and Son of God like the true Orthodox religion taught. I can still hear my friend's words: 'Your father died like a true martyr, for he cried out with a loud voice as he died, "Forgive these pagans, O Lord Isous, for they know not what they do."' The nastoyatel, on the other hand, was condemning the Kirghiz clansman for his ungodly act by saying, 'Mi boodyem v rayou, a ti poydyosh v vechniy ogon.' (We will be in paradise this day, but you will burn in eternal fire.)
Ivan listened to other tales of adventure, including Vasily's account of their group's miraculous journey out of china under the protection of the Bogoroditsa (Mother of God). Vasily dramatized the story of their escape from the "Soviet hounds," as he called them, who hounded them day and night in an attempt to lure them back to the Soviet motherland. Ivan winced at the sound of the word 'Soviet,' for the memory of his encounter with the brainwashing officials was still fresh in his mind.
"Those Soviet hounds," Vasily would say, as his fists clenched in anger while staring out across the Hong Kong harbor, "they would guard our villages and make it virtually impossible to escape or leave the country. Even when their leader Khrushchev visited Peking and brought about a change in policy toward Russian refugees, the Soviet officials still kept an eye on us and tried to make us 'come home,' as they expressed it. We used to gather almost daily at our nastoyatel's (elder's) house and pray to the Mother of God and to Hristos to deliver us from the hands of the enemy and from the godless land. I used to pray daily before the ikon of the Bogoroditsa (Mother of God) holding the God-child, and prayed that she would carry us in her loving arms to a land of freedom. One night we were told that things were ready for us at the train station and all the papers were in order. The Holy Virgin was with us that night, for even the Soviet officials couldn't keep us back any more. The officials watched helplessly as we boarded the train at Kuldja and headed for Urumchi. We drove through Hamey, then Turfun, Landzo, and Shanghai. Finally, we passed through Canton and arrived here at Hong Kong.
Vasily had many stories to relate, and Ivan patiently sat and played the role of a good listener. Vasily's wife, Zinaida, often sat by her husband's side and listened to the dramatic presentations of her husband, who would wave his hands about. Sometimes he would pace back and forth in front of the window as he told his stories.
Sometimes Zinaida would divert her attention from her husband to one of her three young daughters. The youngest was Irina, who was one-and-a-half. The oldest was Nadezhda, who was five. The one in the middle was the cutest and the most talkative; her name was Anastasia, and she had just turned three. All three daughters were cleanly dressed in their native sarafans (dresses), whose colorful flower designs added life and beauty to the dull foreign land filled with tall gray buildings.
One of the days was somewhat enlivened when Rev. Billy Freeman drove up to the Empress Hotel in a bus he had received permission to use for a sight-seeing tour. A gay group of Old Believers crowded into the bus for a guided tour of Kowloon and the New Territories. Arrangements were also made to take the group across the Hong Kong harbor by way of the Jordan Road Vehicular Ferry. A visit to the Tiger Balm Gardens was of particular interest to the religious group, for here they were introduced to the gods and goddesses of the Buddhist religion; some were amazed, while others were repulsed, at the sculpturing of Buddhist scenes, like two fiery dragons facing each other and five meditating Buddhas in a grotto.
It was during this ride that Rev. Billy Freeman tried to strike up a closer friendship with Ivan by inquiring into the Old Belief. One of the things that puzzled Rev. Freeman most was the strict adherence to the old style Julian calendar.
"Why is it that you Old Believers, or Old Ritualists, as I've heard others call you," said Rev. Freeman through his interpreter, "have always adhered to the old style Julian calendar? Doesn't that put you 13 days behind the rest of the world?"
"No, it doesn't," answered Ivan. "It means that the rest of the world is 13 days out of time and out of step with the mysteries of Hristos and redemption as observed by our church calendar."
The interpreter tried to keep apace with the theological discussion that was developing.
"But our World Council of Churches has tried to unite all Christian churches under the banner of the one savior, Jesus Christ," argued Rev. Freeman, "and we believe there are no real distinctions in the true Church of Christ. We are One in Christ." Rev. Freeman instantly recalled the famous axiom of John Calvin, the great reformer: "We believe that salvation can come only through the Church."
"How can we be one," stated Ivan, "when you do not observe the fast days, nor do you honor the holy image of Hristos not made with hands, nor do you wear a beard to reflect the heavenly image of God the father. Your faith is much different than ours."
"We might have different points of view on how to observe the Christian faith," responded Rev. Freeman, "but we have a freedom in Christ that frees us from the strict confines of the old law of ritual and sacrifice and gives us a new law of love and grace to live by and to be saved by."
"I have been told by my grandfather that your religion has an image of Hristos crucified on four extremities or ends," said Ivan, "whereas our faith teaches that the cross of Hristos consisted of eight ends." Ivan paused and waited for the interpreter to translate his words.
"That, no doubt, is a matter of fact," apologized Rev. Freeman. "I have been told by some local Buddhist priests that their cross the swastika, which is their symbol of enlightenment, also has eight extremities or limbs coming out of a central point. It supposedly signifies an eightfold path of the soul. But I believe that it makes no difference what kind of cross it was. What matters is the saving blood that was shed by the Son of God on that cross."
The Presbyterian minister began to feel a missionary zeal surge through his blood as he tried to convert his listener to accept the freedom of the spirit that he had experienced in his early youth. Ivan, on the other hand, became more uncomfortable as he talked with what he considered to be a pagan, in the sense that his belief or faith was not orthodox.
"Anyway, getting back to my original question," said Rev. Freeman after Ivan failed to respond to his previous statement. "Don't you think that having identical calendars would help all Christian churches to understand the unity of Christ and to show the un-Christian world that our belief in Christ is One? After all, when we celebrate the birth of Christ on December the 25th, your calendar says that it's only December the 12th, and so you wait till, what to us is, the 7th to celebrate his birth."
"That's right, you should have the same calendar as we have," answered Ivan. "As I was saying earlier, the entire mystery of Hristos is precisely timed by our church calendar, and if we observe a holyday on some other day or at another time, we would not be in conjunction and harmony with the heavenly hosts who are united with us at that time. Do you understand?"
"I think I understand," answered Rev. Freeman without any further rebuttal.
The two men rode quietly for the rest of the trip. They were poles apart from each other, and their differences seemed to be irreconcilable. One side was as far removed from the other as the north region was from the south region. Whereas one extremity was founded on the cold, harsh calculating observance of ritualistic law in order to obtain salvation, the other extremity was founded on the warm unrestricted freedom of the spirit of grace, which simply granted salvation by faith in Christ.
Two days later, on October the 1st, according to the old style Julian calendar (or October the 14th, for those who follow the new style Gregorian calendar), Ivan and his friend Vasily went to the Shaukiwan fishing village to make some money. They had been told by the World Council of churches that things would be provided for them, but the Old Believers felt insecure in a strange land without any money, and so they decided to venture out on their own. The wives of the men encouraged the men to find jobs where they could at least make a few dollars for personal needs. One of the Old Believers, Antip, who had escaped illegally from China a year previously, had several connections in town with friendly Chinamen with whom he was able to converse. Antip Svyatogorov was a strong, rebellious type of a man. He felt he was the law, and therefore, he was against all forms of man-made rules and regulations. He was stubborn in his belief that man must first of all look out for himself and for his family no matter what others said. Laws that contradicted his sense of survival and struggle for a secure existence were disobeyed and nullified without any sense of guilt or wrongdoing.
Antip Svyatogorov had discovered in China that following legal procedures was difficult, and sometimes even dangerous. As the threesome Antip, Ivan and Vasily crossed the harbor on the Star Ferry, Antip told his new friends the story of his escape from Chinese authorities.
"It was about a year ago when I found life in Kuldja simply intolerable," said Antip. "The Chinese authorities were merciless. It was also at that time when I first heard rumors about people going to America. Many of us wished to go there, but getting the legal documents to get to Hong Kong first was impossible. The Soviet consulate in Kuldja held our documents in Moscow, and it was forbidden by their authorities to help religious exiles to leave their jurisdiction. After all, as long as they had us trapped in China like wild animals in a zoo, they could round us up and carry us back to Russia. I saw them take truckloads of our people at the point of a rifle. I had a friend who was jailed for trying to contact the British consulate in Hong Kong. The Soviets, of course, had the Chinese puppets put constant pressure on our people. That's when I decided to run away.
"I had been married for less than two months and I was living with my parents, as is our custom. My wife, Evgenia, was only eighteen, and I was twenty-two. When I told my wife about my plans, she cried. It was hard for her to leave her parents. My parents were afraid for me and told me the authorities would find us and shoot us for trying to escape.
"Nevertheless, on one cold October night I hired a brave Chinese friend of mine to give me a ride into town. I remember we had just finished the church service in honor of the Protection of the Bogoroditsa (Mother of God). I also remember holding closely the ikon of the Bogoroditsa that Evgenia's parents gave us as a present on our wedding day. I had the small ikon in my coat pocket next to my heart, and throughout the entire night I kept repeating the prayer I had prayed at the night service:
"Priymi ot nas negostoynih rabov tvoikh e neene vsepetaya presvyataya Bogoroditsa, ne prestigh molyashchisya o nas nedostoynikh rabov tvoyikh, ezhe izbavitisya nam ot vsyakogo soveta lukavogo, e ot vsyakogo obstoyaniya e sohranitisya nam nevrezhdyenim ot vsyakogo yadovitogo priloga diyavolskogo: no dazhe do kontsa molitvami tvoyimi neosuzhdyonikh nas soblyudi, yako da tvoyim zastupleniyem e pomoshchiyu spasayemi, slavu, hvalu, blagodareniye e pokloneniye za vsya . . .
(Accept from us unworthy servants of yours this day our prayer, o highly-praised Holy Mother of God, and never stop praying for us unworthy servants of yours, to deliver us from every advice of the evil one and from every bad circumstance and that we remain unharmed from every poisonous attack of the devil: but even to the end keep us from judgment with your prayers, for it is with your intercession and help that we are saved; praise, glory, thanksgiving and adoration with bowing for everything . . . )
Antip was cut short by a sharp whistle from the ferry. The Star Ferry had made its short trip across the harbor, but Antip had more to relate. He waited until they walked off the pier and began walking toward Antip's friend's shop on Queen's Road Central. Antip knew his way around the Hong Kong side, and so he led the way.
"As I was saying," continued Antip, as he headed for the tall buildings in the business section, "I kept praying real hard, for I didn't know what dangers lay ahead. My Chinese friend, whom I paid well, was a professional smuggler, and he had us well hidden in his farm truck. At one point we were stopped by Soviet guards who patrolled the roads, and my heart almost burst, but we made it past them. At the train station we had to sneak past Soviet agents; our friend helped get the tickets for us. We made it safely to Shanghai, but there we were detained by Chinese officials who were suspicious of us, and they found out from Soviet officials that we were refugees. But the holy Mother protected us, and we were able to finally talk the officials into letting us go to Hong Kong."
Antip finally rounded the corner to Queen's Road Central and led the way to the shop named Hong Kong Treasures. His Chinese friend, an avid fisherman, had promised to take him to the fishing village at Shaukiwan, where he had his own sampan with a motor and plenty of fishing equipment. They would catch some fish near Stonecutter's Island and then sell the fish at one of the fish markets.
The ride on the sampan was bumpy and slow, but the view was extraordinary. The harbor was full of ships, junks, sampans, ferryboats, and every imaginable water vessel. By mid-afternoon the three men and their Chinese friend had caught enough fish around the rocks of Stonecutter's Island to make a small profit. They were ready to begin the journey back to shore when the wind in the harbor started to pick up.
"I think we're going to have a typhoon," warned the Chinese friend, pointing to the cloudy sky and the fierce wind.
The three Russians sensed danger, and Antip, in his broken Chinese that he had learned in Chinese schools, asked his friend if he was going to go to the typhoon shelter.
"I hope we make it back in time," anxiously exclaimed the Chinese friend as he put his motor on full throttle. They had been fishing on the far side of the island, and they had to cover several miles to get to the Yaumati Typhoon Shelter on the Kowloon side. "The typhoons come very fast here in Hong Kong," yelled the Chinese friend as the sampan bumped against the rising waves.
The three Russians held firmly to the sides of the sampan as the waves tossed the boat from side to side. Ivan felt his stomach churn inside and he was beginning to feel sick. Antip prayed to the Bogoroditsa (Mother of God) and to St. Nikola. Vasily clenched his teeth and peered through the slashing wind toward the typhoon shelter. Ivan kept wondering why he was in such a predicament and why the feeling of death haunted him whenever he felt sick to his stomach.
The sampan finally made its way past the causeway and into the Yaumati Typhoon Shelter, and the seasick men on board were relieved. Antip once again felt his prayers for help to the Holy Virgin had been answered. She had come to their aid and sheltered them from harm in time of storm and troubles. Ivan was throwing his lunch overboard. Vasily was holding his stomach and trying to keep the feeling of sickness from coming to the surface. The Chinese friend was smiling as he watched the three men turn pale from fear and sickness.
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Chapter 4
Beginning - Chapter 1
Copyright 1982 by Paul John Wigowsky
