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Cases that Call to
the Human Heart (Kazakhstan)
Churches in the Community Bring Practical Healing
from the Bible (Ukraine)
...and Father Fyodor's Letter of Thanks (Ukraine)
Courage Under Fire (Hungary)
New Bible Edition for All Lithuanians
Youth Centre Opens (West Bank)
'Follow Bible path' – Macedonian
President
Students Given Bibles (Turkey)
JORDAN FOCUS:
Following Jesus in the 'Days
of our Youth'
Saint in the Household of Caesar
Victor's Missionary Journeys
Praying with the Enemy
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Dominique Donzelot, a UBS
Publishing Consultant, accompanied Igor Savich, the General Secretary
of the Bible Society of Kazakhstan, and some others on a Scripture distribution
visit to an orphanage and a hospital not far from central Almaty.
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Suddenly a crowd of children erupts through the doors and encircles the visitors. They are shouting, laughing and jostling each other. They have recognised the Rev Victor Jermolev from the Almaty ‘Rainbow church’. It is Mr Jermolev who has organised this visit with the orphanage authorities.
We start with the youngest and reach the games room where some 20 four- to six-year-olds are waiting for us. In marked contrast to the drab exterior, this room is warm and friendly, well decorated and furnished.
Hardly having the time to open the box of Scriptures, Dr Igor Savich, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Kazakhstan (BSK) is surrounded by a sea of eager hands. Everyone wants one of the new BSK Portions, children’s Bible storybooks with illustrations that can be coloured in. These have been recently printed for the BSK in Kazakhstan.
As soon as they have obtained a copy they are opening them, completing the puzzles, and colouring the illustrations, when their teacher reminds them of their manners.
“Spassiba!” [“Thank you!”] they chant together, and their warmth touches our hearts. One little fellow then turns up half-dressed. He had obviously been delayed and was having trouble with his trousers. He is worried to have missed out on the occasion. Dr Savich reassures him and reaches inside the box for another Portion. A large smile makes his face radiate his gratitude – that look said it all for me.
Outside, the group of teenagers who greeted us initially is still waiting for us. Dr Savich gives each one a copy of the Selection: Turning Towards God, which has also been locally printed. There are muttered words of thanks, in English and in Russian.
Then one of them asks for a copy of the colouring-book Portion. They are all immediately enthusiastic to receive one, so attractive is the cover of this new publication.
Mr Jermolev and Dr Savich discuss the possibilities of a program that will help the Rainbow Church with its ongoing work with this and other orphanages it ministers to in suburban Almaty. Mr Jermolev would like the BSK’s support with Scriptures that can be meaningfully distributed by church members who will also follow up with the children.
There is also talk of helping prisoners and supplying Scriptures to them through visits organised by the church.
The next day a visit to the Syzganov hospital is organised. Again, the snow, which had been falling since we left the orphanage, has covered everything in pure white, hiding the poverty of the Almaty suburbs. The hospital is clean and freshly painted, but that, too, is a veneer. Poorly equipped and short of staff, the hospital relies on the professionalism and motivation of those who work there.
Vladimir Potapov, one of the doctors here, is convinced that without the support of the churches there would be much more suffering among the patients. The suggestion that we distribute some New Testaments to those patients able to read is eagerly received.
Dressed in white coats and accompanied by Dr Potapov, we move through the hospital, masquerading as medical personnel.
In the first room two colourfully-dressed women patients accept our gifts but decline to speak. In the second room there is a man suffering alone, silently. He takes the New Testament with his fingers, tentatively, recognising the name of the book but never having had the opportunity to examine its contents. Will he find in this book the answer to his questions about life?
There are three women in the next ward, talking as they would in the market, and they welcome us in and are pleased to receive New Testaments, each in their own language. The youngest of them, full of life and confidence despite her illness, leads us to her own ward. Here are more women eager to accept the New Testaments and listen to the uplifting words of Dr Savich as he encourages them to find new hope and spiritual healing in the words of the Saviour.
The same young woman enthusiastically leads us into the neighbouring ward, and as we progress we pass other doctors and nurses who welcome us and who, in turn, are offered Scriptures. Dr Potapov sees an ageing helper valiantly pushing her medicine trolley. She probably should have retired some time ago.
“Here, babushka [grandmother], here is a Gospel Portion for you. Now you can read God’s Word for yourself,” he says.
We have visited only a small number of the 300 patients. We need more resources, more Scriptures so that all of these poor people in different stages of ill health or recuperation can have access to the hope that is in the Bible. As we leave the building a young soldier is helping a woman, his mother? She is overcome with pain and has collapsed in his arms, the tears flowing down her face. He has such a look of despair! It makes me want to plead all the more with people who have the resources to help us provide the Scriptures that will do so much to comfort these poor people in central Asia. (WR 352/7 - 7/8.00)
Prepared by Maya Benediktovich
KIEV, Ukraine — In the course of serving the churches throughout the year with Scriptures, the Ukraine Bible Society (UkBS) organises a variety of visits. These visits are especially important when representatives of supporting Bible Societies are able to accompany the UkBS staff.
Last December one such visit was made with representatives from the Norwegian Bible Society. This visit included three different churches of the Orthodox faith.
The first was to a wonderful monument of architecture in the old district of Kiev known as the Podol. The Church of the Exultation of the Cross is located on a hill in the Podol, a focal point for the people for as long as can be remembered.
It was the festival of the exultation of the cross so the UkBS visit was timely. The church was overcrowded for the morning service and later the visitors were welcomed at the church's Sunday School. The children and the teachers were happy to greet the visitors, and thanked the UkBS and the UBS for the gifts of Scriptures.
“Please greet the kind children of Norway for us,” they said to Bernt Olsen, a UBS Management Advisor and his companion, Mr Knut Erik Øyri, both from the Norwegian Bible Society.
The following day the group visited the Church of St Kirill (Kirillovskaya Church) known also as the ‘hospital church’. Kiev was Christianised towards the end of the first millennium. By the 12th century there was a monastery on the site of the St Kirill Church. From the 17th century a hospital was established on the site for people with mental illnesses.
Since
the fall of communism the church has gone back to this tradition. A hospital
has been set up to treat some 2,000 patients suffering from mental problems.
Father Fyodor, the Archpriest in charge of the St Kirill Church, was awaiting
the visitors in the church and in the tradition of the church’s hospitality
he immediately invited everyone to dinner.
Unfortunately, the invitation had to be gently refused because another church visit awaited us. When Fr Fyodor saw the Scriptures we had brought he was overjoyed and made us promise to thank all those who had a part in this generous gift. We were able to visit the hospital and see some of the work done mainly by volunteers from the parish and by the priests.
The priests regularly pray with the patients, and some have been amazingly healed through this. Fr Fyodor is obviously a man with a mission from God. He is in the church almost day and night and is a shining example of a man devoted to his faith. He organises gifts of material help, food, clothes and medicines for people in need.
Some of the church volunteers who minister to patients are former patients themselves who have found healing at the church hospital and through the ministry of people like Fr Fyodor. With the gift of Bibles, he is able to bring God’s Word to the hurt and confused patients.
Alongside the hospital patients, others who will benefit from the Scriptures are the children who attend Sunday School – more than 100 divided into three age groups: seniors, school-age children, and pre-school children. The seniors follow their own program of biblical study which rises to the level of a theological seminary. Their course lasts for three years.
The believers themselves built the beautiful Bell Tower, which adjoins both the St Kiril Church and the Trapesnaya Church, a former club.
Later that day we visited the Church of St Olga, which is a brand-new church quite far from the city centre. It was built some two years ago by two devoted priests, Abbot and Archpriest Vsevolod and Father Alexander. They followed the Greek style of architecture to produce a unique building in this region.
As a young man, Fr Alexander, then a building engineer, dreamed of building such a church. Following the call to serve in the church he attended theological seminary and became a priest. He visited Greece with his architect and on arrival at Salonika they saw a church similar to the one they wanted to build.
The Church of St Olga was built in a year and a half – a record period of time. There had been a problem of finding a site on which to build. It was almost impossible to find a good location and no-one was prepared to issue the necessary permissions. The believers prayed that God would make a way for them to have a centre for worship.
Finally the chief architect of the city was prepared to grant permission for the church to be built. Carefully, he and Fr Vsevolod investigated the map of the area and found a large-enough area almost hidden by high-rise buildings. There was no church in that area but 250,000 people lived there. It was as if the plot were waiting for a church to be built.
The history of this site is also relevant. Prior to the revolution in 1917, a monk lived on this site. His house was a dugout among huge oaks and the surrounding area was a swamp. Crowds of people came to him for healing and he prayed for them. It was he who said that in the future a church would be built on that very spot and people would come from near and far for healing. This is now a reality, with people frequently coming to St Olga’s for spiritual or physical healing.
Although the church itself only holds 300 people, there are many more than that who attend. Even during winter the heavy frost does not prevent the overspill crowd of worshippers from following the service outside the building. In fact this church has become so popular that a second church is being constructed nearby. This will offer room for at least 600 people.
Another building for the Sunday School and Bible Study activities is being built opposite St Olga’s, and on the ground floor of this three-storey building will be a clinic offering medical treatment to pensioners and poor people of the parish who cannot afford the cost of a hospital.
Fr Alexander expressed his deep appreciation to the UkBS and the Norwegian Bible Society and the UBS for the gift of Bibles. He said they would be most useful in helping his parishioners deepen their faith and commitment. (WR 352/8 - 7/8.00) [PHOTOS]
KIEV, Ukraine — “Let me express on behalf of all priests and parishioners of the Church of St Kirill, our deepest gratitude for your helping us with spiritual literature, complete Bibles and Children’s Bibles.
After the revolution in the years of Soviet power the monastery was closed until recently, when the long tradition of helping the community was begun again by Abbot Fyodor. The services began in a small building that was once a club while the main 12th century church was restored. All this was achieved with the help of Metropolitan Volodimir and thanks to the donations of our parishioners.
Ours is a unique church, taking care of the mind and body as well as the soul. Our volunteers help our mental patients with food and clothing, and we are known as the hospital church.
Every day, our team of priests and lay volunteers give assistance to the patients in the mental hospital. They pray with them and for them, bring them to the church services and look after them all the time they are outside the hospital. This practice has had some wonderful results: many of the patients have begun to improve and some have made a complete recovery.
The patients are given a Bible to read when they feel well enough and on recommendation of the doctors. Up until now, some 200 patients have received Bibles, and we have others who are hoping Bibles will be made available for them.May God’s richest blessings be yours throughout this year. In love and humility.” Archpriest Fyodor (WR 352/9 - 7/8.00)
BUDAPEST, Hungary — A story of courage under fire – that’s the 50-year history of the Hungarian Bible Society, as retold at its golden anniversary celebrations.
Years of oppression under Communism failed to dim the determination of Hungarian Christians or of the Bible Society – a point made repeatedly by speakers at the Society’s annual assembly.
The Rev Wim van Galen, Deputy General Secretary of the Netherlands Bible Society, described the Hungarian Bible Society (HBS) as “the symbol of church life under Communist rule” and a unifying force within the church ever since.
But Mr van Galen also warned against complacency. He encouraged the HBS to take advantage of technological advances and European integration and broaden its horizons.
“In the East as well as in the West the process of secularisation has been strengthening,” he said. “The way our children and grandchildren think has already changed.
“We have to be able to renew the teaching tools of the Bible continuously, both in churches and schools. We have to draw the future generation’s attention towards the importance of the Bible.”
The HBS was established in 1949. Kálmán Tarr, its General Secretary, spoke of the debt of gratitude his organisation owed to its predecessors – from the early pioneer Gáspár Károli, who translated the first complete Hungarian Bible in 1590, to the British and Foreign Bible Society, which produced Hungarian Bibles from 1873 to the mid-1940s.
Over the past 50 years, the HBS has published and distributed almost 1,370,000 Károli Bibles alone. HBS President Bishop Béla Harmati said every achievement was thanks only to God’s help and blessing.
“We can stand in the presence of God without any pride, silently and gratefully remembering those who accomplished this work,” he said.And, as it embarks on its next half-century, the ambitions of the Bible Society remain undiminished.
Donations received in 1999 will be spent distributing 2,000 large-print Old Testaments to visually-impaired people in member churches. Two hundred sets of the Old Testament on audio cassette will also be sent out.
A ‘polyglot’ (multi-language) edition of Luke’s Gospel, with three Roman Catholic and three Protestant translations, will be produced in collaboration with the Hungarian Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference. A Selection, Bible Manual and a Bible Reading Guide are also in the pipeline.
The HBS is currently working with a film company to make the entire Bible available on video. The plan is for the Bible text, supplied by the HBS, to accompany the film in a section of the screen. This should ultimately be available online.
It also plans soon to extend its reach to Sub-Carpathia, Voivodina, Croatia and Slovenia, distributing 3,000 copies of the Károli Bible to these areas. (WR 352/10 - 7/8.00)
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VILNIUS, Lithuania —
The new translation of the Bible into Lithuanian, which has been in the
final stages of preparation for some time, has now been produced by the
Bible Society here. The first interconfessional translation of the Bible
in Lithuanian was printed in Finland and released in Lithuania at the
end of last year. “Initially, we printed only 3,000 copies, a small
print-run to launch the new version. We have ordered a much bigger print-run
from Korea and these Scriptures will be available for distribution later
this year,” said Dr Mykolas Mikalajunas, Executive Director of the
Bible Society of Lithuania. |
‘Follow
Bible path’ – SKOPJE, Macedonia — The President of Macedonia, Boris Trajkovski, has advocated the use of the Bible for guidance in the political arena. The 43-year-old president, a lay pastor in the United Methodist church, quoted from the Bible during his inauguration speech last December, drawing wisdom from Micah 6:8 and Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Formerly holding the position of foreign minister, Mr Trajkovski had considerable involvement with the Kosovo crisis which overspilled into Macedonia in the form of tens of thousands of refugees. He declared that this is a “time for healing and for building peace.” (WR 352/IB10 - 7/8.00) e-99 |
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BIR ZEIT, West Bank — A Bible resource centre for students and young people opened here on May 15 through a venture between the Palestinian Bible Society and the Bir Zeit Roman Catholic Church. Funded through the UBS Opportunity 21 program, the Bir Zeit Living Stones Student Centre offers a multi-media approach to the Bible, and includes a library, a bookshop, an art and culture section, a café and reading area and a computer and Internet section, which is still under development. (WR 352/IB9 - 7/8.00) e-97 |
ISTANBUL, Turkey — In April the Bible Society of Turkey got an appeal from the Theology Faculty of Kocaeli University in Izmit asking for Bibles for 300 students who had suffered losses in the earthquakes last year. The dean was also concerned about how much the Society might charge, because the students were all poor. General Secretary Ameniel Bagdas reassured him about the Society’s terms of operation and within two days the Bibles were on their way. "The Dean was very happy," said Mr Bagdas. (WR 352/IB11 - 7/8.00) e-100 |
| JORDAN FOCUS |
AMMAN,
Jordan — “Young people are searching everywhere
in all sorts of places to find happiness, thinking that they have plenty of
time to find God when they get older. But the Bible tells us not to forsake
our Lord in the days of our youth.”
This is the firm belief of Tecatyana Lansour, a 23-year-old engineering student attending university in Amman. Ms Lansour began to search for meaning at a young age when, despite being brought up in a Muslim culture, she found herself drawn to Christian teachings.
Her family were alarmed at her spiritual leanings and tried to discourage her. But throughout her teens she continued to feel a pull towards the Bible. It was only later, however, at a Christian summer camp, that she made a firm commitment to God.
Since then, Ms Lansour, like Jesus himself, has taken great comfort in the Scriptures, finding them a source of strength, guidance and delight. But being a Christian is not an easy option in Jordan, and sharing the Gospel with students and other young people is particularly challenging.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m under a microscope and everything is being watched,” said Ms Lansour, who is part of the Good News team – a group that visits youth clubs and churches, sharing the Bible’s message. When she shares her love of the Bible with people at college, she often encounters hostility and opposition.
“Sometimes people come to ask questions about the Bible in order to start an argument,” she said. “They shout at you and give you a hard time, and that can be really difficult.
“But often they are surprised by what they hear – they are amazed that Jesus did not end up on the cross, but was raised from the dead. When people realise that the Lord we worship is alive, it really brings them hope.”
As the young people of Jordan are increasingly exposed to western culture, Ms Lansour strongly feels that they need the Bible’s guidance. And, she says, more and more of them are becoming curious about the Bible and the story of Jesus.
“Many young people are beginning to say: ‘Maybe I’ve gone the wrong way – even though I am still young it is better to know him now because I can enjoy years with him.’” (WR 352/11 - 7/8.00) [PHOTOS]
AMMAN,
Jordan — As one of the few Christians working
in Jordanian television, Paul Hijazin finds his job presenting for the English-language
television news to be a constant challenge – but also a great privilege
and responsibility.
Jordan is a mainly Muslim country and for many members of its Christian minority, seeing a Christian on their television screens provides a feeling of security. As for Paul, he finds that the challenges of working to tight daily deadlines, and often in delicate circumstances, makes his faith more robust.
“My faith is a relationship with God,” he says. “I communicate through my daily life, my words, my thoughts and prayers, and he communicates through the world around me and through the Bible.”
An ethical society, Jordan sets store by family life and likewise expects honest and trustworthy reporting from its television, radio and press. This is in accordance with Paul’s Christian morality. With Middle East developments being watched so closely by the world’s media, he tries to learn from more experienced journalists yet resists the cynicism and immorality which characterises so many of them.
Aware that Israel needs the Gospel as much as his homeland does, Paul reads the Bible to find Jesus, not to seek offence at the many references to Israel. Although his life and work in the gaze of the television camera are one form of witness, he places great hope in the increasing availability of Bibles as a developing witness for Christ.
“I believe the Bible is God’s ‘love letter’ to humanity, and now more and more this letter is available to all Jordanians,” he says. “This printed message can go where I cannot.” (WR 352/12 - 7/8.00) [PHOTOS]
AMMAN, Jordan — “Jesus said, ‘Feed the hungry’, and now God is sending a hunger for the Gospel,” says Victor, an itinerant evangelist. All over the Middle East, he finds a hunger for the Bible and this is what makes him continue his ministry.
Based in the Jordanian capital Amman, he has now pursued his international evangelistic ministry for 12 years. In a central location, Jordan makes an excellent base for the work: from here he and a team of fellow workers travel throughout the Middle East, and to North Africa and India, taking with them Bibles in the local languages supplied by Bible Societies.
He is, he says, successful in his work and he has a firm idea why: at the same time as raising funds to pay for his work, he is raising prayer support.
“Success in my work doesn’t happen just because someone wants to be polite to me but because people are on their knees supporting me with their prayers,” he says. “In the Arab world I don’t think we get anywhere without prayer.”
Working as an evangelist gives Victor the chance to bring good out of almost any situation. A crisis, he says, opens up a country to outsiders who can be there when the people start to look around for answers.
One such country is Sudan, which has had its own special problems for many years. Recently Victor was there to take part in a mission.
Open evangelism is permitted and up to 25,000 people attended. Each night between 800 and 2,500 of them made commitments to follow Christ.
“In a country like Sudan which has so many troubles, I believe, as the Bible says, that the devil is out ‘roaring like a lion’ and seeking to destroy lives,” he says. That is why he takes Bibles with him on his journeys.
“The devil goes out to kill and destroy; Jesus goes out to build and to bring life. That is what the Church is doing through Bible distribution. I take lots of Bibles wherever I go – that’s number one for me,” he says. In his experience it is in Iraq where the hunger for the Gospel is most acute.
“In northern Iraq I was helping a local official with something and he asked why I was doing it. So I told him about Jesus by paraphrasing some verses of Scripture for him. He asked where those few sentences came from and I told him they were from the New Testament.
“‘Is that still in existence?’ he asked. ‘I thought when Jesus left he took the Bible with him and it was the only copy.’”
It has been shown so often – in Iraq especially – that a simple act of neighbourly love to someone in need can have a profound effect. Such caring is so different from the prevailing culture that people are curious to discover what it is that drives someone to show such care.
Victor is convinced that providing Bibles is a way to meet the spiritual hunger he encounters in the Middle East, but he has an emphatic message for those further afield.
“Pray against the discouragement of Christian peoples because that is the number-one enemy in the Arabic-speaking world,” he says. “Everything around us shouts in our faces, ‘Be discouraged!’ The Bible tells us we need to be encouraged and we can take encouragement from people standing with us.
“The picture I see is one of Paul who was stoned and left for dead. The Bible says the brethren surrounded him and he got up and went throughout Asia Minor preaching, teaching, evangelising and appointing elders. And I believe we need people around the world to surround us with prayer, to visit us, to stand with us in training and to provide finances for Bible students.” (WR 352/13 - 7/8.00)
AMMAN, Jordan — It was with nervous anticipation that Nabila Ahoury arrived at the Women’s Christian Conference. She usually looked forward to these events, but this one was different – Israeli Christians would be participating.
As
she entered the hall she looked around for the Israelis whom she, and many others,
regard as enemies of the Palestinian nation. Seeing them sitting together in
a group, she turned away and went to sit with her Jordanian friends.
The atmosphere in the hall was tense. Delegates from both sides avoided eye contact with each other and tried not to face up to the difficult and conflicting emotions that they were feeling.
It was only later that day, when the women gathered together in worship, that Ms Ahoury allowed herself to feel anything but contempt for these Jewish Christians. Across the room full of singing and worshipping believers, she noticed that one of the Israeli women was sitting in a corner, weeping bitterly.
Her long-standing hatred for the Jews prevented her from going to the woman straight away. However, she felt God speaking to her about forgiveness, and after much soul-searching she went to comfort and pray with her enemy.
“I knew Jesus had changed my life so he must have changed hers too,” she said. This broke the ice at the conference. Ms Ahoury and her new friend were asked to speak about how God had brought them together and challenged their opinions of each other. This encouraged the other participants to put aside their prejudices and reach out to each other.
By the end of the conference many of the delegates who had come from Jordan and Israel parted as friends in Christ. In fact, Ms Ahoury agreed to give the Israeli women a lift to the bus stop at the end of the conference.
But resolutions made in the comfortable surrounds of a Christian conference are more difficult to put into practice outside, where long-held political hatreds and prejudices have formed the way people think and feel.
Ms Ahoury discovered this as she stood with the Israeli women in a shop near the bus station. They were speaking Hebrew – a hated language in Jordan.
She realised that she needed to carry the forgiveness and reconciliation she had found during the conference into every aspect of her life, including her political beliefs.
Today, although Ms Ahoury still has strong political views, her priority is to seek the forgiveness and reconciliation that Christ taught. Instead of seeing all Israelis as her enemies, she now regards anyone who believes in Christ as her brother or sister. (WR 352/14 - 7/8.00) [PHOTOS]