2 Fearless of Death in Christ's presence

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner... Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner..." These words repeated again and again with a calm and low tone are the only sounds heard in a solitary, cold prison cell in a Soviet prison, intended for political prisoners and enemies of the Soviet state and people.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner..." The one murmuring this prayer incessantly is an old man with long white hair and beard, wearing a smal wooden cross, making anyone instinctively think of him as a devout old sage of God.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner..." But what would be noticed first by someone looking at him would be his deplorable physical state, his body so thin that his ribs are visible, and his old arms seeming as thin as dry tree branches, prompting most people to wonder when was the last time he ate.

But that's not the worst because his body is covered in marks of violence like cuts, bruises, but despite all these injuries, the old man is kneeling by his bed, praying respectfully and concentratedly as if the wounds all over his body meant nothing.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have merc—" Amidst his prayer, he hears heavy footsteps and noises coming towards his cell quickly, and soon a guard opens the cell door without caring to interrupt the old man in the middle of his prayer, illuminating the once almost entirely dark solitary cell in which the old man was imprisoned.

"Dmitri Ivanovich Kuznetsov, I am here because today, on September 27, 1937, it was declared that you and 11 other prisoners will be executed for attempted rebellion against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and our esteemed and honorable leader Joseph Stalin!" The guard, wearing a standard Soviet uniform with a pistol at his waist, declares loudly and clearly, though there is only one person he is addressing, and that person completely ignored what he said before returning to pray again.

"Get up and follow me!" The guard, hardly caring about the health or life of the old priest in front of him, grabs him by his clothes and forces him to stand up with quite brutality, despite feeling no resistance from the old priest.

"When I tell you to do something, do it immediately as you don't understand that after being beaten for so long here!" He uses the back of his rifle to strike hard at the old priest's ribs, and by the sound they make, they might have even broken one or two, but the guard cares little since the order for the priest's execution has already been given today, so his physical condition now matters little.

*Cough* *cough* The old priest coughs profusely as he struggles to grab the edge of the extremely old and worn wooden bed, which is almost falling apart, but which for him is enough to sleep on, and well, as if anyone would give him another one out of pity if he found this bed uncomfortable.

The old priest, with great difficulty and leaning on both the bed and the wall, manages to stand up after much effort, but before he can rest, he is quickly ordered by the guard to follow him, which the old priest does even though he knows he is walking towards his death; he stopped fearing death a long time ago.

And so, in extreme quietness, the old priest follows behind the guard who came to fetch him for his execution; he doesn't even try to escape or seize this opportunity to kill the guard as these ideas are completely stupid because God knows he could barely keep up with the guard's pace, who is walking slowly, so there's no chance of escape, and even if he did, he had already decided to accept his death today as a martyr.

After a little over five minutes, the guard and the old priest arrive at the door to leave the prison, which, when opened, gives a view of a vast courtyard covered in thick snow that sends a bone-chilling breeze towards the guard and the old priest who are leaving the prison and heading towards the courtyard where more guards and prisoners await.

"Cold weather, isn't it?" Dmitri says sarcastically because he grew accustomed to this cold Siberian climate, so even after old age, such cold cannot affect him anymore, but he knows that for the guard who is probably here due to some punishment, is suffering greatly from the cold, even wearing his uniform, which is supposed to be warm and protect him from the cold.

"Stop talking and keep walking if you don't want to get beaten again!" The old priest looks at the guard's back, who speaks to him irritably while threatening him, and he would surely keep his word if the old priest continued to provoke him, but Dmitri doesn't have an expression of fear or sadness; in fact, on his face, there's only a faint smile as he follows the guard quietly and obediently.

"Father Ivanovich!!! Are they going to execute you too!?" A thin young man around his twenties, wearing a bunch of rags that can hardly be called clothes, let alone suitable clothes for this cold weather, shouts in surprise when he sees Dmitri being brought to be executed too.

"Eventually, we all must meet our Lord Jesus Christ again, and I think the guards have grown tired of seeing my old face every day, my young one" he says with a calm expression, not showing any fear or sadness in his voice because of his death, but in his heart, he feels much sadness and bitterness seeing the eleven men, from young to old, lined up to be executed today.

He himself does not fear his own death at all; in fact, in his first week here, he offered to be executed in place of a young man who should have been only twenty years old at the time, but as, according to the guards, this prison needed a priest, he was not allowed to be executed in place of the young man even though that was his will, as it has been for the last seven years he has been imprisoned here.

"Father, you will be the last to be executed since you will have to give your blessings to all the executed before your turn," Nikolai Petrovich, the leader of the guards of this prison, speaks in a considerably respectful manner to the old priest, as he is still an Orthodox Christian despite being a Soviet guard responsible for this prison.

And this goes for the vast majority of the guards who are here, with only a few, like the guard who was escorting him here, being exceptions, as they are convinced atheists in the non-existence of God, and among the prisoners, until today, he has not found an atheist or someone who did not confess to him before death because he knows from his own experience that even among those who called themselves skeptics, they began to believe when facing death.

"Thank you very much; I would have asked for that if you hadn't informed me now," these words coming out of his mouth are all truths since giving the last blessing to those who will be executed is the responsibility that God has given him in this life.

"Very well, the first prisoner may come forward!" Nikolai orders as he sends a middle-aged, skinny man to confess and receive his blessings before death. The man looks at him with a complicated expression full of hatred, sadness, but also a little gratitude for Nikolai allowing them to at least confess before death because many Soviet officials do not even grant this last confession to prisoners.

But for Nikolai, although he is not a good man, he considers himself only someone who is following orders and not a sadist, and he sees no need to make these people suffer more than what is ordered by his superiors, so since it is not prohibited, he sees no problem in allowing it to happen.

"Lord, have mercy on these souls about to depart. Grant them peace and forgiveness as they face their fate. May they find solace in Your presence and eternal rest in Your mercy. Amen." He is smoking a cigarette while looking at the evening sky as he hears the old priest repeating the same prayer that he has memorized by now after hearing the old priest repeat it so many times after the prisoners confessed.

Thus, over half an hour, one by one confessed with the old priest and received God's forgiveness as well as a blessing under the gaze of the guards who waited patiently, although some were impatient, they remained silent because more than one guard has already been punished by Nikolai for trying to interrupt this last prayer for the prisoners.

But shortly after the old priest named Dmitri finished praying for the last prisoner, Nikolai ordered the first one who had confessed to step forward to the execution area, which he does with a melancholic expression as there is nothing he can do to escape with his hands tied and surrounded by twelve guards armed with rifles.

"Alexei Smirnov, for the crime of planning and attempting insurrection against the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, you are sentenced today on September 27, 1937, to death!" With a wave of his hand, all the guards who had their rifles aimed at Alexei shot at the same time, killing him quickly as his lifeless body, full of bullet holes, fell limp to the ground.

The prisoners who watched reacted with varying reactions, with some crying in despair, others trembling with fear and cold, quiet, or few with little emotion like Dmitri are standing as they faced death with an unyielding heart, while the next prisoner was called.

"Fyodor Pavlov, for the crime of planning and attempting insurrection against the government of the Union of..." The execution process of this prisoner is the same as the first, and so will be the next ones, with the only difference being the prisoner shouting "Long live the Tsar!! Glory to the Empire!!" before his death, but even this shout is something normal to hear from prisoners before death, so no one is surprised.

Thus, after repeating this process, it finally came time for the old priest, "Dmitri Ivanovich Kuznetsov..." He hears the leader of the guards calling him with a heavy voice, perhaps because after so long, he has grown attached to the priest a little or out of fear of what punishment God will give him for declaring the death of a priest, perhaps both, and even more reasons that Dmitri does not think about.

The old priest walks to the execution position, which is not filled with bodies since the guards threw the bodies into a pit soon after killing them. "Dmitri Ivanovich Kuznetsov, for the crimes of inciting insurrection, destroying portraits and statues of our wise leader Joseph Stalin, burning various copies of the communist manifesto, as well as harboring and aiding enemies of the state, you are sentenced today, on September 27, 1937, to death!" He speaks with a heavy heart as he does not want to see the death of the old priest, but there is nothing he can do as these are the orders of his superiors, so there is nothing he can do.

Dmitri looks at the guards aiming the barrels of their rifles at him, but they seem to be in great internal conflict, with some trembling from nervousness as most of these guards are Christians and are not willing to kill a priest, which is one of the reasons he is alive until today, besides they already know Dmitri for a long time with almost all of them having confessed to him, so one can imagine their hearts.

"My dear brothers, though you stand as my executioners today, I do not harbor hatred nor resentment towards you. In the eyes of God, we are all sinners, and it is not for me to judge. As I stand here, facing my fate, I offer you my forgiveness, and I pray for your souls and salvation. May the Lord grant you His mercy and guide you towards the path of righteousness. Let us all seek repentance and reconciliation, for in forgiveness lies our redemption." These are not lies or empty hypocritical words hoping that the guards will take pity on him, but they are truly his sincere emotions that after so long in this cold hell, only served to strengthen his faith as well as to make him live doing what he believes to be his purpose in this life before God until his last moments.

After Dmitri finished his speech, he sees Nikolai waving his hand before feeling his body being pierced by bullets even before he can hear the shots, making him fall with his body limp on the ground while he bleeds from three bullet holes in his body, despite having eleven guards aiming their rifles at him, most of them deliberately missed.

"Lord, into Your hands, I commend my spirit. Receive me into Your eternal kingdom, where there is no more pain or sorrow. Forgive those who have taken my life, and grant them Your mercy. May Your will be done. Amen." These are the last thoughts of Dmitri, who is bleeding on the cold and snow-covered ground of any prison yard in the vast and immense Russian Siberia. But to his dismay, he would go to another world where he would forever be known as The Prophet of Christ.