Love Never Fails

The authorities put forth special effort to separate families of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Often the security services endeavored to confront Witnesses with this choice: God or family. In most cases, however, Jehovah’s people proved their loyalty to Jehovah despite even the most severe trials.

Hanna Bokoch from Transcarpathia, whose husband, Nutsu, was arrested because of his zealous preaching, recalls: “During his stay in prison, my husband endured numerous malicious insults. He spent six months in solitary confinement, without any bed, having only one chair. He was brutally beaten and deprived of food. In a few months, he grew very thin and weighed only 80 pounds [36 kg], half of his normal weight.”

His faithful wife was left alone with their young daughter. The authorities pressured Brother Bokoch to compromise his faith and cooperate with them. He was asked to choose between his family and death. Brother Bokoch did not betray his beliefs and remained faithful to Jehovah and His organization. He spent 11 years in prisons, and after his release, he continued to carry out his Christian activity as an elder and later as a circuit overseer till his death in 1988. He often derived strength from the words of Psalm 91:2: “I will say to Jehovah: ‘You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God, in whom I will trust.’”

Consider another example of great endurance. Yurii Popsha was a traveling overseer in Transcarpathia. Ten days after his wedding, he was arrested. Instead of going on his honeymoon, he spent ten years in prison in Mordvinia, Russia. His faithful wife, Mariya, visited him 14 times, each time traveling approximately 900 miles [1,500 km] each way. Presently, Brother Popsha serves as an elder in one of the local congregations in Transcarpathia, and his beloved Mariya faithfully and lovingly supports him.

Yet another example of endurance under hardship is that of a married couple, Oleksii and Lydia Kurdas, who lived in the city of Zaporozh’ye. In March 1958 they were arrested, 17 days after the birth of their daughter, Halyna. Fourteen others were also arrested in the area. Brother Kurdas was sentenced to 25 years in prison camps, and his wife was sentenced to 10 years. They were separated​—Oleksii was sent to camps in Mordvinia, and Lydia, with their little daughter, to Siberia.

Here is how Sister Kurdas describes the three-week journey from Ukraine to Siberia: “It was terrible. There were my daughter and me; Nadiya Vyshniak, with her baby who had been born just a few days before in prison during the inquest; and two other sisters. All six of us were put in a boxcar cell designed to transport only two prisoners. We laid our children in the bottom berth, and we sat crouched in the upper berth for the whole journey. We lived on bread, salted herring, and water. Food was provided only for four adult prisoners. We did not get any food for our children.

“When we arrived at our destination, I was placed in the prison hospital with my baby. I met several sisters there and told them that the investigator had threatened to take my daughter away and send her to an orphanage. Somehow, the sisters managed to inform the local brothers in Siberia about my plight. Later, Tamara Buriak (now Ravliuk), who was 18 years old, came to the camp hospital to take my daughter, Halyna. It was the first time that I saw Tamara. It was very painful to give away my beloved little girl to a person whom I had never met before, even though she was my spiritual sister. However, I was greatly comforted when sisters in the camp told me about the loyalty of the Buriak family. My baby daughter was five months and 18 days old when I gave her into Tamara’s care. It was not until seven years later that I was reunited with my daughter!

“In 1959 a new amnesty was proclaimed by the U.S.S.R. It applied to women who had children under seven years of age. But the prison authorities told me that I had to renounce my faith first. I did not agree to this and thus had to remain in the prison camp.”

Brother Kurdas was released in 1968, at 43 years of age. Altogether, he served 15 years in prison for the truth, including 8 years in a special closed prison. Finally, he returned to Ukraine, to his wife and daughter. Their family was reunited at last. Meeting her father, Halyna sat on his lap and said: “Daddy! I couldn’t sit on your lap for many years, so now I will make up for lost time.”

Afterward, the Kurdas family moved from one place to another, since the authorities kept expelling them from their place of dwelling. First they lived in eastern Ukraine, then in western Georgia, and in Ciscaucasia. Eventually, they moved to Kharkov, where they still happily live. Halyna is now married. All of them faithfully continue to serve their God, Jehovah.

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An Interview With Lydia Bzovi

Born: 1937

Baptized: 1955

Profile: Exiled 1949-65.

As a teenager, I found it very painful not to have Father with us. We loved our father, as most children do. I did not get to say good-bye to him. Ivan and I did not see him go. We were in the field harvesting millet.

When we came in from the field, Mother said that Father had been arrested. I felt a sense of emptiness, a sense of hurt. But there was no panic, no hatred. This was something that was to be expected. We were constantly reminded of Jesus’ words: “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20) We learned this verse quite early in life. We knew it as well as we did the model prayer. We also knew that since we were no part of this world, the world would have no love for us. What the authorities were doing, they were doing because of their ignorance.

While under Romanian authority in Moldavia, Father knew that his case could be defended in court. We were allowed to come to court. This was a very happy day for us.

Father gave a wonderful witness. No one was interested in listening to the prosecutor’s charges, but with mouth agape everyone listened to Father’s testimony. He spoke for an hour and 40 minutes in vindication of the truth. He gave a very clear and understandable witness. Court workers had tears in their eyes.

We were proud that Father was able to testify in court, to defend the truth publicly. We did not feel any despair.

Note: In 1943, German authorities arrested Sister Bzovi’s parents and sentenced them to 25 years in prison for allegedly cooperating with the Soviets. Within a year, Soviet troops arrived and released them. Following that, Soviet authorities themselves arrested her father. Altogether he spent 20 years in prisons.

[Blurb]

We loved our father, as most children do. I did not get to say good-bye to him