In The House of the Dead, Dostoevsky, the great...
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In The House of the Dead, Dostoevsky, the great Russian writer describes a Christmas day in a Siberian prison camp:
"It was a dingy little settlement among frozen wastelands. From the grim prison at one end of a single muddy street the convicts peered through barred windows at the small Cathedral on the hill at the other side of the town."
The prisoners saw others going to the Christmas services but it was not for them.
Then Dostoevsky continues: "Finally, however, when the service had ended and the worshipers had left and turned to the festivities of the day, the priest came to the prison, set up a crude altar, and began the service of worship with these words: 'Now God has come to you for this is where he lives all year long. You see, he goes to the Cathedral only on special occasions.' "
God appears not only in our moments of joy and exaltation but also in our moments of pain and suffering.
"It was a dingy little settlement among frozen wastelands. From the grim prison at one end of a single muddy street the convicts peered through barred windows at the small Cathedral on the hill at the other side of the town."
The prisoners saw others going to the Christmas services but it was not for them.
Then Dostoevsky continues: "Finally, however, when the service had ended and the worshipers had left and turned to the festivities of the day, the priest came to the prison, set up a crude altar, and began the service of worship with these words: 'Now God has come to you for this is where he lives all year long. You see, he goes to the Cathedral only on special occasions.' "
God appears not only in our moments of joy and exaltation but also in our moments of pain and suffering.
