Where two or three are gathered together in my name...

Into the “strict regime camp”, where Father Arseny, unjustly imprisoned, was serving the sentence laid upon him by the communists, they brought a young man named Alexei, for whom the criminals at once found a pretext and drew him into a fight. Father Arseny, a man humble and gentle before all, stood up for Alexei and entered into the fight. He struck the knife from the criminal's hand and saved the young man from death. Alexei and Father Arseny were at once denounced to the camp commandant, who threw them into cell No. 1 — “for two days without food or drink”.

Cell No. 1 consisted of several small cages with one narrow bunk, or rather a board forty centimetres wide; the floor, the walls, the bunk — all were covered with sheets of iron. Outside the frost reached thirty degrees. The prisoners understood that the sentence was as good as death.

Father Arseny said to Alexei: “See, God has so ordered it that we should live together. It is cold, cold, Alexei; frozen iron is all around us.” “We shall freeze, Father,” groaned Alexei, “because of me we shall both freeze and die. We must move, we must jump, and that for two days and nights. I have no strength. My legs have gone numb. It is so narrow that one cannot even move. We shall die, Father Arseny, we shall die. They are not men at all! Is it not so? Men cannot do such a thing. Better that they had shot us!” The priest was silent. “Why are you silent, Father?” Alexei almost shouted. And then he heard the answer: “I am praying, Alexei! We are alone here; for two days and nights no one will come. Let us pray. For the first time the Lord has allowed me to pray aloud in the camp. Let us pray and commit all to God.” Alexei saw that the priest was crossing himself and saying something. Alexei was freezing. It had all become one to him. And suddenly he clearly heard the words which Father Arseny was speaking. He understood — it was a prayer. Alexei had been in church once, and that out of curiosity. His grandmother had once had him baptised. The family was unbelieving, or rather wholly indifferent to matters of faith. Alexei was a member of the Komsomol, a student. What faith could he have had? A few moments later the words came clearly to Alexei's ear: “O Lord God! Have mercy on us sinners. O all-merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ, for love of us Thou didst come down from heaven and wast made flesh, that Thou mightest save us. By Thy boundless mercy deliver us and have mercy on us, and turn away from us a dreadful death, for we believe in Thee, Who art our God and our Creator”... The prayer poured forth, and in every word Father Arseny spoke there could be seen a boundless love for the mercy of God, hope, trust and unshaken faith. Alexei listened to the words of the prayer. At first their meaning reached his mind dimly, but the more the frost took hold of him, the more clearly he grasped the meaning of the words of the prayer. The prayer laid hold of his soul with peace, drove fear out of his freezing heart, and bound him to the old man standing beside him — to Father Arseny.

“O Lord our God, Jesus Christ! Thou didst say with Thy most pure lips that if two or three ask together for anything, it shall be given them by My heavenly Father, for where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them”... And Alexei repeated the words of the prayer; the cold had wholly taken hold of him. Suddenly there came such moments when the cell, the frost, the numbness of the body, the pain, the fear — all vanished. Father Arseny's voice filled the whole cell. “Who can be here? Among us, who?” All around had changed. A light reigned round about, and Father Arseny, clothed in shining white vestments, with hands uplifted, was praying aloud. His vesture was just such as Alexei had seen in church upon the serving priest.

There was no cell any more; there was a church. But how had they come here, and who else was there beside them? Astonished, Alexei saw that two others, clothed in shining vesture, were assisting the priest.

Alexei stood beside Father Arseny and began to pray. Father Arseny seemed to have become one with the prayer, but the young man understood that he did not forget him either, that he was beside him all the while and helped him in the prayer. A feeling took hold of Alexei that God is, that He is now beside them; he felt, he saw God with his soul, and those two were His servants, sent to help Father Arseny.

At last Father Arseny said to him: “Enough, Alexei! Lie down, thou art weary already; I shall pray — and thou shalt hear.” Alexei lay down on the iron floor, closed his eyes and went on praying. Suddenly his mother came from somewhere. He wanted to say: “Mother, dost thou hear how Father Arseny prays? I have learned that God is. I believe in Him.” His mother answered: “My son, when they took thee, I too found the Lord, and this very thing gave me strength to live.” Lying at Father Arseny's feet, Alexei listened, forgetful of himself, to the beautiful words of the prayer. Now Father Arseny asked nothing more of the Lord, but glorified Him and gave Him thanks. How long Father Arseny's prayer lasted, no one knows.

The door bolt grated, voices were heard. Alexei opened his eyes. The blinding light was little by little fading, and at last the cell became again dark, cold and grim. The camp authorities and a doctor came in. In the cell stood an old man and a young one. Both had a calm look upon their faces; their clothes were covered with thick hoar-frost. “Alive?” asked the camp commandant in astonishment, “how did you endure two days and nights?” “Alive,” answered Father Arseny. They were searched. The astonished doctor said thoughtfully: “Astounding! How could they have survived! Indeed, they are warm!” And he asked: “With what did you keep warm?” Father Arseny answered: “With faith in God and with prayer.”