If all mankind had been righteous and only one man a sinner, Christ would have come to endure the same cross for this one man. He so loves every individual.

“With the flames of love’s fire that Jesus kindled in my heart, I caused the ice of Siberia to melt. Hallelujah!”

A fellow prisoner who was a priest in a Russian prison had betrayed Zoya. He made false accusations about her so that he could be released from prison and escape his own torture. During the trial, Zoya refused to say one word against him. She said, “When Judas betrayed Jesus, he was a treacherous man. But Jesus called him ‘friend’ in Gethsemane. Should we not learn from Christ’s example and behave like this towards those who betray us?”

A martyr is, he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom.

When Romanian poet Constantin Ioanid wrote the poem entitled, “God Exists,” he could not have known the significance his words would have in Romanian history.

Barto was on the brink of starvation. Once a Communist Party official and prosecuting attorney, he was now considered expendable by the same party. He was sentenced to labor in a Romanian prison camp. His stomach, once full, was now wasting away. He wondered how much longer he could go on.

“Our Lord commanded us to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy,” Florea calmly told the prison guards. “I cannot work on this day.”

Dear Maria, At last I am able to write to you. We arrived safely at the new camp, which is about ten miles from town. I can’t describe life here, but I thank God that I am reasonably healthy and have the strength to work. I was put to work in a machine shop with another sister whose health is very bad. I have to do the work of both of us or we will both be punished. We work twelve to thirteen hours every day, and the food is scarce. But I don’t want to complain.

The following wonderful devotion is taken from the book Extreme Devotion, which you can purchase online at the Voice of the Martyrs book store.