The last advent
The Last Advent is a novel by the German writer Edzard Schaper , published in 1949. It deals with the crisis of the Church in the 20th century and the persecution of Christians in the Stalinist Soviet Union .
content
On Easter vigil in 1931, the dome of the Russian Orthodox Church in Port Juminda in Estonia collapsed and killed 11 people, including the priest. As if by a miracle, the deacon Sabbas, walking next to him, remains unharmed. Sabbas came from Russia and had fought against the Bolsheviks during the revolution , but then resignedly settled in Estonia and dedicated himself to church service. In the midst of an environment hostile to Russia and largely left alone with their problems by the church leadership, Sabba's deacon of the small congregation in Juminda, whose church had serious structural defects. There was no money for the repair and at the latest when Sabbas was seriously injured by a falling stone, he knew about the danger. And all of a sudden the dilapidated church in Port Juminda could appear to him as nothing more than a parable for the church in general. The rotten beams, the weathered binding, the rotten frames that no longer held the glass of the dome - didn't he find all of that in his church? Much more ominous in the spiritual body of Christ than in the earthly, perishable building in which faith has its home? Did he not see how nationality quarrels ate away the pillars of faith with his mission to all peoples? Did he not see how vain presumption obscured the light of hierarchical grace? Didn't the inadequacy of the priests collapse under the weight of the lofty duties they had assumed, and plunge anyone who sought support from them into the spiritual death of desperate nihilism? He had done nothing and now he feels his guilt for the misfortune.
In his deep personal crisis, Sabbas withdraws to a monastery in the south of the country to become a monk. He is sick in body and soul, life is just a burden to him that he would like to get rid of. But then he decided to cross the border into the Soviet Union and preach the gospel to the people there. He is ordained a priest and with nothing but what he wears crosses the border that is considered insurmountable. Since a forest fire is raging, which distracts the guards' attention, he manages to pass through the fire by pulling the fire roller over him, pressed close to a watercourse. He neither knows where his path will lead him nor what to expect in the isolated country, does not know whom to trust, and also has no papers with which he could legitimize himself in the event of an inspection. At first fearful avoiding every path and every person, he meets, exhausted and hungry, a road worker who still knows the old faith. From him, Sabbas learns that there are still eleven believers in Babylon and instructs him on where to find them and how to recognize them.
He is taken in secret by a married couple and hides. The precautionary measures that Sabbas and the believers must take in order not to be discovered by the authorities are very extensive. No one can go directly to another and they must not be seen together, since no one knows if, by whom and when one is being observed. So Sabbas always sits in the dark in his modest accommodation so that nobody notices that someone is living there. In this atmosphere of total surveillance and the constant fear of being discovered, Sabbas gets to know not only his hosts, but also a former teacher, a young teacher and the former priest Feofan, who is no longer allowed to practice his profession and is specially monitored. Sabbas gives them the sacraments and holds secret devotions in secret rooms. He is like a saint to the spiritually starved. He stays in that place now.
Suddenly he notices someone who seems to be following him, and indeed after a while an agent approaches him. It is Ilya, the son of the priest of Port Juminda, who had renounced the Church a long time ago and is in the service of the communists. But Sabbas soon realizes that Ilya does not want to arrest him, but that on the contrary, he is even helping him to maintain his disguise. Ilya loves Duschka, the young teacher who lives in the same house as him. It takes a while for everyone to trust each other and be sure not to be betrayed. Sabbas has no choice but to wait and see whether he will be arrested or not, since he now knows that his existence is known. A young worker contacts him and asks him to come and see him and some of his colleagues. You had questions and wanted to talk to him. Aware that this is a risky undertaking, he complies with the request and, after initial skepticism, apparently finds approval among the people. Ilya gives the deacon, as he is still called despite his ordination, false papers.
After a while, Ilya notices that he is apparently being monitored, that someone must have been in his room. His supervisor instructs him to check that the neighboring town is all right, where some workers are said to refuse to work on Sundays. Ilya already suspects that his colleagues are targeting him. Since there is a connection between the workers and Sabbas, Ilya tries to downplay the matter. After all, he is alone and has the authority to act as he sees fit. He therefore presents the matter in such a way that the truth is that there are disagreements between the accusing officials who are trying to divert attention from their unsuccessfulness. It is the time when one suspects Trotskyist conspiracies everywhere.
When Ilya is sure that something is going against him at his authority, he warns Sabbas and tells him and the others to flee. In dramatic and fearful hours he hides Sabbas in a hole in the ground in an open field. He blames himself. Is it his fault that he put the others in danger? It is winter; there is absolute darkness in the cave and the deacon is seriously ill. After he and the others have also entered the cave and they want to receive the sacrament down there, trembling, they are arrested by Ilya's colleagues.
The GPU does not know who Sabbas actually is and where he comes from. One wants to find out through interrogation and torture, but everyone is silent and asserts that they do not know. The half dead Sabbas is kept alive by a doctor. After seemingly endless days for the prisoners, the interrogator promises the former priest Feofan, who has a wife and children, the freedom if he tells him this. Feofan is locked in the same cell with Sabbas and Feofan asks him to release him from his promise not to reveal Sabbas' identity. Sabbas does this in order to at least save him and reminds him that he is free to preach the gospel. In agony of conscience, Feofan makes his testimony, in which he asserts that he has only now found out who he is in Sabbas' cell. He must also undertake to report anything that contradicts official regulations as an informant, and will then be released. It's Christmas Day right now.
About the book
The novel is typical of Edzard Schaper, who already dealt with a similar topic in 1936 with the book "Die dying Kirche". Already there it is about the collapsing church of Port Juminda and its priest Seraphim. Even living in Estonia for many years, he was familiar with the problem. The decidedly Christian author had to flee from the Soviets himself, who had sentenced him to death. The novel was written in his new homeland, Switzerland, where he had lived since 1947, and was the first major work of his after he had not written anything during the war. Two years after the book was published, the Protestant Schaper joined the Catholic Church. The intention of the novel, namely to make the martyrdom of the Christians persecuted by the Bolsheviks visible, is expressed in the following words of the author from his essay The Martyrdom of Lies :
“Since the Bolshevik Revolution broke out in 1917, the Christian world of the West has largely dispensed with the effect of the martyr example. Millions died silent and invisible. Bolshevism, more and more perfect from year to year, knew how to guard the silence and invisibility of the victims it devoured, so that their example would not gain power. "
expenditure
- Edzard Schaper: The last Advent . Atlantis-Verlag, Freiburg, 1949
- Edzard Schaper: The last Advent . Hegner, Cologne and Olten, 1953
- Edzard Schaper: The last Advent . Fischer library, Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, 1953
Translations
Dutch
- Edzard Schaper: Advent in Russia . Translation by Frans van Oldenburg Ermke. Romen, Roermond 1953
Spanish
- Edzard Schaper: Adviento en Rusia . Translation by Carlos F. Greaves. Lohlé, Buenos Aires 1953