Five Years behind Barbed Wire

Description

Five Years Behind Barbed Wire is the first hand witness of Father Stephen Bendasz written to his family of his arrest, trial and imprisonment for the crime of being a Greek-Catholic priest during the Soviet Communist annexation of present-day Transcarpathia, Ukraine. More than the details of everyday life in the penal system of the Soviet Union, he reveals a deep, heroic and steadfast faith in Jesus Christ and his loyalty to the Greek-Catholic Church. No coercion or enticement will cause him to separate himself from communion with the Holy Father and the apostolic see of Rome. He can say with St. Paul, on account of Christ Jesus “I am suffering these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know Him in whom I have believed and am confident that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day” (2 Timothy 12:12). What a strong witness of faith and fidelity!