Page:Chertkov - Christian Martyrdom.djvu/25

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14
THE SPIRIT-WRESTLERS

bare before these persecutors the sin, the cruelty, and the folly of their acts.

Having been in a position sooner than others to know what has here been set forth, we appeal alike to Kussians and to non-Russians to help our brethren in their present sore distress, both with money offerings to relieve the sufferings of the aged, sick, and children, and by raising their voices on behalf of the persecuted.

The most important and grateful means of expressing sympathy with the persecuted, and of softening the hearts of the persecutors, would be personally to visit the victims, in order to see with one's own eyes what is being done with them now, and to make the truth about them generally known.

The expression of sympathy is dear to the Spirit-Wrestlers, because, although they do not ask for help, they yet have no greater joy than to see the manifestation of love and pity to them on the part of others—of that same love for the sake of which these martyrs are sacrificing their lives.

The making publicly known of the truth about the Spirit - Wrestlers is important, because it cannot be that the Russian State authorities really desire to exterminate these people by the inexorable demand from them of that which