“Freedom is Not for Idleness!”

One of the prison camps Georgi Vins was held in in the former USSR

By Pastor Georgi Vins
(Written in the Anyusha Prison Camp in the Urals, USSR, 1969)

“Freedom is Not for Idleness!”

For idleness, we don’t desire freedom,
A holy labor waits in virgin soil!
The melting, ringing song of spring is sounding
And harvest fields are rousing from their sleep.

The holy morning of Christ’s Resurrection
Fills with abundant strength and thrills our breast!
Once more the message of the Gospel’s sounding
Of Him, the One who wakens souls to life.

The persecuted churches meet with gladness!
In many eyes, there glisten tears of joy,
And to our God a gratitude, unending,
Glows with a flaming love in every heart.

My friends, I know how harsh has been the pathway
You passed along, in heavy chains for Christ!
Today you still untremblingly are willing
To walk in far-off places for the Faith.

For idleness, we don’t desire freedom!
We have been called the good news to proclaim,
To serve our people still must be our purpose,
To serve our God—our honor and delight!
April 1969