"You called me, so I came" (II)

Two years later, on February 12, 1972, Josyp had a second apparition in a tragic time: "The outside temperature was -20°C. Ice covered the walls of his cell, which had no windows. He was doomed to freeze to death. Without the winter clothes that had been taken from him, he was gradually becoming paralyzed from the cold. Suddenly, he felt a warmth spreading through the room: "I felt the touch of a woman's hand." He opened his eyes and saw the Virgin Mary. She said to him: "You called me, so I came (...). You don't believe it's me. But it is me. You called me in your daily prayers and I came to you."

Josyp's felt warm immediately. "You won't be leaving this prison anytime soon, you've only come halfway, but don't worry, because I'll always be with you. You still have many years of prison and suffering ahead of you (...)." Mary continued: "The Ukrainians will also have to repent. You are an unfortunate people because you have little love for one another. You devote the best of your strength to ungodly purposes... Pray and work for the conversion of Russia to Christ the King. Do not lose your faith. The world is cold and soulless as before the Flood" (Yves Chiron, op. cit., p. 281 ff.).

As Mary had told him, Josyp Terelya was released in 1976, imprisoned again a year later and finally released on February 5, 1987. Obviously, for the KGB, he was a case of religious fanaticism. Eventually, Gorbachev's Perestroika gave him and other visionaries the right to reintegrate society, enabling them to dedicate their life to prayer for the conversion of Russia.

Fr. Jacques Ravanel,  Marie de cœur à cœur, published by Renaissance Press (excerpt)