Mary visits a prisoner in the Russian Vladimir prison in 1970: "You called me, so I came!"

In Russia, Mary came to support her sons during the violent Communist persecution. Josyp Terelya was arrested at the age of 19 for his anti-communist resistance in Ukraine. During the repression unleashed by Khrushchev in 1959, he was interned in several camps. 

On February 12, 1970, Terelya was incarcerated 165 kilometers northeast of Moscow. He was in the Vladimir prison when he had his first vision of Mary: "It was in the night, as I was kneeling in prayer." He felt "an unusual warmth" flowing through his body. Being in an icy prison, he realized it was no illusion: "You must learn to forget those who persecuted you most. I'll always be with you. Peace comes only where there is justice. Pray for your enemies, no harm will come to you.""

Two years later, on February 12, 1972, he received a second vision in tragic conditions: The outside temperature was -20°C. Ice covered the walls of his cell, which let the outside air in. Without the winter clothes that had been taken from him, he was gradually becoming paralyzed by the cold and was doomed to freeze to death. 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 that it is me. But it is me. You called me in your daily prayers and I came to you." Terelya's body was now warm all at once. "You won't be leaving this prison anytime soon, you've only halfway through your imprisonment, but do not worry, for I will 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 your strength, your best strength, to ungodly ends... 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.

Excerpt from Marie de cœur à cœur by P. Jacques Ravanel, Renaissance Press