Father Arseny

"Not greasy, not greasy," said the investigator, looking at me attentively. Do you have a mother, a father? Answered: Yes. The investigator's face was tired, his eyes were inflamed, apparently he had been systematically deprived of sleep.

What am I going to do with you? Twenty-four years old, my eldest daughter was, you went to church, prayed, and when it was closed, you began to pray in groups, and sometimes priests serve Mass at home, since two of them are still hiding somewhere. Your group of eight people looked in the folder and called out the names and surnames. They almost always gathered at Shvyreva's, less often at Slonimskaya's, do you confirm? I was silent. "Listen, Iya," said the investigator, "admit it or not, your sentence is guaranteed. I prayed, perhaps my lips were moving, or my inner experience was reflected on my face, but the investigator's face became soft, benevolent, and as if lit up. The new method of investigation, I thought, speaks softly, and then it will beat. But the investigator was still looking at me thoughtfully. I continued to pray.

The investigator stood up, came up to me and said with a hint of sadness: "You're praying! All of you pray during interrogations, I know. Well! Say, "Do you pray, and of course you are afraid of me?"

And I said, "I pray and I'm afraid of you." Suddenly, I felt that his hand gently stroked my head. What is this? I thought, and I shrunk, expecting a blow, a slap in the face, but an amazing thing happened, taking my face with his hands, looking intently into my eyes, said: Don't be afraid, not all investigators beat, and went to the table.

It's up to you, Iya, rubbish! You have been assigned eight years in the camp in advance, look, the head of the department wrote: A measure of restraint for all those arrested for eight years in the camp for religious anti-Soviet activities, and I saw a sheet of paper with the text pinned with a paper clip, which the investigator read: Forget about what I told you and showed you," I nodded my head. What are we going to do? Think with whom you are fighting against the OGPU; You are dilettantes, you want to hide, to conceal, you create fake conspiracy, you are lone handicraftsmen, and you are opposed by a huge apparatus, well-coordinated, technically armed, with unlimited human reserves, our people work in your midst, believers at the same time, but with the soul of frightened hares. We really know everything, or almost everything. Eh! Ahh Ahh You are children, and we have a tough, assembled device.

You think I want to deceive, to get a confession and bring you to the camp, and you will think about it in the cell. Why am I telling you? I feel sorry for you, still a girl, you look like your daughter Zinaida, who died. Let's figure out what I'm going to do with you. There's no need to go to the camp, you'll be lost, you'll be muzzled, you'll be raped, you'll be lost. The investigator pondered, I prayed to the Mother of God, asking her to avert his intrigues from me, I did not believe a single word he said. I thought it was a simple trick during the interrogation, but I didn't understand what he wanted.

Here's what I'm going to do: I'll split your case from the general note of my superiors and let you go on a separate case, without a group, that's three years of deportation, my dear, and not a camp with criminals and work in rafting timber. I look at you and see you don't believe it, and I wouldn't believe it if I were you. Conversations are conversations, but the interrogation protocol must be written. Sit and pray, and I'll write.

He probably wrote for about an hour, occasionally raising his head and looking at me, his face was tired, weary, benevolent, and at the same time the face of a courageous man. I couldn't help thinking: Why is he behaving so strangely with me, because he is a beast, probably a beast, since he works as an investigator, his behavior is hypocritical and mean.

Read! And he handed me the record of the interrogation, I read it carefully. As far as I remember, it read: The accused (perhaps not the accused, but the person under investigation now, I don't remember exactly) testified that she was a sectarian believer, had religious literature at home, which was confiscated, expressed her religious views in the papers found, the total number of documents seized..., the protocol was long, the main thing was remembered, it was drawn up according to the question-answer type, there was no mention of the community and the group. The questions and answers were invented by the investigator and, like the protocol, were of a general nature. I read it and said: Are the Gospels and letters religious documents?

According to this protocol, in the general faceless mass of the defendants, you will be given a general list to sign, no one will notice anything, now there are mass arrests. I got it?

Of course, she understood and signed her testimony. "Listen," said the investigator, "I forgot to introduce myself, your case is being handled by investigator Vladimir Pavlovich Vasilenko, the defendant must remember the name of the person in charge of his case. In three days he will be transferred to Butyrskaya, for the second interrogation I will be summoned on the twelfth day, it is impossible to conduct less than two interrogations. Go, girl, with God, don't talk your tongue, he has brought many people to us. Trust people, but remember: there are many scoundrels around us. I will allow food and clothing parcels, observe yourself in prison, you are young, everything in life will work out.

I left the investigator, and the thoughts were in my head: Strange person, doesn't he catch me? On the third day, she was transferred to Butyrki, received a food parcel and clothing, on the twelfth day she was summoned at night for interrogation to Vasilenko, he greeted her affably, asked if she had settled in prison, and began to write a second interrogation protocol: Last time I told you everything, sit and be silent, and, of course, you will pray. I wrote the minutes for a long time, suddenly the door opened without knocking, I understood by the footsteps, several people came in, sitting with their backs to the door.

Vasilenko jumped up, shouted to me: "Stand up!" and quietly reported to the counter: "Investigator Vasilenko, comrade, reports, and then names a high rank for OGPU workers, interrogates the sectarian Khokhlova, the investigation ends, the necessary testimony has been obtained, material evidence exposing her activities has been attached to the case.

The commanding voice said: Do you use the necessary encouragement to speed up the investigation?