Everyone was tired, it was already late, and Nadezhda Petrovna began to distribute who would go to bed where. Father Arseny said: Daniel will sleep in my room, go and get a mattress. One of the doctors who treated Fr. Arseny said: I beg both of you, do not talk all night, because each of you is tired and sick. Daniil Matveyevich laughed and said: My dear, the doctors have given me more than one month to live, and Fr. Arseny will outlive me by many years, and he hugged this woman. It was obvious that Daniil Matveyevich was pleased that he would sleep in the same room with the priest.

We parted, I slept with Lena and three women on hay mattresses for the night. We got up early, read prayers, were in a good mood, stood for the liturgy in the priest's room, and took communion. For some reason, Father Arseny asked Lena and me to stay one more day. Lena and I walked through the museums of the city in the afternoon and in the evening gathered again in the dining room. Dinner was over, there were common, probably interesting conversations for everyone. Father Arseny, sitting in an armchair, silently fingered his rosary, the powerful voice of Daniil Matveyevich buzzed like thunder, I felt surprisingly comfortable and good in this atmosphere.

I don't remember, but someone present turned to Daniil Matveevich with a request to tell about his life and meeting with Fr. Arseny. For some time, Daniil Matveyevich denied and was apparently dissatisfied with the request, but after a pause and gathering his thoughts, he began to speak.

All of the above is my path to God. A geologist by profession, Doctor of Science, laureate of state prizes for the discovery of valuable deposits, he traveled all over Siberia and the Far East. I successfully worked in geological parties, the employees were good, friendly, and this is the main thing in our work. It was 1951, a new party organizer was sent to our geo-party. A so-so peasant, not visible, unpleasant, arrogant, rude, he does not understand geology, but he has a huge opinion of himself, and he put his importance in our geoparty above the chief geologist of the region. He considered us to be human material that he had to educate, re-educate, and so on. Some of us were indignant: an illiterate person teaches. At the beginning of the story, I mentioned my titles only so that you understand, I understand in geology, I wrote a number of major works. Well, he said: You are an illiterate mediocrity, you do not understand anything in our work, and you give instructions to me, a doctor of science, a laureate. The first was taken by Seryogin, then three more, I was arrested in Yakutia and brought to Moscow, to the Lubyanka.

I will not talk about interrogations, beatings, tortures. I will say that I was handcuffed during all interrogations, the investigators were afraid of my hands and my strength. Three conveyor belt interrogations took place, each for three days, six investigators interrogated continuously. He spent many days in punishment cells of various types, but did not sign a confession. They said a saboteur, a spy, sold wholesale and retail to foreign intelligence services data on explored deposits. He was sentenced to death, shot, deprived of all awards and titles, but then sent to die in a high-security camp. The sentence of execution was not canceled, which meant that during the cleansing of the camp I could be shot at any moment. The same thing happened with Fr. Arseny.

I was brought up in a believing family, my mother Arina (Irina) Leonidovna believed deeply and was a great woman of prayer. She put faith in God in me. But I unwound it in my wanderings in Siberia and the Far East, although a little faith lived in me. Sitting in prison, I remembered almost all the prayers, and when they tortured me, I grit my teeth and read the Lord's Prayer incessantly. What was strange and angered the investigators in the Lubyanka was that neither punishment cells nor torture changed my appearance, I was still healthy, huge, strong.

I got into a special one. I remember that they drove us in a convoy, frosty, wet, tired we entered the barracks. The criminals rushed to take away everything they could from those who came. They silently give it away. They leaned into me, I said: Don't touch me! Where is it, they climb. Well, I mutilated three of them, knocked out someone's teeth, injured someone's arm. They came at me with sharpeners (homemade knives made of files, rims and other things), but I beat them all. He began to enjoy respect, no one else climbed, but twice they tried to kill with an axe at work. I was on guard, and some of them became disabled for life. There was no denunciation against me, the camp was special, punks were not kept in it, and the big thieves had their own laws on denunciation and honor. Although sometimes they inform, they can kill their own people for it.

I was assigned to a logging brigade: loggers, branch cutters, whippers, loaders and others. The foreman and Fr. Arseny assigned me to cut down trees. Word for word, we made friends with him. I learned that the priest and the monk had interesting conversations, and I began to think about God, in my soul there was faith in Him, instilled by my mother.

In winter, in December, the brigade felled wood. From the camp to the forest we had to walk three kilometers through snowdrifts; You get there, you are exhausted, wet with sweat, although it is 20 degrees below zero, the guards are dragging behind you angrily. You make a fire for them and start felling the forest. This is a delicate, jewelry matter; We had an axe and a two-handed saw in our hands, we did not have chainsaws then. The forest is mast-shaped, slender, high, the bark of the trunk is beautiful, you used to saw it and you feel sorry for it, it is alive.

Три, четыре сосны свалили, стали валить пятую. Подпилили, подрубили все как надо, определили, куда упадет, крикнули, чтобы отошли. Последний подпил и подруб сделали и ждем, когда упадет. Подул ветер, дерево стало падать не туда, куда рассчитывали, а на нас. Бросился в сторону и зацепился за старый пень, упал; вижу придавит меня, а о. Арсений стоит, не бежит. Кричу: Беги! Мне-то уже конец. Знаете, как срубленное дерево падает? Сперва раздается треск хлыста (ствола), отрывающегося от остающегося пня, и в звуке этом слышатся отголоски плача. Потом, наклонившись, задевая ветки стоящих деревьев, ствол зловеще скрипит и, падая на землю, издает глубокий вздох, смешивающийся с треском ломающихся ветвей, переходящий в протяжный стон, и затем комель (конец спила) прижимается к земле, раздавливая все, что попадает под него. Понял, погибаю. Комель сосны взвился над моей головой. Отец Арсений, перекрестившись, толкнул его руками в сторону. Ветки сосны еще ломались от падения, но комель лежал в двух метрах от меня. Я встал верующим человеком, увидевшим чудо, настоящее чудо [5]. Увидел Бога и без оглядки пошел за о. Арсением. И вспомнил до мельчайших подробностей то, чему учила мать. Так я обрел Бога.

Чудо было настолько явным, что все, находившиеся около падения дерева, удивлялись, как мог человек оттолкнуть дерево весом в несколько тонн. Кто-то из зеков, помню, перекрестился.

Вспоминаю другой случай (хотя с человеком не бывает случайностей, все определяется волей Божией). Заключенные-уголовники отбирали у врагов народа пайку миску с баландой и кашу. Один или два раза при раздаче пищи я видел, что у о. Арсения отобрали пайку и обед. Решил отучить уголовников-зеков и стал следить за о. Арсением, когда он подойдет к раздаче. Подошел уголовник Холодов жестокий и подлый человек, за ним стоял о. Арсений. Получив свою порцию, Холодов не отходил и ждал, когда обед получит о. Арсений. Схватил его миску, пайку и хотел переложить к себе. Здесь-то я и решил схватить уголовника и остолбенел. Отец Арсений спокойно отстранил его руку и, смотря в глаза Холодову, сказал: Оставьте, идите с Богом, не делайте этого больше. Жестокий, наглый Холодов, никого не боявшийся в нашем бараке, сжался и смущенно ушел. Моя помощь была не нужна. Я понял, о. Арсений не беззащитен, с ним Бог, и Он охраняет и защищает его.

Даниил Матвеевич закончил воспоминания. Я смотрела на него, и мне чудилось, что у этого большого, живого по натуре, подвижного человека лицо все время менялось. То оно становилось улыбающимся, радостным, оживленным, то, когда он замолкал и на него никто не смотрел, появлялось облако грусти и глубокого страдания, которое исчезало только тогда, когда с ним начинали разговаривать. Видимо, глубокое горе и боль жили в его душе.

С особой любовью и тревогой смотрел на Даниила Матвеевича о. Арсений, видимо, что-то беспокоило батюшку, чувствовалась глубокая забота и желание помочь ему.