Samuel read: "And the people spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here, and our soul is disgusted with this worthless food. And the Lord sent poisonous serpents against the people, which bitten the people, and many of the children of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned against the Lord and against thee; pray to the Lord that He will remove the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make thee a brass serpent and set it on the banner (that is, fasten it on the staff), and he who is bitten will look at it and live. And Moses made a brass serpent, and set it on an ensign, and when the serpent bitten a man, he looked at the brass serpent and lived" (Numbers, ch. 21, verses 5-9).

And this is what Jesus Christ says about Himself in the Gospel: "No one ascended into heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven, which is in heaven; And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John, chapter 3, verses 13-16).

"If the Lord God loved the world so much, then He also loved us," said Samuel, "and gave His only begotten Son for us, that we might not perish?"

- Truly, dear Rebbe, if we have a living and true faith in Him, we will not perish.

"But I," said Samuel, "have hitherto been in unbelief, in contempt for Christ and His Divine Gospel, I have lived in sins, in deceit... What say, brother Isaac, can I be saved?

- Open the third chapter of the Gospel of John, Samuel, from which we have just read the words of Jesus Christ about Moses and the brazen serpent, and read the words of the Lord addressed to the righteous Nicodemus, beginning with verse 17, and you will find the answer to your question.

Samuel read, "For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in Him is not judged, and he who does not believe is already condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the Only-begotten Son of God. Judgment consists in the fact that light has come into the world; but men loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil" (John, chapter 3, verses 17-19).

"You see, Samuel, 'he who believes in Him is not judged.' But in order to dispel all your doubts, I will remind you of the significant words of the Apostle Paul, who before his conversion was a cruel persecutor of Christians and was called Saul (or Saul). In his letter to Timothy, he testifies, "I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he hath counted me faithful, having appointed me to the ministry. I, who formerly was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and an offender, but was pardoned because I did so in ignorance, in unbelief; But the grace of our Lord (Jesus Christ) was revealed in me abundantly with faith and love in Christ Jesus. It is true and worthy of all acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. But for this reason I have received mercy, that Jesus Christ in me first may show all patience, as an example to those who believe in Him unto eternal life" (1 Tim., chapter 1, verses 12-16). Convincingly? I asked Rabbi Samuel.

He did not answer, but looked at me, shedding tears of tenderness...

- Listen, dear Rebbe, listen to the last amazing story from the life of the Apostle Paul. When he, together with the other Apostle Silas, was put in prison in the city of Philippi, the jailer received orders to keep a close watch on them. About midnight, Paul and Silas, praying, sang praises to God; and the prisoners listened to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison was shaken; immediately all the doors were opened, and the bonds of all were loosened. The jailer, however, awoke and saw that the prison doors were open, drew his sword and wanted to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, Do no harm to yourself, for we are all here. He demanded fire, ran into the prison, and fell down in trembling before Paul and Silas. And having brought them out, he said, My lords! What should I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and all thy household. And they preached the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house. And having taken them at that hour of the night, he washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized himself and all his household" (Acts, chapter 16, verses 25-33).

"That's enough, Brother Isaac, that's enough," Samuel said, "I don't need any more proof that the Messiah has come. My heart bears witness to me of this... There is no need for other testimonies of the Holy Scriptures to convince us that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, that Jesus Christ is the true El Gibor, Emmanuel, the true Messiah, whom our unfaithful people are waiting for in vain... I feel it. I believe and confess that He is my Savior, my Messiah, Christ. I am a follower of the Messiah, a Christian! I will be a Christian! I will die a Christian! About! Thank Thee, O my God, thank Thee, for Thou hast opened my eyes to behold the Truth, glory to Thee! From now on, I will preach Your Truth everywhere...

It is difficult to describe the joy of Brother Samuel, he kissed my hands, called me his savior, because through me he came to know the Truth. In a word, Nicholas, he experienced the same thing as I did in Corinth, where, with your help, he came to know the Messiah.

I am now making an effort to teach Brother Samuel to believe in the Lord. We study the New Testament together in Hebrew and Greek. Yesterday I visited Greek bookstores in Galata and bought John Chrysostom's discourses on the four Gospels and Epistles. These are amazing books, what spiritual power and height they have! One might think that this second saint Paul...

Samuel devotes a lot of time to prayer... He repeatedly asked me to tell you about you, brother Nicholas, because he learned that you appeared to me as a companion angel, leading me to the Messiah-Christ. I convey to you in a letter his fraternal kiss. So I am approaching the end of this long epistle... What are we going to do?.. I believe that the Lord will enlighten us. You will find out about this in subsequent letters. I thank God, who gave me a brother in faith. I'm not alone now... We are two rabbis who have become Christians. Our clothes and the covering of our heads are like those of all Jewish rabbis. And the heart?.. The Christian heart.