Truth Archive

Until February, 1976 every meeting held in Greece was considered illegal. The Greek Orthodox was the state church, which made it part of the government. So when the workers had meetings different than the Greek Orthodox, they were arrested on the grounds of undermining the government. Of all the workers in Greece, only two younger workers had never been in jail. All the others had been. George Manetas had spent eight years in jail, altogether.

But in Feb. 1976, Anton Koutsarelis received a summons to appear in court. He couldn’t figure out what they’d done to receive a court summons. When he walked in, there were three judges sitting on the other side of the table just as they always did, and a person would have to stand at attention and receive the sentence of the judge.

Anton received a surprise this time when one said to him, “Have a chair”, smiling. He said, “We’ve found out the Greek Orthodox Church has been giving us the wrong impression of your church. They had told us you were working underground against the government. But a while back we were talking together and came to the conclusion that these ministers aren’t that kind of people. We investigated your workers for six weeks. We’ve found out that your people are a real credit to Greece and we’re not going to interfere anymore.”

That summer Anton came to England for conventions. I was there too. The workers asked me if I’d go, together with Anton, to Greece to spend a little time there. They hadn’t had any outside contact for a long time. Our first stop was at Thessalonica, a city 2,600 years old. Its walls are as solid as when built. But the homes have all been replaced. They’re made of adobe bricks that only last a short while, so you couldn’t tell where the synagogue was where Paul and Silas preached.

But you know it was through the gates of this city, and up and down the streets that the first workers trod, and where that mini-mission was worked: only three Sabbaths, but a little church established, and there’s still a nice little church in Thessalonica. We had meetings there Wednesday and Thursday evenings as all are working and not free during the day.

Then we went on to Corinth and visited the saints. It is a city built about two miles back from the sea, to have protection from the enemy which always came from the sea. The home of Priscilla and Aquila still stands. And the marketplace. I had always wondered how they could preach the Gospel in such a place of noise and confusion. But it’s a big flat stone, with about a 10’ X 4’ platform. From this place the town crier gave the news, morning and evening; any message from the governor, etc. Anyone could use that, meantime. It is still standing.

From this platform, Paul preached the Gospel to the Corinthians.

The conversion of the Corinthians was the most impressive of all, maybe…such a background they had, but they became a model church.

I stepped up on that platform, just to see what advantage one would have….and when I got home one of the younger brothers asked me if I preached a sermon from there. “I surely didn’t”, I said, “You don’t feel like you can say a word. You realize, ‘It happened right here’ and it is a very solemnizing thing”.

Achaia is a little above Corinth. We read of the time the work started there. It still is one of the most fruitful places. Then we went to Athens, and saw Mars Hill. I had pictured Mars Hill as a little theater-type place where people gathered to hear some new thing. But it is a big granite boulder, the size of a building; and on top stood the Supreme court of Greece. It was so severe that all cases were realized at night. The judges didn’t want to be influenced by any emotion or pity. It’s gone now, but in Athens there is a new court and the cases are still tried at night, in the dark. Socrates, before Paul’s day, had also said that only a living God could help the people, and he was tried and done away with. They thought they would do the same with Paul. But the chief-of-court, Dionysius, and also notable women, believed in Paul and in Christ, and so they realized, we can’t do away with Paul, when the court is believing in him…but when they said “We will hear thee again”, they really meant, “We’ll get you yet”. That explains why he left by night, that night. He stayed at Corinth for 18 months. God kept him there until it was safe to go back to Athens.

In the Greek Orthodox, there is no such thing as a Prodigal. If you leave the church you can never go back. If parents know of any children going to leave the church, their duty is to put them to death, and they’ll go to heaven. Several of our workers escaped death from the hands of their parents. One of these is Demetrius. As a youth, he went to Athens to work, and each weekend when he went home, he would tell of the meetings he was attending. At first, they were happy, because at least they knew he wasn’t running the streets. But one Sunday, having dinner, he told his folks he was going to profess. His father got up quickly, ran into the bedroom to get something, and Demetrius knew he had to act quickly. He saw his Father take the revolver out of the drawer. Demetrius took it from him and said, “Come back to the table. I want to tell you about this faith. Afterward, I will give you the gun, and you can do what you like. He talked to them for about an hour about this truth and what it meant to him. Then he said, “Here is your gun”. His father looked at Demetrius, and then at the gun, went and put it away…came back, and said, “Demetrius, you’re dead” (because he almost was dead). “Leave right away and don’t ever come back”. He left so glad to be alive. Two weeks later, there was a letter from his mother. She said “I can’t stop thinking about that wonderful church you told about. Do you think some of the workers could come and study with me?” So, twice a week the two workers went to study with her, and eventually she made her choice. The father got so angry he was ready to shoot every worker in Greece! But a while later he said to her, “If I went to those meetings, do you think I could get what you have?” He also professed, and had been baptized a little while before I got there. It could well have been a disaster.

There are many cases like this, where the parents wanted to destroy the children. Usually, each time the workers were sentenced to prison, someone got saved. One day, they were at a little Sunday morning meeting…two brothers and two sisters, with the saints. At this time the meetings were still unlawful. The officers came in the middle of the meeting and the four workers were each sentenced to one year of jail.

But the sisters found an audience ready to listen in jail. There is no entertainment in Greek prisons, so it meant much to them to hear something like this…the Truth. At the same time, the two brothers were doing the same. The authorities realized they were not punishing them – they were giving them a congregation! So they set them free after three months. When they were released, they found that the treasurer of the court had been so impressed with their testimony that while the workers were in prison he had gone to look up the home from which they had been taken and now he was already professing!

One of our friends, a contractor, built a large home with a big upper room. Anton said to him two years before (“76), “Why this huge room?” He replied, “I have faith to believe that someday we’re going to have Special Meetings here.” We had it while I was there. There were 202 adults present. His faith was justified.

One time when Anton was to be whipped for having baptized someone, a priest gave money to the judges to have the privilege of doing the whipping. He would have beaten Anton to death. The two of them were taken off in a van to the warden. But when the warden saw the papers, he said, “There is something wrong here. I’m the one who does the whipping here”. The priest made such a fuss he was put out. The warden said, “Is it true that all you did was baptize one person? This is a crime against society…to do this to an old man like you, just because you have helped someone.” He went, and chose the smallest whip, drew it gently across Anton’s back, so that he felt no pain and it didn’t leave a mark. But it was such a traumatic experience that it left Anton spent, and he had to spend a few days in bed. We’re so grateful his life was saved. He was a very special overseer.

Anton said he felt that the Greek workers had a privilege few others have, in proving that this truth of God hadn’t lost any of its power with the passing of years…..in the lives of the same Greek people, in the same Greek cities. Instead of the work dying out in Greece, it has prospered.

There is a nice church in Thessalonica, and in Beria…13 Sunday morning meetings in Athens. All had professed with the possibility of losing their lives. It’s thrilling to see the young people. Several have gone into the work – others will follow in the future.

Once, John Kocaletes was arrested for preaching a gospel different than the Greek Orthodox. He was sentenced to serve a month on the Island of Crete, a most embarrassing sentence, because it’s where the criminals are sent. The clerk, filling out the papers for him to take there, said, “The next time we see you will be through the bars”. John went, and had one month of Special Meetings with the 3 saints on the Isle of Crete, a wonderful time. When John came back, there was a different clerk in court. “Where’s the other?” he asked. “Oh, he got a little careless with the court funds and now he is serving a sentence in prison on the top floor”. John went up to see him. “You’re quite a prophet. You told me the next time we’d meet it would be through bars!”

Two years ago, there was an election in the country. We like the old government, and hoped they’d get back in. But another party won. The first thing they did was sever all connection between the Orthodox church and the government. So now the church can’t interfere. So now we have Conventions each year in Athens and on Crete. Workers have prayed for this for years.

The thing that impressed me most listening to their testimonies was that there was no doubt but what the Lord was standing by them in every experience and He will stand by us, too. They’re worthy of our fervent prayer.

David J Bement (sister irene was a well known California worker)