I am thousands of miles away from you, separated by vast polar fields, ice, and snowstorms – how could I reach you? However, a heart full of love knows no obstacles or borders, and so at least in my thoughts, I fly over the icy tundra and expansive forests to bring you the joyful tidings of the birth of Christ and to invite you to celebrate this feast… Let us endure all pains and sufferings during this time… Here, in the midst of the frozen tundra, I would like to offer to God, for all of you, my suffering and my need. I raise my prayer to God and seek suitable words so that you, who are overflowing with unshakeable faith in the promises of Christ, the bearer of peace, may gaze upon the newborn Jesus lying in the manger, whether you find yourselves in church, at home, or anywhere else.
(Josip Card. Slipij /1892–1984/, Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishop,
arrested by the Soviet secret police in 1945, then spent 18 years in a gulag,
released in 1963 based on the intervention of John XXIII and forced into exile in Rome;
pastoral letter for Christmas 1954, which was successfully delivered from the Siberian gulag to Ukraine…)
