With a little help from my friends...

My limited Alexandr Solzhenitsyn collection. The Gulag Trilogy on the left, followed by "The Oak and the Calf" and "Invisible Allies". These two books could be labelled as "The Rest of the Story". They deal with the unsung heroes, the unnamed allies who sacrificed as much or more than Solzhenitsyn himself so that his works could be published.

Nov 6, 2012 Natalya Solzhenitsyn meets with Pres. Putin

50 years after One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich saw the light of day. Natalya Solzhenitsyn said the special commemorative edition includes One Day and readers’ letters to the magazine Novy Mir, which published it. The magazine kept these letters, many of which were addressed simply to “Ivan Denisovich,” for 50 years. Natalya Solzhenitsyn spoke simply and to the point:

“The reason to publish these books is to preserve our collective memory. It’s a remedy for memory loss, which is a weak person’s, a weak society’s and a weak state’s disease.”

This entry began when I saved an obituary for Galina Vishnevskaya, Dec. 11, 2012

MOSCOW — World- ­renowned Russian opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya, who with her husband ­defied the Soviet regime to give shelter to writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn and suffered exile from her homeland, died Tuesday at 86...

...Mrs. Vishnevskaya and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich married in 1955, frequently performed ­together, and used their star status in the Soviet Union to help friends in trouble. In the most notable example of their defiance of the Communist authorities, they sheltered Solzhenitsyn at their country home for several years as he faced official reprisals...

...After Solzhenitsyn was expelled, Mrs. Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich left the ­Soviet Union in 1974. They lived in Paris and then Washington and were stripped of their Soviet citizenship in 1978...

For a hauntingly beautiful example of their talent:

The compelling rightness of a noble cause captures a heart. When it captures many hearts, an historic milestone is around the corner. Altruism at its most altruistic. What happened to that combination: genuine talent, first-class citizens of the world, fame committed to basic human rights and freedom of expression? Who today, at the top of their artistic or academic career, would harbour an unknown Solzhenitsyn for several uncertain years in a repressive regime?

So much of what passes for fame today is a shameful caricature of what should be done by those who find themselves with a wider sphere of influence. Losers with money, prostituting their God-given talents for disgustingly self-serving ends.

And how many more, completely unknown to us today, risked everything because of the rightness of a cause? Collectively, look at what they accomplished!

Yes, I feel an analogy coming on.

There are noble causes, and there is the noblest cause. What does our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ really look like? How deeply committed are we to co-laborers who live and die to carry the message beyond and deeper? And what the depth our compassion for the souls that God intends for them to reach?

“For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and [there are] many adversaries.” (1Co 16:9)

I thought Solzhenitsyn's enemies would have prevailed early on; yet he died of old age. Only God Himself kept the likes of the Apostle Paul alive serving as long as they did. Yet, none of these people managed to accomplish what they did without an entourage. No single victory came easily or without sacrifice: rather like swimming upstream in the Spring while each hour brings a rise in the water level cascading toward you with seemingly overpowering force.

But what if we were truly committed to this one passion? What if our collective efforts were truly concerted?

"In the early centuries after the apostle Paul made his massive footprint, no central figure can be credited for single-handedly furthering the cause of the faith. Evangelism was considered the work of every Christian, and anonymity was in many ways a positive attribute. An apostle Paul would have been an easy target, but tens of thousands of nameless evangelists were easily lost in the crowd." (Parade of Faith by Ruth A. Tucker. Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Location 1331-32)

“Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,

that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,

I joy, and rejoice with you all.” (Php 2:16-17)

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