Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Later Sects
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When we arrived at our destination I was again brought to the
police. Here I was asked,
“‘Why do you not fulfil your duty as a dizaski?’[1]
“‘My father does it in my place.’
“‘You must do it yourself. If not, I will teach you how.’
“I replied that I could not do it. I was then shut up in
prison together with murderers and other criminals, who were
awaiting their sentence. Among these I found in the dense
crowd amidst dirt and vermin my dear sister in Christ”
(spoken of before). “On the following day we were sent
together to another place in a cold storm—I having still to
walk with bare head and feet—marching fifteen miles, escorted
by gendarmes. Here I was again brought before the police,
and they said to me,
“‘You must go and do your duty as a dizaski.’
“‘I cannot do it.’
“‘Why?’
“‘Because I am a Christian. I cannot serve in a way that
compels me to occupy a position as policeman over my
brothers. Christ was the servant of all, and he that desires to
be a follower of Christ cannot occupy any other position than
that of a servant and a brother among brothers.’
“‘Why, we are all Christians, as many as have the Orthodox
faith.’
“‘I do not know if, and to what extent, you are a Christian.
For my own part my conscience at least tells me what a
Christian ought to be. We are Christians only so far as we follow
after Christ in our lives.’
“‘Do you make the sign of the cross?’
“‘Is that a proof of Christianity? Christ says that only
those who do His will and keep His commandments are His
true disciples.’
“The chief of the police again commanded me to perform
this official service, that they were trying to compel me to
fulfil. I refused. Then I was taken to the prison, and did not
know what was going to become of me.
“Now, judge for yourselves if it can be a Christian act on the
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