[…] a person must be in the religious search not for the sake of religious experiences, which can deceive, but for the sake of truth.
At the same time that the Gulag reveals the evil in man’s nature, it is also the starting point for a man’s spiritual rebirth.
The right approach is found in the heart which tries to humble itself and simply knows that it is suffering, and that there somehow exists a higher truth which not only can help this suffering, but can bring it into a totally different dimension. This passing from suffering to transcendent reality reflects the life of Christ, Who went to His suffering on the Cross, endured the most horrible and shameful type of death, and then, totally to the consternation of His own disciples, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sent His Holy Spirit and began the whole history of His Church.