This reflection was first shared as a letter from the Executive Director of OCPM, Nicholas Petrogeorge.
Recently, I had the blessing to visit a rural prison in Virginia, alongside my priest. The prison is very far from any Orthodox church, but we made the time to visit two men, both serving life in prison, who have been studying Orthodoxy with OCPM and simply love the Lord. They both want to be officially received into the Church.
It took us several months to arrange the visit but we finally made it in. We were given a spot in a gymnasium and met for an hour and a half, just getting to know each other. Fr. Michael Pejovic, OCPM Prisoner Spiritual Support Manager, has been corresponding with them and had arranged our connection, but this was the first time either of them had ever gotten to visit with an Orthodox priest in person. Later, as we were walking out, the two men were being taken back to their pod. I overheard one of them say something to the other. “This is like a dream.” His words are still resonating with me.
Do you understand how lonely and isolating prison is? This certainly wasn’t my first time visiting a prison, and God willing it won’t be the last. But I get to leave. I walked out of the barbed wire fences and went back to my comfortable home, back to my family. They went back to their cells.
The gratitude me and my colleagues receive time and time again for simply showing up astounds me. I feel like I don’t really have that much to offer. But in the world of the incarcerated, this cannot be overstated: simply showing up and letting someone know that they are cared for is life changing. It is like a dream.
Thank you, again and again, to our volunteers and donors for making this simple act possible. Nightmares abound in prison cells, of course they do. Thank you for letting us show these men a different kind of dream, where we are all welcomed into the love of God.