Years in the making, OCPM is excited to announce the release of its first book intended not primarily for the prison audience but for those of us on the outside. Suffer with You: Lessons on Forgiveness from Prison is a collection of four essays from people on various sides of the U.S. prison system, all approaching the theme of forgiveness. To celebrate its forthcoming publication, OCPM sat down with the editor of Suffer with You, Luke Taylor Gilstrap (also OCPM’s Annual Giving Manager), to learn more about the book.
OCPM: How did the project of Suffer with You come about? What can readers expect to find?
LTG: The idea of OCPM releasing a book on forgiveness seems obvious, but you could say Suffer with You came to us totally out of the blue and not through our own design. I’m sure that just means God had a special plan. Jayden Emerson, whom we featured in a video interview last year, had written about his journey to forgive and eventually befriend Leonard, the man who had murdered Jayden’s mother. Jayden came to us in total humility and sort of asked, “Can we do anything with this?”. When I read his story, like I’m sure you will feel once you read his story, I just couldn’t believe how God had worked through this man. Both he and Leonard’s faith and forgiveness and love for each other put me to shame. That Jayden could genuinely forgive Leonard–I can’t think of a better example of anyone putting St. Paul’s words into practice, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing, but the power of God to those being saved.” I asked Jayden if he would be open to including his story with others’ in one book together and, again, his humility transformed this project. My background is in English and Creative Writing. I’ve worked with many writers before now, but Suffer with You has been my highest honor. My faith in Christ has certainly been challenged and deepened from its authors trusting me with their stories the past three years. Please, please read this book.
OCPM: What does this book tell us about forgiveness?
LTG: Much of the theme of forgiveness came from Jayden’s initial essay, which is where the book’s title comes from, too. But more so, I think forgiveness is the strongest theme, the most visceral, literal thing anyone learns from prison ministry. Which isn’t to say the lessons on forgiveness that prison ministry teaches us are black and white. These are complicated stories. Anatolius’ essay is an especially good example of this, written from a man who
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committed his crime while serving as a church pastor. Through his writing and getting to speak with him several times throughout the book’s production, I can tell how genuine his repentance is. Again, his faith and sincerity put mine to shame. But his essay nevertheless explores how some of his loved ones may never forgive him, may never see him as a changed man. How are you supposed to live into forgiveness yourself, when people you most care about won’t forgive you? That’s the question he’s writing into.
OCPM: How would you say these essays portray people in prison?
LTG: The three narrative essays in Suffer with You are about specific people, specific circumstances. They don’t attempt to make sweeping statements about what people in prison “are like,” but especially with Mikhail’s essay, he and I did wrestle some with how the media typically portrays stories of crime. The details of his crime, as he describes it, are violent and hard to read. But this isn’t the focus of his essay. He worked very hard–and helped me understand why this was so essential–not to glory in his crime, but to glory instead in Christ’s redemption in his life afterward. Mikhail has ultimately become a healing presence for others on the prison yard, and I hope his story can educate us on just how possible this is for anyone in prison, such a complete 180-degree turn from a violent past.
OCPM: What about the last essay in Suffer with You? How does that stand apart from the other narrative essays in the book?
LTG: Once we settled on the theme of forgiveness, we wanted to go beyond only making this book about forgiveness for readers outside of prison. We wanted Suffer with You to teach people how to forgive others, and themselves for difficult circumstances in their lives. Corina Gheorgiu is a licensed marriage and family therapist with many years of experience at the crossroads between traditional Orthodox forms of healing and modern psychiatric forms of healing. Combine this with her discipleship to Mother Siluana Vlad of blessed memory, who composed a prayer rule she called “The Liturgy of Forgiveness” and in Corina you have an excellent teacher who can transport these lessons on forgiveness from our minds only down deep into our hearts, into our real lives. OCPM’s own Fr. John Kowalczyk, after serving as the prison chaplain at SCI Waymart in Pennsylvania and training students from St. Tikhon’s Seminary in prison chaplaincy at this same facility, ties The Liturgy of Forgiveness back to prison ministry explicitly, how he has seen these same processes and prayers work out in the lives of the incarcerated. If they have worked in prison, they can work for us, too.
OCPM: What is your ultimate hope for the book?
LTG: Buy this book, and read it in community. Start a book club at your church and read it together over eight weeks or so. Suffer with You would be especially impactful if your church already feels called to prison ministry, but even if that’s not yet a priority for your church, read this book. Prison ministry is essential to our lives as Christians–Christ says so Himself. Forgiveness, even just seeing people as capable of change and growth, is essential to our lives as Christians. Truly, there is something important here for everyone. You won’t walk away from the book unaffected.
Suffer with You is published by St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press. Pre-Orders are available now and the book will officially release on Bright Monday, April 13, 2026. Learn more about Suffer with You and purchase your copy at theocpm.org/sufferwithyou