Richard Wurmbrand, also known as Nicolai Ionescu (24 March 1909 – 17 February 2001) was a Romanian

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. In 1948, having become a Christian ten years before, he publicly said

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

were incompatible. Wurmbrand preached at bomb shelters and rescued Jews during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. As a result, he experienced imprisonment and torture by the then-

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, which maintained a policy of

state atheism State atheism is the incorporation of positive atheism or non-theism into political regimes. It may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments. It is a form of religion-state relationship that is usually ideologically l ...

. After serving a total of fourteen years, he was ransomed for $10,000. His colleagues in Romania urged him to leave the country and work for religious freedom from a location less personally dangerous. After spending time in Norway and England, he and his wife Sabina, who had also been imprisoned, emigrated to America and dedicated the rest of their lives to publicizing and helping Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs. He wrote more than 18 books, the most widely known being ''Tortured for Christ'' and ''Answer to Moscow's (Atheist) Bible''. Variations of his works have been translated into more than 65 languages. His son Michael operates the official Richard Wurmbrand Foundation, an Interconfessional Christian Missionary Organization, which offers his fathers books for free.

Early life

Wurmbrand, the youngest of four boys, was born in 1909 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

in a Jewish family. He lived with his family in

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for a short while, his father died when he was 9, and the Wurmbrands returned to Romania when he was 15. As an adolescent, he was sent to study

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, but returned clandestinely the following year. Pursued by Siguranţa Statului (the

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...

), he was arrested and held in Doftana prison. When returning to his mother country, Wurmbrand was already an important Comintern agent, leader, and coordinator directly paid from Moscow. Like other Romanian Communists, he was arrested several times, then sentenced and released again. He married Sabina Oster on 26 October 1936. Wurmbrand and his wife (known as Bintzea to her friends) converted to Christianity in 1938 due to the witness of Christian Wolfkes, a Romanian Christian carpenter; they joined the Anglican Church's Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ UK). Wurmbrand was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

twice—first as an Anglican, then, after

, as a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

. In 1944, when the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

occupied Romania as the first step to establishing a

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, Wurmbrand began a ministry to his Romanian countrymen and to

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

soldiers; the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

had a doctrine of

. When the government attempted to control churches, he immediately began an "underground" ministry to his people. Wurmbrand was a professor in the only Lutheran seminary in his country. Though a devout Lutheran priest, Wurmbrand was highly ecumenical in that he worked with Christians of many denominations. Wurmbrand is remembered for his courage in standing up in a gathering of church leaders and denouncing government control of the churches. He was arrested on 29 February 1948, while on his way to a Divine Service.Wurmbrand (1967), p. 35

Imprisonments

Wurmbrand, who passed through the penal facilities of Craiova,

Gherla Gherla (; hu, Szamosújvár; german: Neuschloss) is a municipiu, municipality in Cluj County, Romania (in the historical region of Transylvania). It is located from Cluj-Napoca on the river Someșul Mic, and has a population of 20,203. Three vil ...

, the Danube–Black Sea Canal, Văcăreşti prison, Malmaison,

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and ultimately

Jilava Jilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Muntenia, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava. The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin ( Bulgarian жилав ''žilav'' (tough), which passed into Romanian as '' ...

, spent three years in solitary confinement. This confinement was in a cell twelve feet underground, with no lights or windows. There was no sound because even the guards wore felt on the soles of their shoes. He later recounted that he maintained his sanity by sleeping during the day, staying awake at night, and exercising his mind and soul by composing and then delivering a sermon each night. Due to his extraordinary memory, he was able to recall more than 350 of those, a selection of which he included in his book ''With God in Solitary Confinement'', which was first published in 1969. During part of this time, he communicated with other inmates by tapping out Morse code on the wall. In this way he continued to "be sunlight" to fellow inmates rather than dwell on the lack of physical light. Wurmbrand was released from his first imprisonment in 1956, after eight and a half years. Although he was warned not to preach, he resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959 and sentenced to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured. Physical torture included mutilation, burning and being locked in a large frozen icebox. His body bore the scars of physical torture for the rest of his life. For example, he later recounted having the soles of his feet beaten until the flesh was torn off, then the next day beaten again to the bone, claiming there were not words to describe that pain. During his first imprisonment, Wurmbrand's supporters were unable to gain information about him; later they found out that a false name had been used in the prison records so that no one could trace his whereabouts. Members of the Secret police visited Sabina posing as released fellow prisoners. They claimed to have attended her husband's funeral. During his second imprisonment, his wife Sabina was given official news of his death, which she did not believe.Moise, Anutza, ''A Ransom for Wurmbrand'', Zondervan Publishing, 1972, p. 89 Sabina herself had been arrested in 1950 and spent three years in penal labour on the canal. Sabina's autobiographical account of this time is titled ''The Pastor's Wife''. Their only son, Mihai, by then a young adult, was expelled from college-level studies at three institutions because his father was a political prisoner; an attempt to obtain permission to emigrate to Norway to avoid compulsory service in the Romanian army was unsuccessful. Eventually, Wurmbrand was a recipient of an

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

in 1964. Concerned with the possibility that Wurmbrand would be forced to undergo further imprisonment, the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated with Communist authorities for his release from Romania for $10,000 (though the going rate for political prisoners was $1,900). He was convinced by underground church leaders to leave and become a voice for the persecuted church. He devoted the rest of his life to this effort, despite warnings and death threats. He was a friend of Costache Ioanid, the Romanian Christian poet.

Achievements, influence, and death

Wurmbrand travelled to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and then the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. In May 1966, he testified in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, before the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

's Internal Security Subcommittee. That testimony, in which he took off his shirt in front of TV cameras to show the scars of his torture, brought him to public attention. He became known as "The Voice of the Underground Church", doing much to publicise the persecution of Christians in Communist countries. He compiled circumstantial evidence that

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

was a Satanist. In April 1967, the Wurmbrands formed Jesus to the Communist world, later renamed

Voice of the Martyrs The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to defend the human rights of persecuted Christians. History The organization was founded in 1967 by Richard Wurmbrand, a Lutheran priest, also a Pente ...

, an

interdenominational Interdenominationalism is an evangelical Protestant movement of cooperation among various Christian denominations. History The movement has its origins in the founding of the London Missionary Society, a missionary society, in 1795 by variou ...

organisation working initially with and for persecuted Christians in Communist countries, but later expanding its activities to help persecuted believers in other places, especially in the

Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

. In 1990, he and his wife returned to Romania for the first time in 25 years. The Voice of the Martyrs opened a printing facility and bookstore in Bucharest. The new mayor of Bucharest had offered a storage space for the books under former dictator

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

's palace, where he had spent years in confinement, praying for a ministry to his homeland. Wurmbrand engaged in preaching with local ministers of nearly all denominations. Wurmbrand wrote 18 books in English and others in Romanian. His best-known book, titled ''Tortured for Christ'', was published in 1967. In several of them, he wrote very boldly and emphatically against Communism, yet he maintained a hope and compassion even for those who tortured him by "looking at men ... not as they are, but as they will be ... I could also see in our persecutors. a future Apostle Paul ... ndthe jailer in Philippi who became a convert." Wurmbrand last lived in

Palos Verdes The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the S ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He died at the age of 91 on 17 February 2001"Briefs
The World
" ''Christianity Today'' 2 April 2001: 31. General OneFile. 15 January 2010. in a hospital in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

. His wife, Sabina, had died six months earlier on 11 August 2000. In 2006, he was voted fifth among the greatest Romanians according to the '' Mari Români'' poll.

Books

*
100 Prison Meditations
' *
Alone With God: New Sermons from Solitary Confinement
' *
Answer to Half a Million Letters
' *
Answer to Moscow's (Atheist) Bible
' *''Christ in the Communist Prisons'' *
Christ On The Jewish Road
' *''From Suffering To Triumph!'' *''From The Lips Of Children'' *
If Prison Walls Could Speak
' *''If That Were Christ, Would You Give Him Your Blanket?'' *
In God's Underground
' *''Jesus (Friend to Terrorists)'' *
Marx & Satan
' ( Crossways Books, 1986)
''My Answer To The Moscow Atheists''
(

Arlington House Arlington House may refer to: *Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial *Arlington House (London) a hostel for the homeless in London, England, and one of the Rowton Houses *Arlington House, Margate, an eighteen-storey residential apartment bloc ...

, 1975) *''My Correspondence With Jesus'' *''Reaching Toward The Heights'' *
The Answer to Moscow's Bible
' *''The Oracles of God'' *''The Overcomers'' *''The Sweetest Song'' *''The Total Blessing''
''Tortured for Christ''
(1967) *''Victorious Faith'' *''With God In Solitary Confinement''

Videography

*''Tortured for Christ'' – Docudrama. *''Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand'' – documentary DVD. *''Torchlighters: The Richard Wurmbrand Story'' – animated DVD for children 8–12. *''Tortured for Christ - The Nazi Years'' – Docudrama.

References

Cited sources

*Wurmbrand, Richard (1967). ''Tortured for Christ.'' Living Sacrifice book co.

External links

The Richard Wurmbrand Foundation

Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand Facebook

Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand Official Web Page Approved by the Wurmbrands

English & Romanian Richard & Sabina Wurmbrand facebookTortured for Christ: A Celebration of Richard Wurmbrand's Life One Hundred Years After His Birth

Richard Wurmbrand
at '' Mari Români''
Richard Wurmbrand audio sermons
including some in German
Mother's Day sermon (French). May 8th 1988, Québec City Canada MP3
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wurmbrand, Richard 1909 births 2001 deaths Clergy from Bucharest 20th-century Anglican priests Christian writers Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism Inmates of Doftana prison Inmates of Gherla prison Inmates of the Danube–Black Sea Canal Romanian Anglicans Romanian anti-communist clergy Romanian Jews Romanian Lutheran clergy Romanian writers People detained by the Securitate Evangelical Anglicans American people of Romanian-Jewish descent People from Palos Verdes, California Burials at Rose Hills Memorial Park Romanian torture victims American anti-communists