The Gates of Hell: An Untold Story of Faith and Perseverance in the Early Soviet Union
The gates of hell shall not prevail
Decimated by war, revolution, and famine, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia was in critical condition in 1921. In The Gates of Hell, Matthew Heise recounts the bravery and suffering of German-Russian Lutherans during the period between the two great world wars. These stories tell of ordinary Christians who remained faithful to death in the face of state persecution.
Christians in Russia had dark days characterized by defeat, but God preserved his church. Against all human odds, the church would outlast the man-made sandcastles of communist utopianism. The Gates of Hell is a wonderful testimony to the enduring power of God’s word, Christ’s church, and the Spirit’s faithfulness.
Praise for The Gates of Hell
The Gates of Hell helps us ... to recognize the signs of the time, so that we are not lulled by songs of the world and the devil and caught in their traps unprepared.
—V’yacheslav Horpynchuk, bishop, Ukrainian Lutheran Church
The work of Matthew Heise is a precious work not only because of historical facts and his professional approach to their understanding, but also very precious with his inclusion of testimonies of individual people in their concrete reality. They bring a quiet yet insistent call for us to remain as faithful Christians in our present times.
—Ivan El’ko, general bishop, Evangelical A.C. Church in Slovakia
- Prologue: A World in Flux
- “The Church Is Separated from the State”
- “Any Proof of Brotherly Love”
- A Powerful, Invisible Hand from the Dark
- The “Religious NEP”
- A Fir Tree with Two Peaks
- Servant in His Vineyard
- “Hold Fast What You Have”
- “Unbelievable Elasticity”
- “They Would Not See His Face Again”
- “A Declaration of a Relentless Struggle”
- “He ... Shall Think to Change the Times and the Law”
- “Faithful to Him to the Grave”
- A Somber Christmas
- The Church Is Broken
- Sheep among Wolves
- “Stand and Eat, You Still Have a Long Way to Go”
- “Stuck Deep in Snow and Ice”
- A Sad and Muddled Affair
- “Harvest of Sorrow”
- “A Martyr to the Cause”
- “A Small Crowd Armed with Courage”
- The Pulse of the Church Grows Weaker
- They Could Do No Other
- “Fellow Citizens with the Saints”
- Shadows of the Great Terror
- The NKVD Big Lie
- Blessed Are They That Suffer Persecution for Justice’s Sake
- Heroes of Faith in the Gulag
- Last Christmas in Leningrad
- Under the Watchful Eye of the NKVD
- Epilogue: The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against the Church
- Title: The Gates of Hell: An Untold Story of Faith and Perseverance in the Early Soviet Union
- Author: Matthew Heise
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2022
- Page Count: 520
- Format: Logos Digital, Hardcover
- Trim Size: 6x9
- ISBN: 9781683595953
Matthew Heise is director of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Previously, he was a missionary for the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod for over a decade, serving in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia.
