Our parishioner, Nicholas Ivanovich Barnatny, died on September 3 (1987) aged 75. During the last week of his life, Nikolai Ivanovich received the Mystery of the Holy Communion several times. Soon after his death, a note was discovered which he had written shortly before dying. As this note contains profound thoughts on the meaning of life and death, which came to the mind of the dying man literally on the threshold between the two worlds, I should like to share the contents of this wonderful note with our readers.
"To live without Christ is perhaps possible, but to die without Christ is something truly frightening. I know my life is drawing to a close; I have just lived through death. It was actual death. I sank almost completely into that darkness through which no light penetrates. And at this point, after receiving communion, I felt, without even seeing it I actually felt, the light -- the light of Christ. And then I felt relief. I write this as my final lines since really there is nothing more to say. To write of my own gradual dying is boring. For myself I know that a miracle has taken place. My closeness to death has finally made of me a Christian. I shall die with Christ. This is the miracle, and with this I conclude my notes."