As Easter approaches, a time when Christians reflect on the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, BYU historian Jeff Hardy shines a unique light on faith forged in one of the darkest corners of modern history—the Soviet Gulag.
Hardy’s new book, Finding God in the Gulag: A History of Christianity in the Soviet Penal System, examines how imprisoned believers preserved and shared their faith in one of the most repressive environments of the 20th century. Drawing from government archives, anti-religious propaganda, letters, and memoirs, Hardy reconstructs the hidden spiritual lives of Soviet inmates.
One inmate wrote, “only in places of suffering and anguish can one observe and feel for oneself the sincerity with which prayers are raised to the Lord God out of the depths of the soul.”
Another said, “More than at any other time I understood what it means to be a new creation, born of God. Christ kept my heart at peace.”
Hardy adds, “These themes of suffering and redemption appeared frequently as imprisoned Christians tried to make sense of their trials. Often they found solace in scripture and prayer.”
Many believers found strength through worship, especially during religious holidays such as Easter. Easter for many inmates was a symbol of hope. Inmates created handmade Easter greeting cards—decorated with colored eggs and bearing the words “Christ is Risen”—that they sent to their families. Some inmates quietly celebrated Easter and Christmas with hymns, scripture, and shared devotion, drawing strength from Christ’s victory over death.
Hardy’s book recounts a moment when Ukrainian women gathered in their camp for one such secret celebration. “The girls dressed up in white, candles were lit, and dyed eggs even appeared from somewhere. They sang hymns and exchanged Easter greetings with everyone, even us,” one inmate recalls.
“I shall never forget the beauty of their singing, in four-part harmony, without music,” writes Tatyana Leschenko-Sukhomilina, a Ukrainian actress imprisoned at Vorkutinsky Camp.
Eventually, near the end of the Soviet era, authorities began to see faith not as a threat, but as a stabilizing force. During the reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev, prisoners received greater religious freedom. Some camps even invited clergy to minister and encourage moral development through Christianity.
“Christianity has always given Russians strong spiritual fulfillment,” one camp commander observes. “The need for this is especially sharp in places of deprivation of freedom, where the relations between people are seriously deformed.”
Through all of this, Hardy emphasizes that it was belief in Christ—not in political change—that ultimately grounded these inmates. Faith offered them the clarity, strength, and sense of identity that prison life attempted to erase.
“These Gulag prisoners show us how to be bold in the face of oppression, how to cherish the scriptures, how to fellowship in a spirit of love, and how to find solace in prayer,” Hardy says.
This Easter, Hardy hopes readers reflect on the same truths that sustained these prisoners—that even in darkness, Christ is the light. In a time of growing division and hardship, their stories testify that spiritual clarity and redemption come through faith in Christ.
“Regardless of which direction the political winds may blow, Christ is always there and our confidence in His love is sufficient to sustain us,” Hardy says.