Josef Odvárka

“Dad writes in one of the letters: ‘Do not believe what people say.’ There were rumours in Dvůr that some weapons had been found in our house, and that we even had a radio transmitter at home. (‘I remember it, they said it in the court, and some witness claimed this, but I have never seen that man in my life,’ Mrs. Odvárková says.) Some witnesses were present in the court, but we did not know all of them. I knew that they were saying this, and dad probably knew about it, and he knew that communists were influencing the people, and he thus warned mom: ‘Do not believe what people say!”

“Dad and one more gentleman, or brother, actually – we call ourselves brothers among the believers – went to Trutnov to ask the state official for church affairs whether they would allow us to continue with our fellowship, because we were not doing anything against the state. But he told us: ‘You cannot meet alone, you need to have some leader whom we assign to you, somebody, a priest, for instance, who would monitor whether you abide by the regulations.’ But when the brothers thought about it, they concluded that this was not possible. We have our regulations in the Word of God, and we gather in accordance with the Bible. For it is written: we ought to obey God rather than men, and God is the one who teaches us how to have fellowship. Do not neglect to meet together. We need to have some gatherings, but it is also written that there should not be any leaders, or fathers, or ministers – some churches have them, but it is not right, because Jesus said that all brothers are to be equal.”