Murder and Miracle Bring Russian Poet to Christ

“My ministry is to write poems about God,” says Tatiana Nizhelskaya, a former atheist.

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Her mother’s miraculous escape from a deadly attack convinced Tatiana Nizhelskaya that life held a greater purpose than the Soviet Union government’s call to build communism.

But it took another two decades before she learned about the seventh-day Sabbath — and she had to stand bravely before the congregation of her Sunday-keeping church to explain why she had decided to become a Seventh-day Adventist.

Tatiana stuck to her faith, however, and today writes Christian poetry for adults and children. The author of 11 books, she regularly reads her poetry in Adventist churches in her hometown of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia and the surrounding region.

“My ministry is to write poems about God and to read them in church,” Tatiana, 53, said in an interview in Rostov-on-Don, a city of 1.1 million people on the Don River. “Every poem directs people to faith and God.”

Tatiana was born into a highly educated family of atheists. Her father was fluent in 15 languages and taught at a local university. Her mother was a medical doctor and HIV researcher at a scientific institute. Tatiana and her mother both received degrees from the department of atheism at Marxism-Leninism University.

“I did not know God,” Tatiana said. “They taught us in the university that God does not exist. I thought that the purpose of life was to build communism.”

But Tatiana began to think about God when unknown assailants broke into her family’s country house at night. They killed her father, looted the home, and set fire to the family car.

Tatiana’s mother should have been at the house when the attack occurred.

“My father and mother were traveling to the country house together. But halfway there, mother remembered that she had forgotten to turn off the iron at home and returned to town,” Tatiana said.

Back at home, the mother found that the iron was cold. She had not left it on. But she didn’t feel well and decided to stay home.

“God saved her,” Tatiana said.

The shock of her father’s death caused Tatiana to realize that death could come at any time. She began to think that life was more than building communism, and she turned to the Bible for answers.

Several years passed. Tatiana briefly married and had a daughter.

Then in 1995, a missionary family from Canada moved next door, and Tatiana started worshipping with them. She attended their church for years.

Then three years ago, she met some Adventist missionaries.

“They invited us to their home, told us about the Sabbath, and loved us,” she said.

When Tatiana’s mother had a stroke, the Adventists prayed and visited her.

“Through their friendship and patience I understood that I needed to join the Adventist Church,” Tatiana said.

Tatiana also had been studying the Bible and had become convicted about the seventh-day Sabbath. But it was difficult to leave her church.

“I could not take the last step,” Tatiana said. “I was worried about how I would tell the pastor that I was leaving. We had been friends for 20 years. I was afraid that people would judge me and call me a traitor.”

As her Adventist friends prayed, Tatiana finally decided to announce her decision to her pastor. But his response surprised her. The pastor accepted the news calmly and asked her to stand in front of the congregation the next Sunday to explain her decision.

About 100 people listened as Tatiana nervously spoke on Sunday.

“It was very scary for me,” she said. “I told them what I had learned about the Sabbath and said I wanted to keep all 10 commandments.”

She was relieved to find that no one condemned her. Afterward, church members shook her hand and said, “Thank you for your courage.”

Tatiana remains friends with those church members and hopes that they will worship with her one day. She also hopes that her daughter and two grandchildren, who live in the United States, will be baptized. They were unhappy with her decision to join the Adventist Church.

“They called me a traitor at first,” she said. “But I think they will eventually learn the truth. I especially want my grandchildren to know the truth.”

Tatiana, who now works as a private tutor, finds comfort in the growing faith of her mother, now 76. The mother observes the Sabbath, and the two read Adventist books together. Whenever Tatiana writes a new poem about God, her mother is the first to read it.

“She is my first reviewer,” Tatiana said. “We are very close.”

Tatiana hopes that closeness will last for eternity.

Part of the Thirteen Sabbath Offering in fourth quarter 2017 will go for a community center of influence in Tatiana Nizhelskaya’s home city of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.