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Vancouver, B.C.
Unless a grain of wheat dies

Ruth Toews

It all began on October 26, 1919 – a date which became known as the “Night of Terror” to the inhabitants of the small Mennonite village of Eichenfeld in southern Ukraine. The horrors of that day and night became indelibly etched on the hearts and minds of all who survived its atrocities, and it has affected their descendants in ways that may never be fully know.

Horses and wagons could be heard approaching. The Machnowze (followers of the anarchist leader Machno) were streaming into the village to pillage, vandalize, murder and destroy. That night, a “commission of death” went from door to door. By morning, 83 villagers, almost all males, had been brutally murdered.

Heinrich Kornelius Heinrichs, aged 42, became the first fatality. He was survived by his wife and 10 children. Maria, his daughter, was only 15 when she witnessed the horrific events. Miraculously, the family escaped and later immigrated to Canada. En route, Maria met her future husband, John Toews. Maria carried the scars of that day throughout her life. But what she focused on was not the savagery of the murderers, but her father’s last thoughts and words as he faced certain death.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:9-10: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Does that mean even when facing death by murder? Heinrich must have believed that as he addressed the bloodthirsty bandits. Looking at his would-be murderers, he made one request. Could he pray before he died? The request was granted. Heinrich knelt beside the farmyard well and prayed that his family would be able to forgive his murderer and that the Lord would protect them from harm and evil. And then the shot rang out.

But the story does not end there. Arthur Toews, grandson of Heinrich Heinrichs, in his family genealogy wrote: “The family later carried his body into the house, and this may have saved the life of 19-year-old Cornelius.” It is believed that Cornelius was the only male over the age of 15 who escaped death in the village that day, as he hid under the table on which his dead father lay. The Machnowze, however bloodthirsty, were also very superstitious. They had no hesitation in taking a man‘s life but hesitated to walk into a room where a dead man lay. Later that night, when the “commission of death” went from house to house, it did not stay very long when the members saw the body. The prayer of Heinrich Heinrichs had had immediate results. He had protected his family in death as he could never have done in life.

Years later, at the urging of her older son Arthur, Maria Toews related the events of that October day to her six-year-old son Sig. She wisely omitted the graphic details and spoke without bitterness of the cruel death of her father, focusing primarily on his prayer for forgiveness and blessing. Her story and her tears impacted her impressionable young son deeply.

Nathan Toews in a grainfield in southern Manitoba in August 1998

Almost 50 years later, the lesson is still fresh on his mind: We must forgive even in the face of injustice. Maria’s attitude continues to influence her descendants. She was known as a woman of peace, gentleness, kindness and generosity.

But that is not the end of the story. In July 1999, 80 years after the death of Heinrich Heinrichs, his 26-year-old great-grandson, Nathan Toews, also went to be with the Lord. Nathan quietly slipped into the Lord’s presence while swimming in the company of friends. It came at a time when it seemed life was about as good as it had ever been for Nathan. His life had been difficult and turbulent, but finally it seemed that the battles had been won as he made choices that included making Jesus the Lord of his life. His last thoughts and words while camping with friends were those of a song by DC Talk:

The disease of self runs through my blood
It’s a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control.
I wanna be in the Light
As You are in the Light
I wanna shine like the stars in the Heavens
0 Lord, be my Light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the Light

But that, too, is not the end of the story.

John 12: 24 says: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Only the Lord knew how Sarah Elliot, a 22-year-old missionary to Gypsy orphans in Ukraine, would be impacted by the life and death of Nathan Toews. Sara had never met Nathan but had learned of this story through friends. Police in Ukraine sweep the streets at night, gather up orphan children aged 2-18, shave their heads, give them one set of clothes and place them in a large cement room called the “isolation” at an orphanage. There they must remain for one month before they are let into the regular part of the orphanage, and there Sarah ministers to them.

In a recent letter, Sarah wrote: “I am over my head so many times, and I need God. . . . He has always remained faithful and has filled my mouth with words that are not my own. Only He sees (the hearts of the orphans) and what they need. There are some boys who are very tough, and I never know what to say. One of them . . . got burned (while being robbed in a park). . . . One day, we were walking along and I could only think of Nathan Toews’s testimony. They surprisingly listened as I shared what God did and how (Nathan) longed to live in the light of Jesus. The boys’ eyes were wide, and a light came on. They identified with Nathan‘s life. I sang his song for them. . . . Every time I see them, they sit around while I sing it. They want to hear about him. God amazes me. He chose to have Nathan with Him, but He still is using him powerfully. It was as if Nathan was there sharing his passion with them. I thought about what Nathan would do with them, and I was convicted to get them Bibles. . . . Bibles . . . are hard to come across, but these boys want them. God works in ways beyond our own” (Isaiah 55:8).

In 1919 a humble farmer prayed for his fellow countrymen and protection for his family. Today God is using the death of his great-grandson to bring life to Ukrainian youths. Is it remotely possible that those youths are descendants of the murderers of Heinrich Heinrichs? We can only speculate, but we do know that God works in ways beyond our own.

Ruth Toews and her husband Sig live in North Vancouver, B.C. They are Nathan Toews’s parents.

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Last modified March 28, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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