We invite you on a journey through some memorable moments of Andrey Yakovlevich Prokopchuk’s 104 years of life.
"The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me." Psalm 16:6 (NASB).
A.Y. Prokopchuk was born in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha on October 1, 1912. He recently celebrated his 104th birthday. Looking back, he says his life’s journey took him to wonderful places, all because he dedicated his life to God as a young man. Praise God that Andrey Yakovlevich continues to live his life with a cheerful and joyous spirit. During our visit, we asked him to tell us about the most memorable and inspiring moments of his life.
Please share your testimony with us.
I was born into an orthodox family. My parents had four sons. My mother was very religious, but my father, a skeptic by nature, did not trust the Orthodox clergy. My father was a forester in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Sometimes, Tsar Nicholas II would come with his entourage to hunt, and my father even had the opportunity to shake his hand. In 1914, World War I began. During that time, my father was commissioned to the front line, and my mother left to Moscow with my brothers and me.
My mother taught us good manners, encouraged us to study well, be obedient, do our chores, and to not fight with one another. She took us to the zoo and the movies. Her greatest desire was for us to grow up educated and productive members of society. When my father was discharged from the army, he joined us and began working at a railway station. It wasn’t long until he was ordered to join the Communist Party or leave his job. My father decided to quit and return home to the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, moving us into a small village that consisted of a few houses. One day, a man who everybody called “Baptist” visited the village. He organized a small group of people interested in reading the Bible and learning to sing Christian hymns. My mother and older brothers were among the group members, but my father and I were not. However, my father had a deep desire to know the truth, and he later turned to the Lord to receive forgiveness from sin and became a new creature in Christ. Soon, the very first group of believers was baptized, among them were my parents and two brothers. After their baptism, my brothers began visiting villages where they had previously organized dance clubs for young people. This time, instead of dancing, they would preach the Gospel. This ministry was very effective, and many young people came to God through them.
I continued to observe all that was happening with my family with concern. “In our age of civilization,” I thought, “How is it possible to believe in a God?” From my perspective, my parents and brothers, both of whom were educated, were prisoners of superstition and medieval ways of thought. It caused me a lot of embarrassment. After all, it was necessary to move forward, but my family members were heading back! I couldn’t encourage or agree with what they believed, so I decided that I would fight against it with all of my might, until they were enlightened to knowledge.
When my parents and brothers became Christians, they began praying before their meals. I did not like being with them when they prayed, so I would come to the table only after the prayer was over. My mother had a very beautiful voice and often sang hymns around the house. I would close my ears whenever I heard her singing, especially when she sang "Nearer My God to Thee."
I had several non-Christian friends who were my peers. We often played checkers, chess, and cards together. And we never had anything positive to say about God or Baptists. We would laugh when we remembered that Baptists prayed to God, who did not exist. Sometimes, my friends would laugh at me because my family believed in God. They would say that Baptists had retarded minds, since they considered themselves to be sheep instead of humans at their meetings. This would make me particularly upset.
One winter evening, I found myself without anything to do, so I decided to go to a Baptist church service in the village of Chverki. Because there were no church buildings there, the believers met at each other’s houses. I walked into the house, saw the crowd of people inside, and sat in the first empty seat that I could find. The people spoke quietly to each other as they waited for the service to start. The church service began with the song “I am Jesus' Little Lamb.” Startled, I thought to myself, “It's true! These people actually think that they’re sheep, not people! They must be insane! Who knows what they’ll do to me!” I was getting ready to run away from the house, but something kept me seated throughout the service. I closely watched everything that was happening around me, and my only wish at that moment was to get out safely. Once they had finished singing, Theodosius Levchuk stood up to preach. I began to immediately judge him in my heart, thinking, “What can you possibly teach us? You're an uneducated man!” These thoughts and similar ones filled my head as I stared at him. He looked at the audience, smiled, and said, “Dear brothers and sisters, today I'm going to read to you the words of a man who never lied nor deceived anyone.”
“Where did you find such a person?” I thought. I had read many books by famous writers, and none of them ever mentioned a man that never lied nor deceived anyone. Theodosius’ words sparked my interest, and I carefully listened to the sermon that followed his first statement. “The name of that person is Jesus Christ,” he said, and began to read Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The preacher explained that to go down the narrow path, one has to pass through the narrow gate. That gate is none other than Jesus Christ. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).
At the end of his sermon, Theodosius said, “Ask yourself, ‘which path am I following’? And answer it honestly.”
I realized that I was walking along a wide path. I considered myself to be an intelligent young man, and I understood that if I was smart, I had to leave the wide path and start walking along the narrow one. But if I did that, what would my friends say? They would surely laugh at me!
The service ended, and everyone knelt to pray. I was too ashamed to kneel, but I thought, “I'm a cultured person, it’s rude to sit while everyone else is kneeling.” I got onto my knees. I heard the Christians around me begin to pray, thanking God for their salvation and asking for the salvation of a certain young man, without mentioning his name. I wondered who they were praying for. I began to wonder what I should do, what decision to make, when suddenly my heart felt as though it was breaking. I do not remember the words of my prayer at that moment, because I literally burst into tears.
After the prayer, I was greeted by church members. I felt like an entirely new person, ready to walk along the narrow path. I wanted to see my friends immediately, and tell them what the Lord had done for me. I was completely unashamed to talk about my conversion and my new life. I began to hate all the things that I used to do while I was walking along the wide path, and began to love everything of the narrow path instead. The hymn that my mother sang and which caused me to cover my ears, soon became my favorite song. When I came home, my parents told me that the Lord had answered their prayers for my salvation. At my family’s request, their church spent two days fasting and praying for my repentance. Our house was filled with joy, another family member was saved! In 1929, when I was 17 years old, I made a covenant with my Lord. That day is unforgettable for me as it was the day that I fulfilled Christ’s commandment and promised, before people and nature, to faithfully serve him for the rest of my life.
Andrey Yakovlevich, you have been preaching from an early age. How did you become a preacher?
Among my family members, one of my brothers and I both had speech impediments. Because of that, I knew that it would be impossible for me to preach. I studied at a Biblical Institute, but after much thought, I decided to leave it. Sometimes I considered turning to God for help with my speech. I knew that if he wanted me to be a preacher, he could fix my speech impediment if I would ask Him to do so.
Without telling anyone, I would go to the forest alone to pray to God, asking Him to help me overcome my problem. I do not know how much time I spent praying to God there. But one day, I came back from the forest and was talking to my mother, when she asked me, “Andrey, what happened to you?” I answered that everything was fine, but she asked me the same question. Again, I told her that I was alright and that I didn’t do anything wrong. After continuing our conversation, my mother said, “You’re speaking without stuttering!” Without telling her the reason, I ran back into the forest and fell on top of the place where I would ask God to fix my speech every day. There, I thanked Him for hearing my prayers. It was a special thanksgiving prayer to the Lord!
The first sermon that I ever delivered was on the topic of loving one another (1 John 4:7-8). I preached it on September 11, 1931. Since then, I carry the good news of Christ to many places and many people.
- You and your wife had a very beautiful and long marriage that lasted over 58 years. Can you please share how you met your wife? Is there any advice that you can give to young people on how to avoid common mistakes when selecting their life partner?
The question of choosing a life partner is a very important one. A Christian’s life depends on God, and if we have surrendered our lives to him, then we must trust him when choosing our life partner as well!
In 1933, I was ordained as a pastor. At that time, I was not married and led church services as a bachelor. It was difficult to answer questions that concerned family life, since I had no experience in that area. I knew that I had to be married, but I was not looking for a bride.
At that time, a string orchestra was organized in one of the Slavic churches in Brazil. The leaders of the church asked me to help lead it, and even though I had a lot of spiritual work to do in Paraguay, I agreed. Working with an orchestra requires a lot of time and effort, whether it be studying music, learning to play an instrument, or anything else. Among my students, I noticed a girl who was learning to play the mandolin. She recited poems at church, sang in the church choir, and was a Sunday school teacher, too. I saw her deep desire to serve God, and I was eager to help her develop her talents so that she could use them for God’s glory. I felt sorry for her, because her financial status did not allow her to study or get an education. During one of our music lessons, I felt particularly sorry for her. Suddenly, something inside of me said, “If you feel so sorry for her, why don’t you marry her?!” This thought came to me out of nowhere. Although I was 25 years old, I was still not ready to marry, but I knew I needed a wife in order to be an adequate pastor.
I began observing her and soon fell in love with her. Her name was Martha. After some time, I decided to confess my love to her. At that time, the Christian youth would gather at someone's house in the evenings. One particular evening, we were at Martha’s house, singing hymns and sharing interesting life stories with one another. At the end, once everyone had left, Martha and I were alone. I told her that I loved her, and she said that she loved me too. I was very happy. That evening, I sincerely thanked God for providing a wife for me. Six months later, we were married on September 5, 1937, in Paraguay.
The secret of a truly happy life is to serve God and to serve people in the name of Jesus Christ. God blesses those who love their fellow men, help them, and encourage them.
I want to emphasize that throughout our marriage, we never asked each other for forgiveness. This was because my wife and I did everything we could to not let our words or deeds offend the other person. Whenever we had misunderstandings, I would greatly criticize myself if I hurt her, and she would do the same. If this ever happened, we would keep silent for 2-3 hours, condemn ourselves, and start again to lovingly serve one another. In this atmosphere, we stayed married for 58 years and 13 days! I praise God for the happy life that he let us live together!
You’ve lived for 104 years. Tell us about the happiest moments of your life. After all, your life has been filled with countless blessings from God!
Yes, that is true, and it would be impossible to count all the Lord’s mercies to me. There have been so many times that He spared me and my family. Looking back, I can say with confidence that God never leaves His children without mercy and protection. He is great and worthy of praise!
I remember the 11th World Congress of Baptists, which took place in Miami in July 1965. The meetings were held at a stadium with about 50 thousand people. The choir had several thousand singers and they sang Christian hymns beautifully. This congress was even attended by a seven person delegation from the Soviet Union, two of whom were M. Zhidkov and L. Tkachenko. The hymn How Great Thou Art was sung by soloist L. Tkachenko, and all fifty thousand people at the convention sang the chorus of "Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee.” It was tremendous praise to the Lord and it seemed to me that the whole world was listening to our singing. My soul was delighted and my heart was filled with God’s peace. That moment is unforgettable for me!
Another moment happened when I was in Paraguay. There are a lot of snakes there. One pleasant sunny morning, as I was walking along a path through a small mountain, I heard a rustle next to me. I realized that I had stepped next to the head of a poisonous snake. The snake uncoiled itself and raised its head until it was level with my face. The snake took the position as though it was ready to defend itself or to attack. I quickly stepped back, my knees shaking. The snake remained in the same position long enough for me to pick up a long stick and kill it. Immediately, I knelt down and praised God for saving me from premature death. During a church service later that day, I shared how the Lord had saved me. Several people, hearing this story, came to Christ. How great and wondrous is our Lord!
You were born in Belarus, but lived most of your life far from your homeland. Could you tell us about how you returned to Belarus and served the people there?
I had no desire to visit my homeland during the time of the Soviet Union or after its collapse. Whenever my wife or friends would advise me to visit our Evangelical Christian brotherhood in Belarus, I would thank them for their advice, but mentioned that I had no desire to go.
One day, brother A.Y. Oytsyus, the coordinator of the Baptist Union of Brazil, persuaded me to go to Belarus by mentioning that the Union had already paid for my ticket. On June 23, 1996, I flew to Belarus. After a long flight and several layovers later, the plane landed in Minsk. I finally had the long-awaited meeting with my relatives. I thanked God for the safe flight, for seeing my family, and for the abundance of food on the table. I felt very much at home as we talked until late into the night.
When I opened my suitcase to take out the folder containing my best sermon outlines, I could not find it. I was very disappointed when I realized that I had left it at home. I was upset, but instead of blaming myself, I blamed God. “God, what have you done to me?” I asked reproachfully. But God answered me clearly and softly, “Why are you so upset? Didn’t you spend 25 years teaching homiletics to students, encouraging them to know several abstracts by heart for various occasions such as these? You advised this to students, therefore, you should know many outlines by heart. Use them.”
This inner voice of God comforted me. I took the Bible and prayed, “Lord, help me use this holy book and my understanding of it for Your glory and the edification of your people.” My first sermon in Belarus was on the theme of thankfulness. I spoke about being thankful to God for everything that He sends us, even when it is not what we expect. For we know that God never makes mistakes, especially not when working in the lives of His children.
I visited many churches that were located in cities, villages, and towns in the Brest region. While in the village of Kamenyuki, we had a church service with so many people, that all seats were occupied and all the windows had to be opened. Everyone yearned to hear God's Word. After the service, one brother asked me, upon my return to America, to announce their need to raise funds for a church building in that village. After a few minutes, the voice of God said to me, “You can help them acquire this church.” I agreed to this request, and by the time I had met with brother A.S. Komarchuk, all the necessary funds for a house of worship were met. Thank God for helping me fulfill my promise.
You have helped many churches in Belarus by funding them and overseeing their construction. How many churches have you built?
I have visited many churches in different regions, including Brest, Grodno, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, and saw the serious needs in every place. Some towns had no church buildings, and others needed major renovations. God used me to help 19 churches, and I am very grateful to Him for that. Belarus, my earthly homeland, has a special place in my heart. My desire in the last years of my life on earth is to pray for that country, so the Lord leads many to Himself there. I hope that believers work together, in the name of the Lord, to achieve this cause.
You have lived a long and fruitful life. Looking back, is there anything that you would like to change about it?
Nothing, with the exception of one event that I cannot forget or correct. We often become busy, and cannot visit the sick that are waiting for us to come to them. So it was with me. One person became very ill and sent his wife to request my visit, to talk to him about salvation for his soul. I was very busy with other church affairs, and came to him a few days later. I met his wife at the door, and she said to me, “My husband was waiting for you and kept asking if you had come. Yesterday, we buried him.” Whenever I remember that moment, I cry that I did not tell that poor dying soul about salvation. But I cannot change anything anymore. I encourage all preachers, when they are called for a visit, to leave everything and visit the person calling for them.
Thank you, Andrey Yakovlevich, for your openness and warm wishes. May God bless you!
Emilia Guseva
12/15/2016, Sacramento
Click on the first slide to see pictures in slide show format
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