An Island Meditation on Sin and Reparation

Photo by Juan Encalada on Unsplash

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you.
-Amos 5:14

It's Ash Wednesday. Lent 2019 is upon us. We now have 40 days in which to reflect upon how closely our thoughts, actions, motivations and priorities are aligned with the faith Jesus Christ handed on to us. We have this time, too, to do penance for the discipline of our souls and to make reparations for our past sins. As we undertake these endeavors, Ostrov (The Island), a 2006 Russian film, may help. It's look at sin, forgiveness, repentance, reparation and atonement provide sufficient fodder for the entire season.

Despite the limits of the medium, Ostrov beautifully portrays how widely and deeply both our sins affect the people against whom we sin and our virtues affect those we help. To this end, the film asks two questions: "Why did Cain kill Abel?" and "What is the appropriate Christian response to the murder of a brother?"

Through the portrayal of Fr. Anatoly's life and interactions with his confreres, Father Superior Filaret and Father Job, the film clearly answers, "Pride," to the first question. This is no surprise as a cursory reading of the fourth chapter of Genesis reveals this. Cain's pride prompted him to offer his gifts with a sinful heart. Being a farmer, Cain worked hard to raise crops, because God had cursed the ground, only "in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you" (Genesis 3:17-18). Being successful and seeing himself as harder working and more industrious than his brother, the lazy shepherd, Cain, presumptuously confident in God's acceptance of his crops, must have offered his first fruits with an eye towards showing up his brother. God, though, desiring  "steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6), accepts Abel's offering. Cain, unable to overcome this injury to his pride, murders his brother and lies to God about it.

For remarkably similar reasons, Anatoly betrays his captain's life to a Nazi patrol. Like St. Peter, though, he falls to his knees in horror at what he has done. Unlike Cain, who never repents of his sin and is only concerned about his own welfare, Anatoly turns his life over to serving God in repentance, atonement and reparation. Additionally, every aspect of Anatoly's life has as its goal the quashing of his pride. He lives in the furnace house and collects the coal for it with only a spade and an old wheelbarrow. He doesn't bathe, fasts constantly and wears filthy, ragged clothes. He prays constantly for forgiveness for himself and for the dead and spends every day helping any who come to him.

Anatoly chooses to live this way, because he understands the abominable power of his murder of the captain and, subsequently, of all of his sins. Anatoly, therefore, gives up his life for the life he has taken. He now offers his life and his prayers for the soul of the captain who had no opportunity to prepare for his death. At one point in the movie, Anatoly asks his dead captain for the reason he cannot rid himself of the guilt and shame of that sin. While he may have hoped his life would gradually take away that remorse, it has only kept it before him. "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:3).

While his life does not rid him of his guilt and shame, it does, by the grace of God, afford him innumerable opportunities to help others in significant ways. He does not understand the reason God uses him as He does, but he humbly submits. No longer the rash, arrogant and selfish young man, he patiently listens to the hurting and the ill and offers them tea with sugar, while they talk. His prayers on behalf of these people are made with complete trust in God's Divine Providence. Finally, Anatoly  begs God for help for himself. He wishes to know the fate of his captain.

SPOILER!

God not only gives Anatoly the grace of learning of his captain's fate, but to ask forgiveness of him and to be forgiven by him. It is then, that Anatoly lies down in his coffin to die. While no longer persecuted by the fate of his captain, the knowledge of how his sins have hurt the world still weighs heavily upon him.

Attempting to alleviate the great evil his sins had caused throughout the world was the purpose of Anatoly's life. The murder of his captain may have set Anatoly upon such a life, but by the end of his life, it had blossomed into a concern for all of those his sins may have affected. This awareness caused him great suffering, but the suffering did not debilitate him. Following the example of his Savior, Anatoly offered the suffering back to God for the good of the Church. Anatoly died knowing his sins had been forgiven. He was unsure, if their effect had been ameliorated.