Rejoicing in the Soviet Union

THIS little girl in Lvov has reason to rejoice. She is one of 74,252 people who met freely in the Soviet Union to enjoy a Christian convention and receive in the Russian language a copy of this beautiful new publication The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived. Although Jehovah’s Witnesses had never before been permitted to hold conventions in the Soviet Union, last summer they held seven. The attendance figure for each location appears on the previous page.

One of the convention cities was Alma-​Ata, Kazakhstan, where conventioners also came from the Soviet republics of Russia, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan, and Turkmenistan. In Alma-​Ata over 6,000 were delighted to receive the new book. When the more than 4,000 attending in Usolye-​Sibirskoye, Siberia, each received a free personal copy, the stadium manager exclaimed: “This is a miracle!”

In Kiev, when a number of policemen and firemen saw the book, they begged for a copy, saying: “After all, we protected you; we were with you at the convention.” A police captain wanted to know, “Where was it edited? How many copies have been printed?”

Thus far, over 12 million copies have been printed in some 60 languages, including lesser-​known ones such as Bislama, Efịk, Ewe, Ga, Igbo, Rarotongan, Sepedi, Shona, Tsonga, Tswana, Twi, and Venda.

Millions throughout the world are finding delight in reading this fine new 448-​page publication on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. If you would welcome further information regarding Jesus and his role in fulfilling God’s purpose toward the earth, please write to Watchtower, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201, or to the appropriate address listed on page 5.