Before World War II, due to the loss of his sight, my father returned to his homeland with our family after practicing medicine in America where I was born. In Budapest, I attended classes at a Presbyterian church and my pastor gave me a small picture that would change my life. It was a simple religious card with the face of Jesus drawn with haunting beauty.
As a young seminary student, I held on to it through the turmoil of war, even the siege of Budapest, as the Russians pushed their way into Hungary in the summer of 1944. With thousands and thousands, I was taken prisoner, then on a forced march God provided me with a miraculous escape. I lost everything of my old life but this picture.
After the war, I returned to the States to complete my war-interrupted theological studies. Upon my ordination in my first church, I received a congratulatory note from Budapest, from my former pastor, with a replica of the card given to me in my youth, bearing Christ's likeness.
Moved by the serendipity, I returned to Hungary to seek the artist, the renowned Karoly Luhnsdorff, only to discover that he had already died. Behind the story of his Christ picture were seven cruel years in Siberia's Gulag prison camp. A painter with no paint available to him in the labor camp, Luhnsdorff used pencil and charcoal to sketch fellow prisoners and Jesus images to keep his faith alive. The picture of Christ which I had carried to keep my own hope alive reflects the pain and suffering of those war-torn years.
Unfortunately, in Budapest I also learned that the original artwork had been lost in the madness of the war. Disheartened but not deterred, I found Luhnsdorff's brother and discovered that the family had a negative of the original drawing. They offered to sell it to me, eager for Americans also to see the artwork published.
I returned home with this treasure and now own the copyright to this poignant drawing. Though I have quite a collection of well-known renderings of Jesus, this one is still my "first love" -- as if I were still that young boy sitting in confirmation class, being prepared to make my first public confession of faith in Christ as my Savior.
Now retired after 50 years of ministry in the Presbyterian Church, I feel a kind of mission to make Luhnsdorff's portrayal of Christ available to others. I call it "The Understanding One," because it conveys both the human suffering and divine love that I sense behind the words which Luhnsdorff penned as the title, "Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" This picture reminds me when feeling lost and alone or forsaken, of God's presence, the Father to whom one can talk to. "The Understanding One" is a face of caring for all humanity.
For information about obtaining copies of this portrait, William N. Curtis can be reached in Florence, SC, by calling 843-662-9248.