To mark United Nations Torture Victims Day, the annual International Prayer Vigil, ‘Take Them in Your Hands’ will be held on the night of 27th/28th June from 8.00 pm to 8.00 am.

Members of Action by Christians Against Torture (UK), a mainstream Christian registered charity, will be taking part again this year. It is hoped that many individual Christians and churches will join them or ask for the tortured to be included in intercessions at Sunday services. Those remembered will include Christians persecuted for their faith, prisoners of conscience, torture victims, human rights defenders under threat of death, the families of all victims and also those who torture. Do join with the many other Christians round the world, if only for 15 minutes, who will be praying for the ‘least of our brothers and sisters’.

Prayer can make all the difference as Anatoly Levitin, a Russian Orthodox prisoner in the former USSR wrote after he was freed: ‘Not only my own prayers helped me, but even more the prayer of many faithful Christians. I felt it continually working from a distance, lifting me up as though on wings, giving me living water, and the bread of life, peace of soul, rest and love.’

A5 flyers and prayer material with names of individuals, etc and services are available free from Terry and Eleanor Newland, 8 Southfield, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 4LX, tel (01752) 843417, e-mail uk.acat@gmail.com