The Patmos Prize 2023 constitutes the 10th edition of the Annual Prize awarded by the Patmos Institute since October 31, 2014, thus coinciding each year with the historic Protestant Reformation Day.
A Jury made up of founders who have remained active in the Patmos Institute since its founding on February 2, 2013, awards it to believers consistent with their faith in Cuba. The nine winners from previous years are in chronological order:
1. In 2014, Catholic layman Amador Blanco Hernández (who died on April 9, 2020)
2. In 2015, the Catholic priest José Conrado Alegría
3. In 2016, Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, Baptist activist
4. In 2017, coinciding with the 500 years of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic layman Dagoberto Valdés Hernández. From the Centro de Estudios Convivencia (Cuban think tank).
5. In 2018, Catholic layman Dr. Eduardo Cardet Concepción
6. In 2019, the Catholic layman Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces
7. In 2020, the Catholic activist Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, signatory of the historic document The Homeland belongs to all
8. In 2021, the Catholic activist Ernesto Borges Pérez, who remains in prison for more than 25 years
9. In 2022, the evangelical pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, from Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, who remains a prisoner and on October 26 celebrated his third birthday in prison.
In this tenth edition, for the first time, the Patmos Prize is not awarded to a single person, but rather it was decided to award it jointly to two sisters and two blood brothers, all four from evangelical backgrounds of faith with which they have been consistent to the point. of also having in common having participated in the spontaneous peaceful demonstrations that occurred in around 50 Cuban towns on July 11, 2021, when the people took to the streets to demand «freedom», and were supported by faithful believers like these brothers. who, since then, also in common for the four, remain in Prison.
These are the sisters MARÍA CRISTINA and ANGÉLICA GARRIDO RODRÍGUEZ, and the brothers JORGE and NADIR MARTÍN PERDOMO, who, as their respective plaques attest, are awarded FOR THEIR TESTIMONY OF GENUINE FAITH AND VISIONS OF HOPE, LIKE JOHN OF PATMOS, IN THE PRISONS, ON THE ISLAND OF CUBA.
Among the thousands of prisoners of the historic days of 11J, the names of these four fervent believers stand out for their strong convictions of faith, which has been confirmed in these more than two years of imprisonment. Although such virtues have not been exclusive to them, because Cuban prisons for more than six decades have been packed with women and men of faith, the Patmos Institute has wanted to symbolize in these two pairs of evangelical brothers all believers who, because they are consistent with their faith convictions, were in the past or remain today in any of the Cuban prisons.
Regarding their particular Christian beliefs, we want to highlight that the sisters María Cristina and Angélica Garrido Rodríguez are both fervent believers affiliated with the so-called «Recovery churches», or «Local Church» movement, which come from the teachings of Watchman Nee, the first movement native Christian movement in China and continues to be the largest native Christian church movement in China, with an estimated two million people today.
The Garrido sisters have honored their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but also Watchman Nee, the initiator of the «Local Church» movement, considered one of the most influential Chinese Christians of the 20th century, and included by Christianity Today magazine among the 100 most influential Christians of the 20th century. In 1952, after the communist revolution in China, Nee was also imprisoned by the Chinese communist government because of his faith, after being falsely accused and convicted. He was never released and died in a labor camp on May 30, 1972; but, during the 20 years of his imprisonment, he remained steadfast in his faith. After his death, a guard found these words that Nee had written on a piece of paper in his room:
«Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and was resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my faith in Christ.»
Countless believers, like the Garrido sisters, have received light and spiritual nourishment through Nee’s legacy. Nee’s writings continue to have a great impact on Christians around the world like the Garrido sisters. In 2009, the United States Congress recognized Watchman Nee for her devotion to her faith and her contributions to Christians around the world. Watchman Nee’s works are officially banned in China, even as they are being rediscovered by a new generation of Western Christians.
In line with the way the Garrido sisters believe, they can be defined as belonging to the local church of Quivicán, in the style of the New Testament churches that were identified with the names of the localities where the first believers congregated, the churches of the province of Galatia, the churches of Corinth, the churches of Rome, or as is classic in the Apocalypse of John of Patmos, addressed to «the seven churches that are in Asia» (Revelation 1:4): the church in Ephesus ( Revelation 2:1), the church at Smyrna (Revelation 2:8), the church at Pergamos (Revelation 2:12), the church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18), the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1), the church in Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7) and the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14).
Regarding the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, both are also two Cubans with deep convictions of faith. From early childhood until their adulthood they were fervent believers active in the Pentecostal church, although later Nadir became part of the Baptist church, and Jorge, after the hard experiences suffered in the last two years, feels inclined to participate in the Catholic Church. But what is common to both the Martín Perdomo brothers and the Garrido Rodríguez sisters is that all four have been consistent with their faith, and it is because of this that, like Juan on the island of Patmos, in the first century, They also suffer in the 21st century, on the island of Cuba, “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9).
John’s imprisonment on Patmos led to his visions of hope described in the Revelation, because beyond the tribulations he describes, as part of the universal confrontation between good and evil, the book closes with a happy ending. The same will happen with the Garrido sisters and the Martín brothers, just as in Patmos Juan received visions of hope, in his prisons, believers like María Cristina, Angélica, Jorge and Nadir, today also have them for Cuba. God will not leave them ashamed. Patmos Institute is honored by adding these four new names to its list of nine previous names. Congratulations to the four Patmos 2023 Prize winners!
Blog del Instituto Patmos 