Communist Oppression, The Eastern Churches And Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J.

With God in Russia

November 2007

By Joseph P. Bonchonsky

Joseph P. Bonchonsky is President of the American Byzantine Catholic Research Center in Mount Shasta, California, and author of The Other Catholics, Obedient and Faithful (available for $15 + $2.50 S&H from: ABCRC, 1334 Ramona Dr., Mt. Shasta CA 96067).

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The 23-year journey of American-born Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J., through the Soviet Union is a classic example of the efforts of the Jesuits who responded to Pope Pius XI's call to go to the aid of the Russian Orthodox in the 1930s. The Soviets had reduced the Russian Orthodox priesthood from 57,000 priests in 1917 to 5,000 priests in 1939. A total of 146,000 religious (priests, monks, deacons, and nuns) had been decimated to 15,500 via the gulag archipelago. The deaths of tens of millions of obedient and faithful Russian Orthodox is a sacrifice in but one of Christ's particular apostolic Churches.

Pius XI established the Russicum, the Pontifical Russian College, in Rome for
the purpose of preparing Jesuits to go to the aid of Russia. The response was
tremendous in that Jesuits came from England, Belgium, France, the U.S., etc.,
to train at the Russicum. Among the new vocations was Walter Ciszek.

Born in Shenandoah, Penn., in 1904, Fr. Ciszek is the only American Jesuit who responded to Pius XI's call to return alive from the Soviet Union. He was imprisoned there for nearly 23 years -- five years in the infamous Lubianka prison in Moscow and 10 years in the northernmost gulag archipelago in Siberia. An additional eight years found Fr. Ciszek restricted by the atheist Communists to the cities of Norilsk, Dudinka, Kras­noyarsk, and Abakan. Fr. Ciszek's journey may be read in his two books With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me; the former details his earthly journey and the latter his spiritual journey. The travels of Fr. Ciszek are, in themselves, the story of what one man did to assist thousands of Russian Orthodox in their darkest hours. Twelve years after Fr. Ciszek's death in 1984, the papers for his sainthood were delivered to Rome. His papers were prepared at the University of Scranton and the Byzantine Carmelite monasteries in Sugarloaf and Shenandoah. I had the honor of hosting Fr. Ciszek on a 30-lecture tour in southern California in 1964, two years after President John F. Kennedy exchanged a Soviet spy for Fr. Ciszek. It became readily apparent why the cause for his sainthood has advanced to Rome.

Fr. Ciszek is a heroic example of the brotherly act that the Roman Church
extended to the Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church, in less than 800
years, became the largest Orthodox Church in the world. Her 54,000 churches, 550
monasteries, 450 convents, 61 seminaries, and 41,000 religious schools
illustrate the depth and breadth of the Faith in Mother Russia prior to the
atheist Communist revolution. That less than 500 fanatic atheist Communists
succeeded in overthrowing a deeply Christian nation is a lesson to be
remembered.

Decades of poverty, unemployment, class differences, and misdirected national leadership provided a nation ripe for revolution. The history of 20th-century Russia is a study for all nations that position themselves for tyranny.The gesture by Pius XI to send his platoon of marines, the Jesuits, to Russia in the 1930s to assist the Russian Orthodox Church to survive in her hour of greatest need is significant because these worthy modern-day soldiers of Christ had but one objective: to aid their Christian brothers. Albeit a small platoon of priests, the gesture is priceless.

In 1945 the Soviets commenced to officially terminate the Byzantine Catholic
Rusyn particular Church in Czechoslovakia. Catholic priests were murdered,
including Bishop Theodore G. Romzha who, in opposition to 1945 Soviet orders,
continued to openly lead and serve his people. Nikita Khrushchev's secret files
reveal that he personally ordered the poisoning of this courageous Byzantine
Catholic Rusyn religious leader. Byzantine Rusyn Catholic bishops Theodore G.
Romzha, Vasil Hopko, and Pavel P. Gojdich were declared martyrs and were
beatified on June 27, 2001, by Pope John Paul II.

The remaining obedient and faithful Byzantine Catholic Rusyn priests were exiled. Some remained active underground, but very few survived to witness one of the greatest modern-day revivals decades later.The Byzantine Catholic Rusyn are referred to as Ruthenian by the Roman Catholic and are one of nine particular sui iuris (self-governing) Byzantine Catholic Churches in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The Soviets transferred Byzantine Catholic Rusyn Church buildings to the local Orthodox and the historical seminary building in Uzhorod (now in the Podkarpatska Rus Oblast, Ukraine) was converted into a warehouse. Today, in Slovakia, almost every parish building has been recovered, the rebuilt seminaries are full, and every parish has at least one priest. In fact, for every seminarian in Presov, Slovakia (and Uzhorod, U­kraine), two candidates vie for each opening. Read the full article (here)