Books Beautiful stories buried in shallow facts
THE
FORGOTTEN: CATHOLICS OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE FROM LENIN THROUGH
STALIN By Christopher Lawrence Zugger Syracuse University Press,
440 pages, $39.95 |
REVIEWED by MELISSA
JONES
In these post-Soviet days, Russia and the reborn independent
Eurasian states around it seem completely unrelated to the great Marxist
machine that caused so much suffering. Meanwhile, as those who lived under
Soviet oppression struggle to heal past wounds, the rest of us are happy to
forget about the political experiment that caused such pain.
The memories and sufferings of persecutions long past still sting.
The Polish Pope John Paul II is himself a hero of these times. He remembers.
Despite the physical and political difficulties involved, his determination to
visit Ukraine during his pontificate is just one more indication he will not
allow the martyrs of Marxism to be completely forgotten.
Byzantine Catholic priest Christopher Lawrence Zugger also seeks
to memorialize the sufferings of Catholics under the Soviet regime. In The
Forgotten, Zugger provides an encyclopedic treatment of the fate of
Catholicism under Bolshevism and Stalin. He covers a remarkable amount of
ground, providing a little information about a lot of people, places and brands
of Catholicism. He places special focus on the fate of Greek or Eastern
Catholics who suffered persecution and martyrdom.
Zugger paints the Eastern Catholics as the Vaticans
stepchildren, persecuted by the Soviet Union and even by the crippled Russian
Orthodox church, but forgotten by Rome. Greek or Eastern-rite Catholics came
into existence after the Union of Brest, a city in Belarus, in 1596 when
influential Eastern Orthodox bishops met with Roman Catholic bishops and
declared union with Rome. Dissenting Orthodox bishops quickly cried foul, and
the two sides excommunicated each other. Thus, historys closest brush
with an Orthodox-Catholic reunion became a bitter, long-running family
feud.
Greek Catholics exist in the denominational cracks between
Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. They often follow a Byzantine liturgy and
spiritual style, and some of their priests are married. The Roman hierarchy has
condemned attempts at forced Latinization, but Latin suspicion of
the Greek Catholics still exists. The Orthodox church always viewed Catholicism
as a rival, and to them a Greek Catholicism that looks like Orthodoxy on the
outside while proclaiming loyalty to Rome is simply a wolf in sheeps
clothing.
This book is obviously a labor of love. Zugger claims to have
spent most of his adult life studying this problem, and this thick book is the
result of 10 years collecting stories, historical facts, maps and pictures. The
reader, though, is quickly overwhelmed by his zealous and wide-ranging research
into the history and politics surrounding the suffering of Catholics under
Soviet rule.
Unfortunately for Zugger, good histories of the Catholic church
under Soviet oppression already exist, as do numerous histories of the
oppressive Soviet policies regarding religion. Throughout the Cold War, armies
of Ph.D. wannabes in Russian or Soviet Studies collected U.S. government grant
money to write dissertations on the evils of the Soviet Union in every form.
Thankfully, Zugger avoids Cold War rhetoric and finger-pointing at the Orthodox
church leaders who made unsavory compromises with the Bolsheviks and Stalin for
the sake of survival.
Despite his best intentions, Zugger provides a shallow chronology
of historical facts, political policies and personages that buries some truly
beautiful stories of faith and perseverance. The stories are there. You just
have to hunt for them.
There is one particularly striking tale, of Third Order Dominican
Mother Catherine. Mother Catherine and seven other nuns were arrested in March
1924 and sent to various prisons. Those women imprisoned together found ways to
pursue theological and spiritual discipline. One nun even completed her
novitiate in prison under the direction of an older sister. Mother Catherine
was separated and sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was placed with common
criminals but ended up winning such respect and affection that she was later
moved to isolation.
Zugger rarely develops the personalities enough to elicit any
feeling or understanding of what motivated these persons to make such
sacrifices. This is, at best, a reference book from which might come more
developed stories of the forgotten martyrs of this era. But Zugger hasnt
forgotten. And good for him.
Melissa Jones is a freelance writer with advanced degrees in
religious studies and Russian history. Her e-mail address is
jonesma@worldnet.att.net
National Catholic Reporter, July 13,
2001
|