I see a lot of hand-wringing over mental issues by the same music community that goes out of it’s way to attack organized religion. Maybe some can see this book review, read the book, and take a second look at how an individual not only survived, but grew spiritually when confronted by some of the most brutal physical and psychological conditions imaginable.
In picking up this book I thought to myself “I’m not sure what I have to learn from this as thankfully my life is the opposite of a Soviet Gulag in nearly every way.” Surprisingly, I was able to relate to the many challenges, both internal and external that Ciszek faced throughout the book.a
Before he is even shipped off to solitary confinement for some 5 years, Ciszek describes the general attitude towards organized religion in the USSR by both the government and the people. The criticisms of the Church were nearly identical to what I hear on a daily basis here and now. Cheap accusations like “Christianity is irrational,” “the Church is corrupt,” “the Church is decadent” etc. It is worth noting that religion was never banned in the USSR. However, it was illegal to evangelize, and public preaching was forbidden. The activities of not only the Catholic Church were hampered in a variety of extra-legal ways by Soviet Authorities. Ciszek repeatedly points out that while all this was going on, the atheist and Marxist propaganda of the state dominated the public sphere.
Once sentenced to solitary confinement in Lubianka (I believe Solzhenitsyn spent time here as well) for the crime of being a “Vatican spy,” Ciszek compares his lack of integrity in going along with the lies of his NKVD interrogator to original sin. Rather than trust God and tell the truth, Ciszek tried to manipulate the situation for his own benefit.
This failure under pressure causes Ciszek to realize something very important -- the fallen nature of man. Rather than run to God for strength he only relied on himself. His human weakness was no match for the Soviet interrogation machine. This is an important lesson I think we can all learn from whether we’re clinging to our sanity in solitary confinement or feeling discouraged in our day to day life, our musical pursuits, our social interactions, or even our own confrontations with authority. Our human nature is flawed and weak by itself. I heard a saying from Mike West I think on a podcast recently. It was something like “by humbling us, God brings us closer to himself.” Ciszek experienced that. I’ve experienced that. I suspect many others have as well.
Once arriving at the Gulag (labor camp instead of solitary confinement now), Ciszek pauses to explain the behavior of some of the hardened criminals. Because they were usually tougher than the political prisoners, they would lie, cheat, steal, and even beat people for something as small as an extra little food. I thought this was a stunning example of how flawed the Nietzschean idea of a “master morality” is.
The chapter on the body was interesting. Ciszek takes time to marvel at the wonders of our human bodies not in their finest athletic form, but in their ability to absorb punishment and perform work for years on end 7 days a week on a starvation diet. He uses this observation of our physical form as a gift from God as a lever against the dualistic view of matter and spirit embraced by the Manacheans, Albagensians, etc.
In today’s atmosphere of identity politics, I frequently see people labelled by racial group and/or gender. It was interesting to read about how the Soviet Authorities when dealing with a prison population of entirely 'white men' resorted to other identitarian categories in order to keep the prisoners divided and weak. These categories included language, religion, profession, education, and social class prior to imprisonment.
The small and persecuted Church in the labor camp was inspiring to read about. Just the act of saying Mass was strictly forbidden, so they had to do it in small groups and in secret. Just as the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of Evangelization, the persecution these people faced being shared in literary form is helping me (and presumably other readers) grow. I will no longer complain about getting up early for Mass haha.
This quote doesn’t really seem so out of place today:
“What can individual priests dispersed all over the Soviet Union do to combat atheism and the propaganda directed against the Church and religion? What real chance had the Church to survive under such a system, where the people were constantly bombarded with reports that discredited religion as superstition, where the practice of religion was discouraged in so many ways and made difficult by so many subtle pressures, where a man could lose his job or the possibility of an education for his children because he was known to be a believer, or the children themselves were made fun of in school because their parents were believers, or were taught to despise the religious practices an older generation still clung to and talked about at home.”
Once freed from the Gulag, Ciszek goes out of his way to praise the bravery of especially the Polish ex-prisoners in the town even while the KGB was closely monitoring and trying to intimidate him. This made me think on the nature of the Church hierarchy. I am probably not alone in thinking at one time or another that Church officials alone should be responsible for solving problems both within the Church and in ways the Church interfaces with society in general. Perhaps in the same way Ciszek was encouraged by the simple yet strong faith of his congregation in braving social stigma and political pressure, we can do the same just by showing up and doing our best to live authentic Christian lives.
This quote helped me understand some people’s attitudes on religion today:
“Some would bitterly attack religion and the Church. Their attacks would always center on the abuses that are the highlight of all atheistic propaganda against religion: the greed of the Church and how the priests and monks sell candles and icons for money, the sexual perversions of priests and nuns, the political influence and power politics of the Church under the tsars, and the weird ascetical practices and penances of “holy men,” even the tortures of the Inquisition. Every charge that the Church or churchmen have ever left themselves open to by their human failings is recounted in great detail in the courses on atheism in the schools and displayed in the public museums of atheism. That is the only side of the Church the ordinary citizen of this generation has ever heard about, so his antipathy to the Church and to religion, based on these half-truths and distortions is understandable.”
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Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2019
I see a lot of hand-wringing over mental issues by the same music community that goes out of it’s way to attack organized religion. Maybe some can see this book review, read the book, and take a second look at how an individual not only survived, but grew spiritually when confronted by some of the most brutal physical and psychological conditions imaginable.
In picking up this book I thought to myself “I’m not sure what I have to learn from this as thankfully my life is the opposite of a Soviet Gulag in nearly every way.” Surprisingly, I was able to relate to the many challenges, both internal and external that Ciszek faced throughout the book.a
Before he is even shipped off to solitary confinement for some 5 years, Ciszek describes the general attitude towards organized religion in the USSR by both the government and the people. The criticisms of the Church were nearly identical to what I hear on a daily basis here and now. Cheap accusations like “Christianity is irrational,” “the Church is corrupt,” “the Church is decadent” etc. It is worth noting that religion was never banned in the USSR. However, it was illegal to evangelize, and public preaching was forbidden. The activities of not only the Catholic Church were hampered in a variety of extra-legal ways by Soviet Authorities. Ciszek repeatedly points out that while all this was going on, the atheist and Marxist propaganda of the state dominated the public sphere.
Once sentenced to solitary confinement in Lubianka (I believe Solzhenitsyn spent time here as well) for the crime of being a “Vatican spy,” Ciszek compares his lack of integrity in going along with the lies of his NKVD interrogator to original sin. Rather than trust God and tell the truth, Ciszek tried to manipulate the situation for his own benefit.
This failure under pressure causes Ciszek to realize something very important -- the fallen nature of man. Rather than run to God for strength he only relied on himself. His human weakness was no match for the Soviet interrogation machine. This is an important lesson I think we can all learn from whether we’re clinging to our sanity in solitary confinement or feeling discouraged in our day to day life, our musical pursuits, our social interactions, or even our own confrontations with authority. Our human nature is flawed and weak by itself. I heard a saying from Mike West I think on a podcast recently. It was something like “by humbling us, God brings us closer to himself.” Ciszek experienced that. I’ve experienced that. I suspect many others have as well.
Once arriving at the Gulag (labor camp instead of solitary confinement now), Ciszek pauses to explain the behavior of some of the hardened criminals. Because they were usually tougher than the political prisoners, they would lie, cheat, steal, and even beat people for something as small as an extra little food. I thought this was a stunning example of how flawed the Nietzschean idea of a “master morality” is.
The chapter on the body was interesting. Ciszek takes time to marvel at the wonders of our human bodies not in their finest athletic form, but in their ability to absorb punishment and perform work for years on end 7 days a week on a starvation diet. He uses this observation of our physical form as a gift from God as a lever against the dualistic view of matter and spirit embraced by the Manacheans, Albagensians, etc.
In today’s atmosphere of identity politics, I frequently see people labelled by racial group and/or gender. It was interesting to read about how the Soviet Authorities when dealing with a prison population of entirely 'white men' resorted to other identitarian categories in order to keep the prisoners divided and weak. These categories included language, religion, profession, education, and social class prior to imprisonment.
The small and persecuted Church in the labor camp was inspiring to read about. Just the act of saying Mass was strictly forbidden, so they had to do it in small groups and in secret. Just as the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of Evangelization, the persecution these people faced being shared in literary form is helping me (and presumably other readers) grow. I will no longer complain about getting up early for Mass haha.
This quote doesn’t really seem so out of place today:
“What can individual priests dispersed all over the Soviet Union do to combat atheism and the propaganda directed against the Church and religion? What real chance had the Church to survive under such a system, where the people were constantly bombarded with reports that discredited religion as superstition, where the practice of religion was discouraged in so many ways and made difficult by so many subtle pressures, where a man could lose his job or the possibility of an education for his children because he was known to be a believer, or the children themselves were made fun of in school because their parents were believers, or were taught to despise the religious practices an older generation still clung to and talked about at home.”
Once freed from the Gulag, Ciszek goes out of his way to praise the bravery of especially the Polish ex-prisoners in the town even while the KGB was closely monitoring and trying to intimidate him. This made me think on the nature of the Church hierarchy. I am probably not alone in thinking at one time or another that Church officials alone should be responsible for solving problems both within the Church and in ways the Church interfaces with society in general. Perhaps in the same way Ciszek was encouraged by the simple yet strong faith of his congregation in braving social stigma and political pressure, we can do the same just by showing up and doing our best to live authentic Christian lives.
This quote helped me understand some people’s attitudes on religion today:
“Some would bitterly attack religion and the Church. Their attacks would always center on the abuses that are the highlight of all atheistic propaganda against religion: the greed of the Church and how the priests and monks sell candles and icons for money, the sexual perversions of priests and nuns, the political influence and power politics of the Church under the tsars, and the weird ascetical practices and penances of “holy men,” even the tortures of the Inquisition. Every charge that the Church or churchmen have ever left themselves open to by their human failings is recounted in great detail in the courses on atheism in the schools and displayed in the public museums of atheism. That is the only side of the Church the ordinary citizen of this generation has ever heard about, so his antipathy to the Church and to religion, based on these half-truths and distortions is understandable.”
In picking up this book I thought to myself “I’m not sure what I have to learn from this as thankfully my life is the opposite of a Soviet Gulag in nearly every way.” Surprisingly, I was able to relate to the many challenges, both internal and external that Ciszek faced throughout the book.a
Before he is even shipped off to solitary confinement for some 5 years, Ciszek describes the general attitude towards organized religion in the USSR by both the government and the people. The criticisms of the Church were nearly identical to what I hear on a daily basis here and now. Cheap accusations like “Christianity is irrational,” “the Church is corrupt,” “the Church is decadent” etc. It is worth noting that religion was never banned in the USSR. However, it was illegal to evangelize, and public preaching was forbidden. The activities of not only the Catholic Church were hampered in a variety of extra-legal ways by Soviet Authorities. Ciszek repeatedly points out that while all this was going on, the atheist and Marxist propaganda of the state dominated the public sphere.
Once sentenced to solitary confinement in Lubianka (I believe Solzhenitsyn spent time here as well) for the crime of being a “Vatican spy,” Ciszek compares his lack of integrity in going along with the lies of his NKVD interrogator to original sin. Rather than trust God and tell the truth, Ciszek tried to manipulate the situation for his own benefit.
This failure under pressure causes Ciszek to realize something very important -- the fallen nature of man. Rather than run to God for strength he only relied on himself. His human weakness was no match for the Soviet interrogation machine. This is an important lesson I think we can all learn from whether we’re clinging to our sanity in solitary confinement or feeling discouraged in our day to day life, our musical pursuits, our social interactions, or even our own confrontations with authority. Our human nature is flawed and weak by itself. I heard a saying from Mike West I think on a podcast recently. It was something like “by humbling us, God brings us closer to himself.” Ciszek experienced that. I’ve experienced that. I suspect many others have as well.
Once arriving at the Gulag (labor camp instead of solitary confinement now), Ciszek pauses to explain the behavior of some of the hardened criminals. Because they were usually tougher than the political prisoners, they would lie, cheat, steal, and even beat people for something as small as an extra little food. I thought this was a stunning example of how flawed the Nietzschean idea of a “master morality” is.
The chapter on the body was interesting. Ciszek takes time to marvel at the wonders of our human bodies not in their finest athletic form, but in their ability to absorb punishment and perform work for years on end 7 days a week on a starvation diet. He uses this observation of our physical form as a gift from God as a lever against the dualistic view of matter and spirit embraced by the Manacheans, Albagensians, etc.
In today’s atmosphere of identity politics, I frequently see people labelled by racial group and/or gender. It was interesting to read about how the Soviet Authorities when dealing with a prison population of entirely 'white men' resorted to other identitarian categories in order to keep the prisoners divided and weak. These categories included language, religion, profession, education, and social class prior to imprisonment.
The small and persecuted Church in the labor camp was inspiring to read about. Just the act of saying Mass was strictly forbidden, so they had to do it in small groups and in secret. Just as the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of Evangelization, the persecution these people faced being shared in literary form is helping me (and presumably other readers) grow. I will no longer complain about getting up early for Mass haha.
This quote doesn’t really seem so out of place today:
“What can individual priests dispersed all over the Soviet Union do to combat atheism and the propaganda directed against the Church and religion? What real chance had the Church to survive under such a system, where the people were constantly bombarded with reports that discredited religion as superstition, where the practice of religion was discouraged in so many ways and made difficult by so many subtle pressures, where a man could lose his job or the possibility of an education for his children because he was known to be a believer, or the children themselves were made fun of in school because their parents were believers, or were taught to despise the religious practices an older generation still clung to and talked about at home.”
Once freed from the Gulag, Ciszek goes out of his way to praise the bravery of especially the Polish ex-prisoners in the town even while the KGB was closely monitoring and trying to intimidate him. This made me think on the nature of the Church hierarchy. I am probably not alone in thinking at one time or another that Church officials alone should be responsible for solving problems both within the Church and in ways the Church interfaces with society in general. Perhaps in the same way Ciszek was encouraged by the simple yet strong faith of his congregation in braving social stigma and political pressure, we can do the same just by showing up and doing our best to live authentic Christian lives.
This quote helped me understand some people’s attitudes on religion today:
“Some would bitterly attack religion and the Church. Their attacks would always center on the abuses that are the highlight of all atheistic propaganda against religion: the greed of the Church and how the priests and monks sell candles and icons for money, the sexual perversions of priests and nuns, the political influence and power politics of the Church under the tsars, and the weird ascetical practices and penances of “holy men,” even the tortures of the Inquisition. Every charge that the Church or churchmen have ever left themselves open to by their human failings is recounted in great detail in the courses on atheism in the schools and displayed in the public museums of atheism. That is the only side of the Church the ordinary citizen of this generation has ever heard about, so his antipathy to the Church and to religion, based on these half-truths and distortions is understandable.”
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