From my earliest years, religion has always had a special place in my heart. It seems to me that part of this attitude was shaped by the fact that I was born in a Communist country. At the time of my birth, most churches were closed or were turned into museums. Great monasteries had been turned into tourist destinations, while Christian believers of all denominations had gone underground or were being persecuted. In this atmosphere of enforced atheism, religion was not mentioned because it was a well known fact that God didn’t exist.
From my earliest days, I was drawn to churches. In the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, there are a great number of beautiful Orthodox churches and parishes. One of the grandest is the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky that is located in the middle of the city. With its golden domes and tall bell tower, it was built as a memorial to Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who had liberated the Bulgarians from the Turks. Since its completion in 1913, this has been the largest church in the Balkan Peninsula in terms of size.
In my childhood, however, I didn’t know any of this. I would simply walk into St. Alexander Nevsky and admire the magnificent murals of various saints, the Blessed Mother, and Our Lord. I distinctly remember how large this church was and how its size made me feel like a tiny ant. Wandering through it, I wondered who those people were that were depicted on the iconostasis and the walls. Yet none of the adults could tell me.
Neither of my parents had been raised in a Christian environment. Indeed, their early days had been filled with nothing but Lenin, Marx, and Engels. These were the trinity that had replaced the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All of the Communist world bowed towards them. Indeed, their ideology pervaded aspect of people’s lives and disobedience was a crime that was punishable by prison sentences, death, and disqualification from every major appointment that one could wish for.
Without knowing it, I had been disobedient because I was asking about things that were forbidden. Although it was possible to study and talk about religion, one was not allowed to proselytize. The churches that were open had priests that were forbidden to teach catechism and educate their young. In this environment, Christianity was being bled dry.
Yet there were people, hundreds and thousands, that continued to believe in God. Like the early Christians, they lived their lives in the catacombs. In an atmosphere of absolute fear, they continued to do those things that otherwise were not possible. They educated their children in the faith, took them to church, and went on pilgrimages to monasteries.
Yet lay people were not the only ones in the catacombs. No. There were priests, monks, and nuns that continued to minister to those that needed it. Some of them courageously preached the truths of the Christian faith in the midst of Godlessness, while others spent their lives living their vows in secret. Their habits were ordinary clothes, but these were tonsured souls. Hundreds of these secret priests and nuns existed in Russia.
When Communism fell, Christianity was restored, but the revival was not what many people wanted. During Communist times, many Protestant sects had managed to go to the USSR to create converts. Many of them were incredibly successful and converted hundreds of people to their cause. In the face of this, some of the new independent governments started to legislate on matters of religion. If one did not belong to the official religion (Orthodox Christianity, Catholicism, etc.), then one was forced to leave the country. Many fled and came to the United States, while others stayed back home.
The fall of Communism also brought new opportunities. Christianity came out into the open and a revival took place in terms of religion. Yet nominalism is still a disease that wracks these countries. Many people simply call themselves Orthodox or Catholic and yet live completely pagan lives. Indeed, nominalism is a disease that has been insidious even in America.
In the end what we should do and think about is how pernicious Communism truly was to those who lived through it and how Christians were persecuted. It is my hope that the thaw in church-state relations will allow Our Lady of Fatima’s promise of the conversion of Russia to be fulfilled. Let’s pray together for this and hope that our prayers will be answered.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us
St. Joseph, pray for us
St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us
St. Josaphat, pray for us
