With God In Russia (book review)

 With God in Russia by Walter J. Ciszek, S.J.     Silva Redigonda

     With God in Russia is about a young Jesuit priest who suffers twenty-three years in Soviet prisons and Siberian Labor Camps under suspicion of being a spy for the Vatican. It portrays a loss of innocence from sufferings endured and seen.  But more importantly it tells a journey of his relationship with God who helped him throughout this ordeal of pain.

     Father Ciszek's story begins in 1939. His journey is taking place at a time when millions died, a Great War was fought, the hydrogen bomb was invented, and four Popes reigned, which covers much of the 19^th century.  The author restricts opinions but rather allows the reader to form them.  The author manages to provoke thought and incorporates much of the images of the 19^th century political and religious arena.  Pieces of information is received from the author and transcended to the reader to allow reflection for the time period between his life in confinement and the outside world.

          The central idea is how cruel people can be to each other.  This is manifested by how suspicious people can become of the Catholic Church.  The most important theme is how God is with us everywhere making life bearable when it isn't. It shows humanity at its worse and at its best.  Cruelty is demonstrated by beatings, torturing, and killings occurring within the camps and among the prisoners themselves.  The reader travels along with Father Ciszek and feels the escalation of his hunger, his pain, and the omissions of the basics of human needs such as water and food. Soap is a luxury. It shows humanity at its best by the kindness still evident by some to help others at the risk of their own safety.  It shows God's guiding hand in helping Father Ciszek to serve mass; listen to confession when possible and keeping him alive.  The author successfully portrays the hypocrisy of communism by the contrast of power.  It illustrates beatings of Father Ciszek, as he insists that he is not a spy.  It depicts how a priest must be silent of who he is when religion is considered an evil. Father Ciszek is very convincing in portraying his life objectively.  There is goodness in those imprisoned for murder, within the guards and within the medical profession.  Father Ciszek permits us to see as he sees humanity, the balance of goodness and evil, the misinterpretations that occur as being suspect of the religious, even among good men.              

   There are two metaphors in the biography, which brings everything together politically, and display a balance of good/evil in humanity.  The first is the image of a Pope shaking hands with a Russian leader at the same time that priests and nuns are imprisoned and treated poorly.  The second, which is also the climax of the story, is portrayed when Father Ciszek is walking along with other prisoners, after Stalin's death where they are being transferred to be shortly released from confinement. Father Ciszek observes a mother bird tending to her young chicks and the father bird is watching over the nest.  This image relaxes the priest and fills him with a joy he hasn't experienced for so long.  He reflects on his own relationship with his own father.  Entranced he marvels to a fellow prisoner.  The prisoner grabs a stone and throws it at the mother bird, killing her. The prisoner is quite pleased with his aim, oblivious to the end of life he has caused. Father Ciszek demonstrates his first and only display of anger and disgust. "… I began to shake all over, completely beside myself with rage.  I shouted and raved at him almost irrationally until, stunned; he turned on his heel and walked away.  I spat on the ground behind him in anger.  That night I fell into a mood of depression that lasted for more than two days."  After enduring so much, his moment of joy is destroyed.  It all comes together, the senselessness of it all.

     This book is highly recommended.  Once one begins to read it and become part of Father Ciszek's life, it is difficult to put the book down.  One becomes completely immersed.  This is a book for everyone because it teaches life.  It shows good and bad of everyone.  Even though Father Ciszek suffered greatly, he also depicts the good in Russia, in the people.  By the time you have finished reading Father's Ciszek's book you have fallen in love with him.