Women of the Catacombs

L. Daniel Wallace

Description

The memoirs presented in Women of the Catacombs offer a rare close-up account of the underground Orthodox community and its priests during some of the most difficult years in Russian history. The catacomb church in the Soviet Union came into existence in the 1920s and played a significant part in Russian national life for nearly fifty years. Adherents to the Orthodox faith often referred to the catacomb church as the "light shining in the dark." Women of the Catacombs provides a first-hand portrait of lived religion in its social, familial, and cultural setting during this tragic period.Until now, scholars have had only brief, scattered fragments of information about Russia's illegal church organization that claimed to protect the purity of the Orthodox tradition. Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia and Elena Semenovna Men, who joined the church as young women, offer evidence on how Russian Orthodoxy remained a viable, alternative presence in Soviet society, when all political, educational, and cultural institutions attempted to indoctrinate Soviet citizens with an atheistic perspective. Wallace L. Daniel's translation not only sheds light on Russia's religious and political history, but also shows how two educated women maintained their personal integrity in times when prevailing political and social headwinds moved in an opposite direction.

Sujets

• Former Soviet Union
• Philosophie et théologie
• Post-Soviet states
• Memoir
• Russia
• Russie

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501754067
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

WOMENOFTHECATACOMBS

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Slavic,EastEuropean,andEurasianStudies EditedbyChristineD.Worobec

For a list of books in the series, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

WOMENOFTHE CATACOMBS

Me moi r s of t he Unde r gr ound Or t hodox Chur ch i n Sta l i n’ s Russi a

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NORTHERNILLINOISUNIVERSITYPRESS ANIMPRINTOFCORNELLUNIVERSITYPRESS Ithaca and London

Original Russian edition,Katakomby XX veka: Vospominaniia [Catacombs of the Twentieth Century: Memoirs]. Copyright © Fond imeni Aleksandra Menia, 2001

English-language translation, foreword, and editor’s introduction copyright © 2021 by Cornell University

Illustrations courtesy of the Aleksandr Men Foundation

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2021 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Daniel, Wallace L., editor, translator. | Robson, Roy R., writer offoreword. | Men′, Aleksandr, 1935–1990, writer of preface. |Vasilevskaia, V. Ia. (Vera Iakovlevna). Katakomby XX veka. Title: Women of the catacombs : memoirs of the underground Orthodox Churchin Stalin's Russia / edited and translated by Wallace L. Daniel,foreword by Roy R. Robson, preface by Archpriest Aleksandr Men. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Northern Illinois University Press, anCornell University Press,imprint of 2021. | Series: NIU series inSlavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies | Translation of selectionsfrom Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia’s Katakomby XX veka. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers:LCCN2020016283(print)|LCCN2020016284 (ebook) | ISBN9781501753657 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501754401 (paperback) | ISBN9781501754050 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501754067 (pdf ) Subjects: LCSH: Russkaia pravoslavnaia tserkov′—Soviet Union—Biography. | Christian martyrs—Soviet Union— Biography. |Persecution—Soviet Union—History. | Soviet Union—Church history. Classification:LCCBX595.W662021(print)|LCCBX595 (ebook) | DDC289.1092/52 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020016283 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020016284

Cover photo: Elena Tsuperfein (Men) and Vera Vasilevskaia, in the 1920s. Courtesy Fond imeni Aleksandra Menia.

Tomygrandchildren—Sparrow,Eli,Jasper,andRiver—who represent the future, and to the Russian women who have kept alive memories of the catacomb church community

Contents

List of Illustrationsix Acknowledgmentsxi Note on Transliteration and Translationxiii Foreword byRoy R. Robsonxv Editor’s Introductionxix Original Preface toKatakomby XX veka: VospominaniiabyArchpriest Aleksandr Menxxxiii

I. Fr. Serafim by Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia Ante Lucem1 OneMustTakeuptheCross11 WhiteChrysanthemums20 The Grace of the Holy Spirit24 HoldingontoChrist’sGarments35 Go to Sarov42 In Ravaged Sarov 46 It Will Be More Difficult 56 The War64 The Last Days and the End 72 II. Fr. Pyotr Shipkov by Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia In Zagorsk during the War81 On the End of the War. The Rebirth of the Church86 Fr. Pyotr in Exile (Letters) 88 ReturnfromExile91

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viii CONTENTS

IllnessandtheFinalDaysintheLife of Fr. Pyotr96 From the Letters of V. Ia. Vasilevskaia to N. V. Trapani99 III. My Journey by Elena Semenovna Men

Appendix: My Childhood and Youth byVera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia137 Notes173 Index199

101

I l lu s t r at i o n s

Serafim (Batiukov)1. Archimandrite  2. Vera Vasilevskaia with her friend Zina in the 1920s  3. The house in which Archimandrite Serafim served, in Sergiev Posad (Zagorsk)  4. Icon of the Iverskaia Mother of God, before which Archimandrite Serafim prayed  5. Hieromonk Ieraks (Bocharev), end of the 1920s  6. Elena Tsuperfein (Men) and Vera Vasilevskaia, in the 1920s  7. Elena Tsuperfein (Men), Veniamin, and Vera Vasilevskaia, September 14, 1924  8. Elena Tsuperfein (Men), beginning of the 1930s  9. Elena Semenovna Men, June 27, 1938 10. Vladimir and Elena Men with their sons, 1939 11. V. S. Tsuperfein, V. Ia. Vasilevskaia, E. S. Men, A. V. Men, and Lenochka Tsuperfein, beginning of the 1950s 12. Viktor Germanovich Rikman 13. V. Ia. Vasilevskaia with her father, Iakov Veniaminovich, and her brother Veniamin

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22 32 105

106 111 119 121

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