With God in Russia
by Walter Ciszek
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Book Reviews of With God in Russia
Book Review: From Russia, With Love
Summary: 4 Stars
". . . it isn't often one gets the chance to be around when a man comes back from the dead" (From the Introduction).This is Father Ciszek's odyssey from class bully to rough- hewn, intrepid minister inside and out of the best accommodations the Soviet Union had to offer for their political prisoners: the best KGB interrogators, the best watered-down soup, the best concrete bunks, the best mix of sociopathic criminals mixed in with the prisoners of conscience, the best conditions guaranteed to reduce the expense of maintaining an extensive number of prisoners who, however inadvertantly, irritated the authorities.
There are few spiritual insights--this isn't a letter from Saint Paul, nor Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn--but his experiences speak for themselves. Fr. Ciszek endured the rigors of intense interrogations followed by five years of imprisonment in cells, both isolated and crowded, within Moscow. He endured another ten years in worker camps inside the Arctic Circle.
In spite of the hardships, he managed to minister to a captive audience supplied by the Russian authorities. He heard confessions and said Mass with provisions supplied by the prisoners themselves, such as fermented raisins for sacramental wine, and a paten made of nickel.
There were some minor disappointments. He had his picture snapped at Lenin's tomb days before he was airlifted from the national prison Lenin founded. For all the suffering he endured out of love for the people of the Soviet Union, I overlooked his touristy affectation. Besides, he DOES offer a prayer for Lenin's soul: "He was a man, after all, . . . and he may be in need of more prayers than he's getting here."
Also, I would have appreciated a few pages relating how he readjusted to life back home.
This memoir should sit next to other prison crucibles, such as "The Gulag Archipilago by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, "When Hell Was In Session" by Jeremiah Denton and "Against All Hope" by Armando Valladares.
Book Review: A wonderful manifestation of trust on God
Summary: 5 Stars
Even though Fr Ciszek tells his story in a matter of fact and emotionless manner, the story is deeply moving. Fr Ciszek's trust in Divine Providence notwithstanding his 5 years of interrogation at the Lubyanka and his 15 years in a labour camp is an extrordinary manifestation of the grace of God. His story gives an important insight into the madness of the communist regime - its obsession with the "rule of law" (far from it!), the strange politness at times of the KGB - a monumentally evil and irrational regime which somehow tried to cover itself in a veneer of law and reason but which was ultimately rotten to the core. Thank God for Fr Ciszek's witness to the faith in the midst of such inhumanity. AMDG!!!
Incidentally, to get the full picture, one really needs to read the companion book: "He leadeth me". In this later book, he gives a commentary of his time in Russia and the hard spiritual lessons he had to learn (particularly in the Lubyanka) in order to learn to trust in providence. Without this later book, one might be tempted to just see Fr Ciszek as a man of unbelievable natural strength and see his faith as a gloss but in the later book he makes it crystal clear that at all times it was his trust in God that sustained him. God bless you, Fr Ciszek!
Book Review: Brilliant and Humble
Summary: 5 Stars
Both of Father Ciszek's books ring in the truth of a 'spiritual awakening' versus our pretense at holiness via the intellect. His premise, that we must endure suffering in order to 'let' God's presense into our life to guide us, is the bare bones reality of a spiritual life. Or as Oswald Chambers states we must come to the end of 'ourselves'. Father Ciszek came to the end of himself after years of 'stubborness' and one ups manship with his NKVD interrogators, and realized the spiritual nuance of being guided by God versus being guided by ego.
I feel I need not read anymore, but just experience my life as it unfolds moment to moment. These books along with Eckhart Tolle's books are essentials.
'He Leadth Me' is the best of the two in that he wrote it after his experiences in Russia had a few years to synthesize----both are brilliant and humble.
The Way of a Pilgrim is also a terrific book, but it was not written nor translated by Father Ciszek. He wrote an Introduction to the translation.
In short all three are necessary reads for a Pilgrim.
Book Review: Good book, but his other book is better
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a good book, however I like his second book "He Leadeth Me" better. In this book, Father Ciszek does not go into much detail about what he learned from his ordeal. He mostly gives a chronology of all the events that took place during his 23 years in Russian work camps and prison camps.
In his other book "He Leadeth Me", he goes into detail all the spiritual lessons that he learned during his difficult years of imprisonment in Russia. His spiritual insights are very edifying and enlightening. He provides alot of hard earned spiritual lessons and spiritual direction in his other book "He Leadeth Me".
So, while I would recommend this book, in my opinion it is not as good as his other book.
Glenn Dallaire
Book Review: A Beautifully Crafted Story
Summary: 5 Stars
With God in Russia is an amazing book. One of my professors learned that I was interested in the Soviet Union and he suggested me this book. At first, I scoffed at it thinking that it would be several hundred pages of preaching to me with bits of history sprinkled in. I was wrong. This book tells of the life of a Soviet prisoner with incredible detail. This book isn't only a vivid description of a history that was erased and forgotten, but a story of how a man's hope, faith, and determination led him through a dark time in his life. I don't like to use clichés but, this book is a must read. Once I got past page 50 or so I couldn't put it down.