With God in Russia: The Inspiring Classic Account of a Catholic Priest's Twenty-three Years in Soviet Prisons and Labor Camps

by Walter J. Ciszek, Daniel L. Flaherty

Overview

A Polish-American priest spends twenty-three years in Soviet prisons and labor camps during the Cold War in this classic memoir of faith and survival.

After ministering in Eastern Europe during World War II, Walter Ciszek, S.J., was arrested by the Russian secret police. Accused of spying, and charged with “agitation with intent to subvert,” he was held in Moscow’s notorious Lubyanka prison for five years. The Catholic priest was then sentenced without trial to ten more years in Siberia’s notorious forced labor camp system made famous in Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago.

In With God in Russia, Ciszek reflects on his daily life as a prisoner, his unwavering faith in God, and his firm devotion to his vows and vocation. Enduring brutal conditions, Ciszek risked his life to offer spiritual guidance to fellow prisoners who could easily have exposed him for their own gains.

Ciszek chronicles these experiences with grace, humility, and candor, from his secret work leading mass and hearing confessions within the prison grounds, to his participation in a major gulag uprising, to his eventual release in a 1963 prisoner exchange which astonished all who had feared he was dead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062641939
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	388
Sales rank:	178,850
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Walter J. Ciszek, SJ (1904–1984), a native of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, was an American Jesuit missionary priest who spent twenty-three years in the Soviet Union before and during the Cold War.

Rev. James Martin, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, editor at large of America magazine, consultor to the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, and author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestsellers Jesus: A Pilgrimage, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and My Life with the Saints, which Publishers Weekly named one of the best books of 2006. Father Martin is a frequent commentator in the national and international media, having appeared on all the major networks, and in such diverse outlets as The Colbert Report, NPR's Fresh Air, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.  Before entering the Jesuits in 1988 he graduated from the Wharton School of Business.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Story Behind the Story Daniel L. Flaherty, SJ 1

Chapter 1 The Beginnings 7

Chapter 2 Moscow Prison Years 63

Chapter 3 In the Prison Camps of Norilsk 142

Chapter 4 A Free Man, Restricted 277

Chapter 5 My Return Home 353

Afterword: The Sign of the Cross: Spiritual Lessons from With God in Russia James Martin, SJ 383

Acknowledgments 391

Editorial Reviews

This is really the story of a non-spy who stayed out in the cold. It builds in interest and suspense from page to page.” — Denver Rocky Mountain News

“. . . a human and historical document of compelling interest.” — The Atlantic

“. . . the great story of spirit and courage, written by the Catholic priest who literally disappeared after being taken prisoner in Russia.” — Catholic Sentinel

“His integrity and his religious faith light up his sturdy account of what he endured and his report on what he saw, an American prisoner’s view of the Soviet Union.” — New York Post

“. . . at once an unusually penetrating picture of Siberian life and also an ennobling insight into a simple and unpretentious man who would never admit to being one of God’s heroes.” — The Sign

“. . . holds the reader in a grip of suspense that the late Ian Fleming would have envied.” — Pittsburgh Press

“More than a superbly interesting adventure story, With God in Russia is a moving document of a man’s faith in his God and his God’s goodness in allowing him to live through his ordeal.” — The Advocate

“. . . an incisive portrayal of the struggle for existence in a Russian prison camp. The very simplicity of presentation makes it unforgettable.” — Louisville Times

“A truly inspiring story, to our age what Dostoevsky’s ‘House of the Dead’ was to his.” — Ave Maria

From the Publisher

. . . the great story of spirit and courage, written by the Catholic priest who literally disappeared after being taken prisoner in Russia.

Catholic Sentinel

. . . holds the reader in a grip of suspense that the late Ian Fleming would have envied.

Pittsburgh Press

More than a superbly interesting adventure story, With God in Russia is a moving document of a man’s faith in his God and his God’s goodness in allowing him to live through his ordeal.

The Advocate

. . . at once an unusually penetrating picture of Siberian life and also an ennobling insight into a simple and unpretentious man who would never admit to being one of God’s heroes.

The Sign

. . . an incisive portrayal of the struggle for existence in a Russian prison camp. The very simplicity of presentation makes it unforgettable.

Louisville Times

. . . a human and historical document of compelling interest.

The Atlantic

This is really the story of a non-spy who stayed out in the cold. It builds in interest and suspense from page to page.

Denver Rocky Mountain News

A truly inspiring story, to our age what Dostoevsky’s ‘House of the Dead’ was to his.

Ave Maria

His integrity and his religious faith light up his sturdy account of what he endured and his report on what he saw, an American prisoner’s view of the Soviet Union.

New York Post

His integrity and his religious faith light up his sturdy account of what he endured and his report on what he saw, an American prisoner’s view of the Soviet Union.

New York Post