Christus Vincit
By Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Diane Montagna
Angelico Press, 338pp, £16.50/$20
When the Soviets sought to describe the middle of nowhere, they said “Karaganda”. Indeed, there wasn’t much of anything in Karaganda, in Kazakhstan, other than the Karlag – a gigantic gulag that incarcerated over one million prisoners and covered as much territory as modern France.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s first episcopal appointment was to this middle-of-nowhere diocese. But to him it was holy ground. As he says in his new book-length interview: “The soil around Karaganda is soaked with the tears and blood of countless innocent persons.” Among them were religious and priests that his family knew well.
