Book Review: A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy

Reviewed by Svetlana Parish

Summary

The author, Nathaniel Davis, describes his book as “a secular examination of the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in recent times.” He acknowledges the difficulty of examining belief from the outside since the only observables are numbers: of believers, of priests and church workers, of churches; and not the reality and depth of faith within any person. The book begins its examination with the revolution of 1917 and concludes in 2001.
The author served in the U. S. Foreign Service for 36 years including time in Moscow and as Lyndon B. Johnson’s senior advisor on Soviet and Eastern European affairs. He identifies himself as being a member of the United Church of Christ.
I chose this book because of a desire to learn more about the Orthodox Church and its struggle during the time of communism. Also because of a desire to hear of the personal struggle of believers during that time.
Application and Reflection

I was disappointed with much of this book. Many of the chapters are basically statistical summaries of numbers of churches, priests, believers gleaned from Soviet government documents and church documents of the period. There was very little of a “personal” nature in terms of individual’s struggles and triumphs during the time. There is mention made of church leaders bowing to pressure to cooperate with the communists – their desire described as being for the purpose of saving the church – but no examination of these actions or events. Although the author says this is a secular examination and claims personal membership in the United Church of Christ, the book almost has an apologetic feel to it as though the desire is to present the Orthodox Church as a noble organization that struggled mightily against a larger enemy and won.
I must here admit to a personal bias. Having lived in Russia a large part of my life and seen the Orthodox Church and their actions I have no “warm fuzzies” for them. Especially now with their open support of the law prohibiting missionary work. I found this quote from the book to be enlightening, “the church serves the believers who find their own way to faith and practice; they did not seem to see a proselytizing, evangelizing church at the heart of things” The thought seems to be that this is Russia, the people are Orthodox, our buildings are beautiful and obvious, they will find us when they are ready. There also was expressed a desire among church leaders to suppress lay groups, rather than encourage and nurture, for fear of losing power and control.
The question of how this book could apply to my ministry is a difficult one to consider. If I take the view of looking for ways to present the Orthodox Church in a questionable light in order to help someone question their trust or faith in the church and it’s institutions for salvation, there are some things of value here. If I desire not to be argumentative or confrontational there are sprinkled within the pages stories of individuals who did not waver in their faith and who suffered as a result. There are also the many statistics that show how the church suffered at the hands of the communists.
On the first page of the introduction the author identifies 2 occasions when he says the Orthodox Church almost ceased to exist as an institution in Russia. He then asks why it survived. “Was it luck, which could change? Was it something intrinsic in the natural order that prevents the triumph of anti-religion? Was it the constancy of God, which ultimately rules human history?” Unfortunately I don’t think he answered his questions.