More than 20 years ago, as the Soviet Union was falling, I went on a trip to northern Russia with an environmental group. The purpose of the visit was to collect samples from the fish of the White Sea, so they could be tested for dioxins and furans, common environmental toxins in the almost unregulated Soviet environment. These chlorine-containing organic compounds are known to be potent causes of birth defects, even in very small amounts. They are most often found in dairy products and sea foods. The group was after fish bladders as representative samples.

On the way north, we stopped at an outdoor building museum, where we saw traditional northern Russian chapels and peasant cabins. I thought of these recently when I came across these striking photographs on a web site called The Lost Churches of Russia:

http://mytechnologyworld9.blogspot.in/2012/12/the-lost-churches-of-russia.html

It also made me recall Maria Ch., a member of the environmental group, who was a guest of ours in Washington DC while on a visit to the States. Maria is a well-known field biologist, an authority on Siberian birds. It was her reputation as a biologist that got both of us a visit to the National Zoo’s great reserve of rare animals at Fort Royal in Virginia.

Maria told me about her son, an Orthodox priest, whose parish was on the outskirts of Suzdal, a kind of museum city which contains many buildings in the old Russian style. He lived there with his wife and children, quietly and modestly serving his flock. She told me that he was very happy.

I often read manifestos these days by missionary atheists who proclaim their determination to root out religion from our societies. But I have seen such an effort fail in the Soviet Union, although all the forces of a powerful state were applied to the project of creating a God-free culture. They failed, as their successors will always fail. This is God’s world, not theirs, and He is watching over His people. There may be retreats, but there will never be a capitulation.

Here is a Ukrainian Christmas carol, sung by a folk choir of the Kuban Cossacks. The people of the Kuban were themselves subject to great repression and slaughters, but they and their faith survive: