The memoirs presented in Women of the Catacombs offer a rare close-up account of the underground Orthodox community and its priests during some of the most difficult years in Russian history. The catacomb church in the Soviet Union came into existence in the 1920s and played a significant part in Russian national life for nearly fifty years. Adherents to the Orthodox faith often referred to the catacomb church as the "light shining in the dark." Women of the Catacombs provides a first-hand portrait of lived religion in its social, familial, and cultural setting during this tragic period. Until now, scholars have had only brief, scattered fragments of information about Russia's illegal church organization that claimed to protect the purity of the Orthodox tradition. Vera Iakovlevna Vasilevskaia and Elena Semenovna Men, who joined the church as young women, offer evidence on how Russian Orthodoxy remained a viable, alternative presence in Soviet society, when all political, educational, and cultural institutions attempted to indoctrinate Soviet citizens with an atheistic perspective. Wallace L. Daniel's translation not only sheds light on Russia's religious and political history, but also shows how two educated women maintained their personal integrity in times when prevailing political and social headwinds moved in an opposite direction.

This volume deals with the Christian catacombs of Rome and presents the current state of research and knowledge concerning these extraordinary monuments that provide the most tangible and eloquent testimony of early Christianity. This volume is intended to represent the official publication on the Christian catacombs of Rome, prepared directly by members of the Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra. Through association with this commission, it has been possible to publish the most recent and up to date graphic and photographic documentation of the excavations and restorations carried out in the last few years in preparation for the Great Jubilee Year of 2000. It should be a useful and valuable didactic tool for visiting the catacombs of Rome, that, as the Holy Father has noted on numerous occasions, represent manditory destinations for all the pilgrims who will come to Rome in the year 2000 from all over the world. - Introduction.