Well-known Catholic writer James Likoudis has written 3 books and many articles dealing with Catholic-Eastern Orthodox Relations and which examined the ecclesiology of Russian and Greek Orthodox theologians attempting to justify their centuries of separation from full communion with the Apostolic See of Rome.

In his latest book he gives the accounts of 10 Russian, one Rumanian, one Greek and one Greek-American who overcame long-standing prejudices of families and governments as well as serious theological misconceptions concerning the Papacy to become Catholics. These accounts constitute one of the most powerful apologias for the Papacy - and this by Eastern Byzantine-rite Christians who came to realize that the spiritual and mystical life of the Church cannot be separated from its Petrine hierarchical structure. The Mystical Body of Christ was incomplete without the visible head the Divine Savior had provided for the government of His Church.

These are fascinating accounts of heroic men and women who struggled to overcome the prejudices of medieval anti-Latin Byzantium and 19th century Czarism and Slavophilism against Catholicism. There is the remarkable figure of Madam Sophie Swetchine exiled from the Russia she loved to gather about her Salon in Paris the Catholic intellectual elite of France. The fascinating Jesuit Ivan Gagarin and the Barnabite Gregory Petrovitch Schouvalov felt the object of their lives was to pray and work for the reunion of the Russian and other Slav peoples with the Catholic Church. They organized associations of prayer for the reconciliation of Russian Orthodoxy with the See of Rome.

The greatest of Russian philosophers Vladimir Soloviev is noted as one of the most brilliant apologists for Catholicism with his book "Russia and the Universal Church" which would influence many Russians, some of whom are found in this work. Two heroic martyrs for the faith, the Roumanian priest Blessed Vladimir Ghika and the Russian Exarch for the little group of Russian Catholics, Blessed Leonid Feodorov, would both die in Communist goulags.

There is also the inspiring portrait of the brilliant Princess Elizabeth Volkonskaia (1838-1897) who has been termed "the woman theologian and Church historian who inspired the Russian Catholic movement in the XIX century". She wrote two books defending the Papacy against the historical and theological errors of Russian Orthodox theologians.

The Greek Helle Georgiadis, a teacher in England, and the Russian Dr. Irene Posnov, living in France, were active in publications promoting a genuine ecumenism in their countries. Helene Iswolsky taught many years at Fordham University and Seton Hill College, and is better known among Americans for her books "Soul of Russia" and "Christ in Russia" as well as important articles in the ecumenical quarterly "The Third Hour". Russian Count George Bennigsen and James Likoudis whose parents were Greek immigrants expose the fatal weaknesses in Eastern Orthodox teaching on the Church's Infallibility. In effect, there can be no Church Infallibility without the Papacy.

Chapter XIII "On Church Unity and the Conversion of Russia Prophesied by Our Lady of Fatima" will be of particular interest to Catholics devoted to the Mother of God under that title. In authentic apparitions sanctioned by the Church, Our Lady came to three children in Portugal in 1917 with her message of Penance, the reality of Hell, the need for reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the scourge of world-Communism.

It is her promise of the "conversion of Russia" and consequent period of world peace that has been the object of fierce debate in Catholic circles. Many writers have held that the "conversion of Russia" meant only the end of the anti-Christ Soviet State accompanied by a new birth of political and religious freedom or the revival of Christian faith among the Russian people.

It is unfortunate that certain Catholic ecumenists fearing to offend Russian Orthodox sensibilities have upheld that Our Lady only prophesied a revived Russian Orthodox Church, not the promise of a Catholic Russia. How a Catholic Russia could possibly come about since the centuries of anti-Catholic prejudice and 70 years of savage persecution and suffocation of faith under Communist atheism is admittedly difficult to envisage. But the astonishing events of Our Lady of Fatima's apparitions climaxed by the miraculous "Miracle of the Sun" and the unique role she expected the Successors of Peter to play regarding Russia surely envisages something equally spectacular in the future.

The writer of "Heralds of a Catholic Russia" presents a convincing and compelling case for his thesis.

Why should not a Catholic Russia result from the sustained ecumenical efforts encouraged by the Popes and culminating in the doctrinal reconciliation of Russian Orthodoxy with Rome?

About Dr. James Likoudis
James Likoudis is an expert in Catholic apologetics. He is the author of several books dealing with Catholic-Eastern Orthodox relations, including his most recent "The Divine Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and Modern Eastern Orthodoxy: Letters to a Greek Orthodox on the Unity of the Church." He has written many articles published by various religious papers and magazines.
He can be reached at:  jameslikoudis1@gmail.com, or visit  Dr. James Likoudis' Homepage