Alexander Solzhenitsyn: The Courage to be Christian

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

by Joseph Pearce

In these dark days in which the power of secular fundamentalism appears to be on the rise and in which religious freedom seems to be imperiled, it is easy for Christians to become despondent. The clouds of radical relativism seem to obscure the light of objective truth and it can be difficult to discern any silver lining to help us illumine the future with hope.

In such gloomy times the example of the martyrs can be encouraging. Those who laid down their lives for Christ and His Church in worse times than ours are beacons of light, dispelling the darkness with their baptism of blood. “Upon such sacrifices,” King Lear tells his soon to be martyred daughter Cordelia, “The gods themselves throw incense.”

It is said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church and, if this is so, more bloody seed has been sown in the past century than in any of the bloody centuries that preceded it. Tens of millions have been slaughtered on the blood-soaked altars of national and international socialism in Europe, China, Cambodia and elsewhere. Today, in many parts of the world, millions upon millions are being slaughtered in the womb in the name of “reproductive rights.”

In such a meretricious age the giant figure of Alexander Solzhenitsyn emerges as a colossus of courage.

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Books by Dr. Pearce, including his book on Solzhenitsyn, may be found in in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. Essays by Joseph Pearce may be found here.Joseph Pearce, is a Senior Contributor to The Imaginative Conservative and writer in residence at Thomas More College in New Hampshire, is the author of eighteen books. His works include: G.K. Chesterton: Wisdom and Innocence, Literary Converts, Tolkien: Man and Myth, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile, The Quest for Shakespeare and Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc. Mr. Pearce has four new books due to be published fall 2013. He is the series editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions, which focuses on traditional readings of the classics of world literature; he is also executive director of Catholic Courses, and editor of the St. Austin Review. Mr. Pearce has hosted two thirteen-part television series for EWTN on Shakespeare’s Catholicism, and is in the midst of filming special documentaries for EWTN on Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings.

Read more: www.theimaginativeconservative.org