Bishop Emerged from Hiding to Consecrate a Church – Bishop Schneider

Bishop Athanasius Schneider recalled his childhood in the underground Church of the Soviet Union during a talk in Cobh, Ireland, on August 3, AdVaticanum.com reports.
“There were times when we had gatherings like this, but we had to close the windows and the doors because we were checked by the secret police, and we had to hide priests.”
He recounted the story of Bishop Alexander Chira (1897-1983), a clandestine Greek Catholic bishop whom Soviet authorities urged “not to deny Christ, but only to become Orthodox,” thereby breaking communion with Rome.
“He refused,” Bishop Schneider said, and, as a consequence, he was imprisoned in “several concentration camps called gulags.”
Afterward, Bishop Chira lived under house arrest in Karaganda, concealing his identity as a bishop to avoid being sent back. “He could not reveal his identity as a bishop,” Bishop Schneider said. “Otherwise, he would be sent back. So he could only say to the people, ‘I am Father Alexander.’”
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