Iota Unum Talk No. 10 : The Church and Tradition in the former Communist Bloc: Russia, Poland, and Romania.

Latin Mass Society

Joseph Shaw talks to FIUV contacts in three former Communist-bloc countries

From Russia: Oleg-Martin Martynov of Una Voce Russia

Oleg-Michaël Martynov (b. 1977) is a founding member of Una Voce Russia, and is on its governing Board. He is also a member of the FIUV Council .

Born and raised in a typical secular family in the last years of the USSR, he was baptized into the Catholic Church in his early 20s. He is married, with two grown-up children but no grandchildren yet, and is an English to Russian translator by trade.

From Poland: Jarosław Syrkiewicz (b.1971) was founding member of Una Voce Polonia and remains on their Board. Jarosław gained an MA in Economics (University of Economics - Katowice 1996), and works in IT.

From Romania: Prof Robert Lazu Kmita

Prof. Lazu Kmita is a Catholic philosopher and writer living in Romania. His works can be seen on the Academia website (English C.V. here); he has also written for The Remnant (e.g. here), Gregorius Magnus (e.g. on p. 32 here), Polonia Christiana (Poland), Radici Cristiane (Italy), Second Spring (Oxford) and many other journals. Also known as a Tolkien scholar, he is the author of a massive Encyclopedia of J.R.R. Tolkien's World (available only in Romanian) and many monographs, studies and articles. The Romanian edition of his first novel, Insula fără anotimpuri (The Island without Seasons) has been released in 2019. The Spanish edition, entitled La Isla del Laberinto (The Island of the Labyrinth), is also available since March, 2021 (here). The English edition will be published next year (2022).

Correction: Oleg-Michael mentioned that Stalin banned abortion in the Soviet Union: the correct date of this is 1938, not after the Second World War.