Nora Rubashova (12 March 1909 – 12 May 1987) was a Catholic

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

converted from Judaism. Her monastic name was Catherine.

Biography

Nora Rubashova was born in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, in a wealthy

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

family. In April 1926, under the influence of her high school teacher Tamara Sapozhnikova, she converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

of the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. Th ...

and took vows as a nun of the community of Sisters founded by Mother Catherine Abrikosova. Rubashova adopted the

monastic name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for a religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should not be "foreign ...

of Sister

Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. ...

. According to Fr. Georgii Friedman, Rubashova's parents were heartbroken by her conversion and entrance into the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. Her father, though, eventually came to terms with the fact. He used to joke whenever his daughter visited along with her fellow nuns, "Here come my in-laws!" She studied at the Faculty of History and Philology of

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. Rubashova was a parishioner of Fr. Sergei Solovyov, who offered the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...

in the

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...

liturgical language A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is any language that is cultivated and used primarily in church service or for other religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives. Concept A sacre ...

at a side altar inside what is now the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. On February 15, 1931 she was arrested for belonging to the

Russian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow,_Catholic_Church_in_Presnya.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception , abbreviation = , ty ...

. On August 18, 1931 she was sentenced to 5 years of labor camps in the

Mariinsky District Mariinsky District (russian: Марии́нский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the nineteen in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.Law #215-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Mariinsky Municipal District.Law #1 ...

, was released in 1936 and sent into exile in

Michurinsk Michurinsk (russian: Мичу́ринск) is the second most populous town in Tambov Oblast, Russia. Population: History Originally known as Kozlov (), it was founded in 1635 at the northern end of the emerging Belgorod Line, a frontier defen ...

. In 1937 she left for

Maloyaroslavets Maloyaroslavets (russian: Малояросла́вец) is a town and the administrative center of Maloyaroslavetsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Luzha River (Oka's basin), northeast of Kaluga, the adminis ...

, where she joined the sisters, the remains of

Anna Abrikosova Anna Ivanovna Abrikosova (russian: Анна Ивановна Абрикосова; 23 January 1882 – 23 July 1936), later known as Mother Catherine of Siena, O.P. (russian: Екатери́на Сие́нская, transcribed Ekaterina Sienska ...

's Dominican community. In May 1944 Rubashova traveled to the New Shulba near

Semipalatinsk Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhst ...

, to help sister Stephanie Gorodets who was there in exile. In 1947, together with Sister Stephanie she returned to Maloyaroslavets, and in summer of 1948 moved to

Kaluga Kaluga ( rus, Калу́га, p=kɐˈɫuɡə), a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast in Russia, stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: Kaluga's most famous resident, the space travel pioneer Konstantin Tsiol ...

. On November 30, 1948 she was re-arrested for belonging to Russian Catholics and on October 29, 1949 was sentenced to 15 years of labor camps. Rubashova was sent to

Vorkuta Gulag The Vorkuta Corrective Labor Camp (), commonly known as the Vorkuta Gulag or Vorkutlag (Воркутлаг), was a major GULAG labor camp of the Soviet Union located in Vorkuta from 1932 to 1962. The Vorkuta Gulag was one of the largest camps in ...

and in 1954 to

Karlag Karlag (Karaganda Corrective Labor Camp, Russian: Карагандинский исправительно-трудовой лагерь, Карлаг) was one of the largest Gulag labor camps, located in Karaganda Oblast (now Karaganda Region, ...

, staying there until May 1956. After her release from the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

, Rubashova went to Moscow. Mother Stephania Gorodets soon joined her and they lived together in a small flat in a communal apartment building near the University Station of the

Moscow metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...

. Nora Rubashova got a job at the State Historical Library, where she worked until retirement. She attended the Church of Saint Louis, and united around her the surviving community of Russian Catholics. Her room became a meeting place for the sisters and the spiritual center of the new community, which later attracted young people,

students, and

Soviet dissidents Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until t ...

. Visitors included the poet

Arseny Tarkovsky Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky (russian: link=no, Арсений Александрович Тарковский; 27 May 1989) was a Soviet and Russian poet and translator. He was predeceased by his son, film director Andrei Tarkovsky. Biograph ...

, Sergey Averintsev, Anna Godiner, and

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winning novelist and historian

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...

. The community arranged clandestine offerings of the

beginning from October 1979 by an underground Greek-Catholic priest from Leningrad, Fr. Georgii Friedman. The May 1981 attempt on the life of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Mehmet Ali Ağca Mehmet Ali Ağca (; born 9 January 1958) is a Turkish assassin who murdered left-wing journalist Abdi İpekçi on 1 February 1979, and later shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981, after escaping from a Turkish prison. After serving ...

was devastating for Rubashova, who often prayed afterwards to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

for the Pope's healing and protection. In her final years, Rubashova rejoiced in the beginning of

glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...

and

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

, but often said cautiously and in Gulag slang about Soviet Premier

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, "I can believe any beast, but as for him -- I'll wait a bit." Towards the end of her life, Rubashova often confided in fellow Dominican tertiary Anna Godiner, "I am alone a lot, and I simply sit and timidly talk with God." Irina Osipova (2014), ''Brides of Christ, Martyrs for Russia: Mother Catherine Abrikosova and the Eastern Rite Dominican Sisters'', Translated and Self Published by Geraldine Kelley. Page 264. Sister Nora Rubashova died on 12 May 1987 in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and was buried at the Khovanskoye cemetery near Moscow.

Sources

" I. Osipova 1996. S. 195; I. Osipova 1999. S. 337, the investigative case SM Soloviev et al. 1931 / / TSAFSBRF; Investigation case AB Ott et al. / / CA FSB RF, Sokolovsky DC S. 174.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubashova, Nora 1909 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Eastern Catholic nuns Belarusian Eastern Catholics Converts to Eastern Catholicism from Judaism Eastern Catholic Dominican nuns Gulag detainees Jewish Gulag detainees People from Minsk People of Belarusian-Jewish descent Russian Eastern Catholics Russian Jews