Making Martyrs East & West: Canonization in the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches by Cathy Caridi (review)

Cathy Caridi's study consists of four chapters on martyr-making in the East and the West. The first deals with the united church, the second with the Russian church from the Christianization in 988 up to our time, the third with the Catholic Church from the great schism, and the last chapter with a comparison of canonization processes in East and West.

Canonization of martyrs would at first glance seem to be a strictly historical theme, but it is quite the opposite; for example, the canonization of 2000 new martyrs in Russia in the beginning of this century shows the topicality of this phenomenon.

The study is asymmetric in construction; the Catholic Church is discussed and compared to the Russian Orthodox tradition and not to the Orthodox Church in general. The impression therefore gets somewhat one-sided, and some of the findings would certainly be different if the symmetry had been observed.

The study follows the procedure of canonization through history and notes that the Catholic practice is more formal and more centralized than the Russian one, the former resting on the authority of the pope. Caridi maintains, however, that many of the early martyrs have never been officially canonized. Scrutiny of different sorts of lists of saints (diptychs, saints' calendars) plays an important part in the study. There are many categories of saints defined in the book, but the difference between saints in general and martyrs is sometimes blurred. Caridi rightly notes that miracles are more important for canonization in Russia than in the [European?] Catholic Church, but is somewhat overstating the difference between the traditions. Also studied is the view of the incorruptibility of saints' dead bodies, which is very salient in the Russian context as a sign of holiness. Yet other themes dwelt on include the role of relics and the translation of them in the canonization process.

The most interesting finding in this study is the result of the scrupulous comparison of the criteria (or lack of criteria) for canonization in different times and different traditions, since there are so many different procedures through the ages. Sometimes it seems to be impossible to know if a martyr has existed at all.

The subject is huge and has been much studied. What is missing in Making Martyrs is a firm relation to earlier research, which is, however, known to the author, as can be seen by the extensive bibliography. Caridi uses primary sources instead, which gives impressing results; but still more could have been obtained by bringing earlier research to the fore. Especially the chapter on the Russian church would have gained much if more recent studies had been considered. One issue that would have been interesting to include is that of decanonizations in the Russian Church, a topic of recent debate and investigation which is only touched on in Making Martyrs.

In the last pages Caridi lists the formidable problems it would raise to merge the lists of names in the Catholic and Russian Orthodox calendars. It is a sad reading but ought to be an ecumenical challenge.

The author calls herself "a legalistic Westerner," a characterization that is borne out in the book. Caridi is preoccupied with the need for a correct procedure of canonization and resolving which martyrs are the authentic ones. And a final remark: All these lives and deaths more or less outlined in the vitae bear witness to so much of human suffering and so much of Christian faith in East or West, in distant times or just a while ago.