"Ivan Sergeevich Gagarin analyzes questions of nationality and religious identity in nineteenth-century Russian history as reflected in the life of Jesuit priest Ivan Gagarin. A descendant of one of Russia's most ancient and politically powerful families, Father Ivan Gagarin, S.J. (1814-1882), dedicated his life to creating a union between the Orthodox and Catholic churches that would preserve the dogmatic and traditional beliefs of both.".

"Conventional understandings of Russian identity have emanated from the perspective of the dominant Orthodox religion; this captivating study uses the unionist work of Gagarian to illumine Russia's national identity from the perspective of Roman Catholicism. Gagarin, who regarded his unionist proposals as necessary for the preservation of Russian stability, often found himself in opposition to the Russian Orthodox Church.

While Gagarin believed that church union would preserve Russia from the threats of communism and revolution, the Russian Orthodox Church believed that union would mean the sacrifice of religious truth, ecclesial independence, and religious orthodoxy.".

"Jeffrey Beshoner's evenhanded analysis reveals that the Roman Catholic Church presented its own share of barriers to attempts at church union. Ivan Sergeevich Gagarin examines Roman Catholic attitudes of superiority vis-a-vis the Russian Orthodox Church and argues that the nineteenth-century Roman Catholic Church simply did not possess the humility or respect for Eastern beliefs that church union required."--BOOK JACKET.