Chrysostom Blashkevich
Chrysostom Blashkevich, OSB (January 27, 1915, Bely, Tver Oblast, Russian Empire - October 3, 1981, Niederalteich, Germany) was a Benedictine monk of Russian origin. Blashkevich was born in a Russian Orthodox family. During World War II was recruited into the Soviet Army, where he turned his coat and served as interpreter in the German Army. In 1945, he converted to Catholicism and entered the Benedictine Order, being dean of the monks of the Russian Greek Catholic Church at Niederalteich Abbey in West Germany. Father Blashkevich was engaged in Catholic ecumenism with other Christian religions but he was also a critic of desacralisation of Catholic doctrine in relation to the dialogue with Protestant denominations and the real intentions of the Orthodox Christian clergy in ecumenism. Biography A graduate of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages (1936-1941), was a rural teacher in the Smolensk Oblast. As a student Blashkevich belonged to the so-called Alexei Mechev of Moscow's circle who had in the Transfiguration Church in Dimitrov his secret center. The Orthodox Bishop of Dmitrov Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) brought him to the community of spiritual instruction. During the Second World War he surrendered and served as an interpreter and military translator for the Wehrmacht.