Bishop Sipovich new file

48 prayer in the chapel. His only relaxation was the garden, and it was there that he was found dying on 17 August 1980. Before coming to London, Brother Nicholas spent some time in Rome where he had the opportunity to make a report on the fate of Belarusian priests to Buchys who was instrumental in sending them to Harbin. Buchys was a strange man. A scholar and linguist of some repute, pious and unreservedly devoted to the Catholic Church which he understood in a somewhat abstract way, he was at the same time obsequious before higher authority and set in his ideas which he changed with difficulty. He was obsessed with the idea of the "conversion" of Russia, for which he was ready for any sacrifice. The trouble was that it was others whom he sacrificed. When sending Belarusian priests to Harbin to "convert" Russians (who were Christians after all), he compared himself to Saint Ignatius Loyola who sent Saint Francis Xavier to preach the Gospel of Salvation to people who had never heard of Jesus Christ. He never understood Belarusians and their national aspirations, and showed an astonishing indifference to their spiritual needs. For him they were just Russians. Whatever may be the final verdict on the work and achievements of this man (the judgement of him as a person must be left to God), the Belarusians have no reason to be grateful to him.