Gleb Yakunin chose to become a Russian Orthodox priest in order to serve his people and his conscience in opposing the totalitarian system of the USSR. He defended believers’ rights and fought for the separation of the Church from the state, for which he was imprisoned. His research into the KGB’s activities within the Church made him the personal enemy of many ecclesiastical bigwigs and he was twice excommunicated. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he actively engaged in politics, attempted to bring about important changes in the Church, and even became a Deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. This is the first book to examine Yakunin’s difficult path and complex personality. It tells the story, partly from personal experience, of the religious revival of the 1970s and the resistance of not only Russian priests, but bishops, to the atheist state’s persecutions.