The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-03

st. Petersburg religion Of the
Greek Orthodox church is macs o:
mysterious rites supposed to have SUI
pernatural power. The absolute lack
of the spiritual. and the inordirete I'M
.portanee OF the ceremonial, are mani
Tested by the following Instances,
which are only a few OF many that
might be quoted. A robber killed
traveller and rifled his baggage, but
TefFsinsd from eating & piece Of cooked
meat which he found in the victims
belongings, because II happened 10 be
fast day. An assassin about 10 a.
tempt the murder Of an attache CT
the Austrian embassy IN st, Peters
burg, went first 10 the church to CON-
mend his undertaking 10 the protection
OF the saints. On another occasion
when q burglar was lOOtinE q Church
he found Z hard 10 extract the Jewels
from the frame of one OF the iltUns.
The thief paused in his work 10 make
? prayer TO a certain saint, offering TO
place a. rouble's worth Of tapeTs before
Its image if given assistance in seCur-
iInE the valUables.
Ikons play an important part IN all
1.-THE religious ObseTVanCss OF the Rus-
lsian people. These sacred pictures ar.
found in every dwelling and IN every
lpubiC house. They are even seen Fl
dining halls and railway stations. Th-
Exon is usually a half length figure
representing the Savior. tho Madonna
iOr some saint It IS usually Executed
Upon a yellow or Eol1 ground, varying
iin size from square inch 10 several
square feet Frequently the whole pic
'tUre, excepting the hands and face, iE
covered with metal plaque SO ar
ranged as to outline the form and have
the effect Of drdpcry. These sacred
emblems. are often uruameuted with
pearls and other precious stones CT
great value.
Wonder Working Ikons.
There are two kinds Of ikons. Or
binary and miracle working. Those
supposed to be OF a miraculous char
acter are kept IN the churches All
such have q mysterious origin mas
much as they ere not believed to have
beer made by mortal hands. A monk
or some church official will have q
vision and then announce that a mirac-
ulOus ikOn is to be found at a certain
place. Sometimes Il viii he buried, or
again it viii be hanging from a tree.
The sacred treasure will be removed
TO the nearest church, the news OF its
discovery creating a sensation in the
community. Crowds Of devout worship
ers cOngreEate to PROSTATE themselves
before the Heaven-Scnt picture and
many cases are reported where suf-
fererS have been cured Of disease.
On of the famous MadOnnas is kept
in q church I'm Moscow. Whenever the
car visits that city he usually goes d.
rect from the railroad station to pray
in the chapel where this particular iLon
is located. Rich Pensioners nave the
privilege f taking This nirzcIe-wOrk-
ing picture TO their homes. The car
rage containing II 8 always TecCE-
niZed because the driver & bareheat-
cd. The people i'm the streets ils-Sr-
tably take of their hats as the sacred
possession passes Whenever Il & ia
ken q short ceremony Is performed h.
fore 1t. after which IL is carried through
al the rooms Of the house. The ser
wants kneel on the floor So 1t may be
carried over them. 4 notable thing
concerning the travels Of this famous
symbol is that whenever IL 8 absent
from the chapel Il IS replaced by ? CODY
so nearly Ike the original that only an
expert car tell the difference. conse-
duentIy there Is no interference with
the devOtiCns of the faithful. nor check
in the flow % contributions from g6c
wors hipers.
Converting the Firms.
When the authorities OF the Rus
san CnuTCh determined TO prOSelyte
the Firms little difficulty was enCount-
cred because of the temperate de-
mands that were made upon them
The principal requirement was that
the new converts should be baptised.
and little resistance was offered to
this performance so long as il &C.
Cured during the summer Thus we
find a whole people accepting the sem
blance Of regeneration without any
knowledge or understanding OF the sig
niflcance Of the religion they were en-
bracing. The priests found that little
brides judiciousIy distributed proved a
great stimulus IN securi~-1 candidates.
( and ft is significant that ds a result OF
the pay system many Of the converts
Airsisted on having the ceremony per
Nformed several times.
s One Of the objections the Firms raised
SSsinst accepting the new faith was on
account Of the long and numerous fasts
imposed on it's followers. but this ex-
ception was met BY intimsting that
there would be no serious consequences
II the abstinences were not strictly OBJ
served. However. the attempt was
made to enforce the rules Of the Church
by circulating the story th5t the ikons
which were hung Up in ssCJ house had
the power OF communicating to the
PRIESTS the names Of AL who were neg
ifsent IN their religious duties. For
awhile this was popularity believed, but