The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-23
RUSSIAN CHURCH
 NOW SEPARATED I FROM THE STATE
Notable Ecclesiastical As semblies Described by c. R. Crane, Formerly of Bridgeport.

Petrograd. Russia, July 2s-Charles R. Crane, member of the American Mission to Russia, has prepared for The Christian Science Monitor the following account of the recent changes in the Greek church in Rus sia:
 l In the revolution that is taking place, the Russian church is making more rapid progress toward adjusting itself to new conditions than the state. It has practically been separated from 1 the state and is now managing it's town affairs. More changes were made in the Russian church during the month of May than had been made in two centuries before.
 l The process has been one of democ- ratization; every priest has had to have his position confirmed by a vote from the people of his parish. Twelve l bishops have been dismissed, includ- ing the Bishop of Petragrad, and new bishops have been installed only after election by congregations. The phy- sicai property of the churches has libeen transferred from the state and lis to be administered by the congre- gations, the clergy and bishops occu- Ipying themselves solely with theolog- ical affairs.
 During the last week two very sig nihcant sobors, or assemblies of the |church have been taking place at Moscow. One of them is that of "Old Believers who include some d5 OO0 900 people and who were never reconciled to the reforms of Nicon, representing the oldest and most uncompromising, division of the Russian people. The other SObor, is that of the Orthodox church, the former state church, and is the first one. to meet in some 25O years. They are the most represent ative gatherings possible to have in Russia, and the delegates come from every corner of the Empire, two priests and two layunen being elected to represent every 100 churches. the lwhole body numbering 1,26S delegates. Ifs the political state is entirely shat tered, the church represents at g,res-
 ent the only unifying fundamental iidea
 The two most effective members of
 this latter Sobor are the former Arch
 bishop of the United States, Platon, and Pastor Alexandorff, of a San
 franclsco church. In various ues-
 tions that have arisen in the Sobor,
 the appeal has always been made to
 these two authorities as to the way
 these problems were resolved in America, and their answer was usu- ally enough to determine the action or the Sobor. MT. John R. Mott was invited to address the Sobor and : every member was present, his } speech being interpreted sentence by sentence by Father Alexandroff who
 was in entire sympathy with MT.
 Mott and who himself was member 7 of MT. Mott's organization work in San Francisco. It was a moving ad- , A } MT. Mott divided his address into } three parts; the first part was an ex-
 press1on of gratitude for the many
 acts of friendship Russia has shown
 for America in the course of the last
 hundred years, with special emphasis 3 on her enormous sacrifices during the
 present war, which the American
 people now recognize, he said as having been made quite as much fo1 f them as for Russia. He also express. 0 ed his gratitude for the contrfbuti ons ' the Russian Church had made to g e common Christianity. The second = part was the expression of solicituds o lest in the great upheaval now goins y on, the church might lose it's centra = position and that, although if care
 fully arranged the process of democ $ ratization ought only to strengthen l. the church, they must be very care r full to guard historical Christianity l. the creed, mystical Christianity ant 1T tvital Christianity. The third, part O n the address was a message of hop, if and reassurance, and went over i,
 deail Americas plan for aid to Russi: h and the other allies in the war, clos d ing with a stirring appeal to Russi: a to do her best on every front every
 where.
 The reception of Mr. Mott's addres
 was very sympathetic and unanimous
 and at it's end the whole body ros
 and for half an hour sang the mos
 moving of their old church hymns e This was followed by very fine re
 sponses from the chairman of tn
 meeting, Prince Ivov, the head O P the Synod. Prince Eugene Troubets h koy, one of the finest citizehs of Rus to sia, and Bishop Andre, the greates K. spiritual force in the Russian churcI 'o today. Mir. Mott fully justified tn
 Presidents estimate of him as tn IS foremost Christian statesman of tn a- world
 V Immediately after the meetin oI Prince sLvov, who is charged with tn III chief responsibility for all thes
 things in the Russian church, aske ie MT. Mott to spend the afternoon wit n- them and go over in detail all tn B. various reforms now in process in tn
 Russian church. He was also ir
 vited to engage in meeting of tn iy professors who were revising tn a. courses of study and work at th te theological academies and also to a6
 dress the Synod in formal session.
 MT. Mott also spent one evenin with the Archbishop and the bfshot
 of the "OId Believers at the a church outside Moscow, one of tr CT oldest and most beautiful in Russi Id and all the choir singers were broug1 h. together to sing the oldest churc ae hymns in both organizations. M f. Mott's appeal for cooperation in ca m rying on the struggle to a successf1
 conclusion was received who'll m heartedly, the Archbishop of tI d "Old Believers" being himself a Go fi- sack as uncompromising in his viev nd about the war as in his views abol h. religion.
 ly SOCIAL AND PERSONA ng
 iQ