The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-11

I
 At 3 o'clock the metropolitan, the
 president of the Holy synod, arrived in a
 cab with the other members of the synod { and many bishops, archimandrites and other clergy. The church of the king 1 dom of Greece Is autocephalous and as such is as regards it's internal affairs in- dependent of the patriarch of Constanti- nople' whom, however, 1t recognizes as | its true spiritual head. The Holy synod, of which the metropolitan of Athens is ex-officia president, is controlled by the ministry of ecclesiastics, and thus if de- sired the church can be made subject to political influences. The metropolitan and the other clergy blessed the crowd. On arrival at the place of anathema the metropolitan left his cab and took his stand on a small mound of earth at the
 site of the spot prepared.
 Here square pit had been dug to a great depth and a large stone placed at the bottom on which was the freshly severed and bleeding head of bull with
 long pair of horns, while on a small slab was inscribed, Anthema on the Traitor and His Accomplices. The me- tropolitan raised his hand with a stone in it and cast stone on each corner of the place of anathema, saying Against Elefterios Venezelos, who casteth high priests into jail and plotteth against the kingship and his country, let there be Ianathema.'
 The multitude uttered loud curses in appreciation of this action and cried, An athena and Curse on the Traitor The example of the metropolitan was followed
 by the other clergy, and after their de- parture the crowd filed by cursing and casting stones Many of the stones were inscribed with curses against the 'Trai- tor and some brought blood stained or bullet splintered stones from Philopappos and other hills where fighting took place on December l. A gang of marble work CTS brought a large block of marble suitably blackened. For those who had not brought any, hawkers were on the spot selling stones, black, at 10 centimes, white at 3. The Greek seldom misses an opportunity of making money. Cinemato- graph operators were there to record this historical event, and many newspaper correspondents photographed the scene The reservists' leagues responsible for the organization of the ceremony took part in 1t officially with their banners and bugles Though the metropolitan only mentioned Venizelos by name, slab set up at the place of anathema at the end of the day mentions also General Dhanglis and Admiral Kunduriots
 The papers all state that this anathe- ma custom is typically Hellenic, but one rather naively adds that it is also prac-
  Indians.
 Some men also brought an effigy of Venizelos, which was afterward burned Effigies of Judas Iscariot are burned at Easter and other Greek church festivals.
 From the royalst point of view, 1t must be admitted that this anathema is a success, mainly owing to the innate organism of the Greek people It has been known for sometii that the leaders e 1aa had ous of procuring the accommodation of Venizelos knowing that it would have a great effect owing to poular superst1- 1 tions about good luck and bad luck being much under the influence of the church. |
 Most Greeks are very superstitious, and the peasant will never do anything l which might involve the. ban of the l church, while the priests blessing is 1 needed to ensure the success of most of the small affairs of his work -a-day life. | Apart from Athens and Piraeus, the pop | ulation of the attic villages, where the | reservists are especially strong. is ethno- | logically Albanian and these Albano- phone Hellenes are always anxious to seize any opportunity, such as this, to prove how truly Hellenic they are. Greeks often assert that no one is Christian who Is not a Greek.
 The reservists' leagues have also sent a petition to the Patriarch of Constanti- nople to urge him to excommunicate or anthematize Venizelos. If this attempt it will have more weight be- cause of the superior position of the pa triarch, and it would be difficult to show that he was subject to the influence of the Byzantinism of the Athens palace clique. Further, the church in Macedonia and other parts of new Greece is still under the patriarch, as in Turkish times, and has not yet been attached to the church or the kingdom of Greece.
 'The popularity of King Constantine rested largely on his military prestige as the conqueror of the Bulgars. but this has less weight now, and he Is called the 'Savior or. as one extreme royalist and Germanophile paper puts it, the Christ of Greece because he has saved them | from war and the fate of Servia. The | Kings serious illness last year, which 1 has given him the na ne of the martyr | King also added to his popularity be- | cause his recovery is believed to be due | to the intervention of the miraculous ikon | of the Virgin of Tinos, which was brought to Athens and hung over his bed. i
 That the royalists should have been 1 obliged to summon the church to their | support to buttress the throne is sure | sign that they recognize the silent l strength of the Venizelist movement.
 Sooner or later the anathema of Ve- nizelos is bound to recoil on their own 1 heads"