Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-31
CONGRESS OF ORTHODOX CHURCH AT MOSCOW

CHURCH AT MOSCOW
 The First Held There for More Than
 Two Centuries-Elaborate Ceremonies 1 Moscow, Tuesday, Aug 2S.-The bells 1 of Moscow's 1,500 churches have been ringing continually since dawn on this, | the festival of The Assumption, in | honor of the opening today of the ecu
 menical congress of the Orthadox than two centuries of ecclesiastical I officialism imposed for political mo- tives by Peter the Great.
 l Ever since the revolution of 1905 all 1 ardent believers of the church have 1 been desiring a revival of the medic | val practice of holding these periodical congresses which they consider the only sure means of rescuing the church from it's erstwhile servility to the state of cleansing it's dogmas and ritual and inspiring its Journalism with living faith and zeal for social, pa triotic service. In this fervent spirit of pious Pilgrims from elsewhere con gregated in the city chiefly in and around the historic Kremlin, to wit ness the imposing inaugural ceremon- ieS.
 The event was made doubly signif- cant by the presence of the newly elected prelates and long persecuted champions of reform. the chief of
  chosen after the revolution by popu lar vote and by a synOdal decree yes terday given the rank and title of Me tropolitan. With them have arrived 60 archbishops, bishops from all quar- ters of the country. representatives of the southern Russo Greek churches, noted lay and ecclesiastical reformers and the former procurator of the holy synod, Vladimir Lvoff.
 Streamed Into the City.
 All last night there streamed into the city from nearby villages shaggy bearded peasants, in many cases ac- companied <y their wives, bearing hempen packs on their backs and car rying rude images in their hands, These figures, mixing with the city population, moved in dense masses to- wards the historic Red Square under the Kremlin's walls, where the cere- monial order provided that the vast 'Drocession of the cross" should take place and all-national service for the salvation of Holy Russia should be held.
 Leaders of the Church Officiated.
 At ten o'clock in the morning. in the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin, in which still stands the agled throne on which for hundreds of years the emperors received the crown, was held the dedicatorY service. At this, in cloth of gold vestments and with mitres cleaning with precious stones. there officiated the leaders of the church.
 Cathedral Was Thronged.
 The body of the cathedral was thronged with mitred bishops catry- ing slaves and gemmed croziers. arch priests in the purple biretta, coarsely gowned and often ecstatic monks and, with them, laymen of note, the most prominent of the last being Premier KerensIly. who remained but fox 61tS Former Lvoff
 Processions of the Cross.
 Before the end of the service there l began to arrive at the Krer1lin en- 1 closure and in the square outside pro- | sessions of the cross from thirty ca | thredal and mona stery churches, the i in which carried more than thousand brazen banners paint | ed with effigies of the saints. Between l these processiOns came groups of lay | men, some bearing historic ixOns and i some holding up rude home made i'm 1 ages, in the hope that these by touch | with or proximity to the famous ikons | would gain something of the occa- sion's sacred spirit.
 Evidences Of Religious Spirit.
 The correspondent witnessed many striking evidences that the religious side every ikon of note trudged aged working women who begged and fought to be allowed to share in the r of the heavy, iron-bound 'rarnes.
 Famous Bishop of Ufa.
 At the head of the procession of the cross came the Church's most famous 'eformer Andrew, bishop of Ufa. whose fife story began when he was leading worldly life as prince and an of regeneration by Tolstoi.. Interspersed were choirmen in brocaded robes, aco- ytes carrying episcopal slaves and hooded with gold cloths, and vision orests, clad in rags and shed in birch park, who, as they reached the his oric spot, bowed and kissed the stones.
 Kissed Sacred Relies,
 After the services in the cathedral he three metropolitans and the six ( y bishops proceeded to the monastery where are deposited the relics of All l he orthodox, and ceremoniously kissed ( he sacred objects. In the meantime [ he mass of the clergy and laymen ( marched through the Kremlin grounds S nd on through the Gates of the Sa- i jour into the Red Square. t
 Service at "Headman's Place" The concourse in the square was so ast that many climbed to vantage oints on the Kremlin's walls, while z thers perched under the twisted cu- : OlaS or the CnurCn or BaSu the Bless c q. Later the metropolitans and the ' ishops made for the "Headman's . lace" the scene of the sanguinary ex- o cutions under Ivan the Terrible, and | cid a solemn service there. Many of z 1e lay witnesses of the ceremony be- . an to pray aloud, and the more deeply :. loved shed tears and threw them r elves upon the ground. The five hundred members of the e ongress will begin their discussions on in the Temple of the f aviour built in the Temple of the f beration against Napoleon. f
 Chicago Police Station Robbed. r Chicago, Aug. BOA thief last night t rOke open the strong hox in tha