The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-03-07
INVOKE ANATH'EMA ! ON CREEK WHO HAS
 JAILED PRIESTS
c ere m ony of Mediaeval Times Continued Against
 Venizelos.

Calamata, Greece, March 7.-The medieval ceremony of "Anathema" against Elephtherios Venizelos, for mer prime minister of Greece, is still continuing in the lesser towns of old Greece. Every Sunday in villages scattered here and there over the country, where the ceremony has not yet taken place, the people come to- gether, generally under the leadership of the local priest, and go through the age-old, semi religious act of calling down divine wrath upon "Elephtheri- os Venize1os who has imprisoned priests and who has plotted against the royal house and against the coun- try" as the wording of the anethema runs.
 The anathema ceremony is by no means an unusual one in Greece to- day, especially in the outer islands and the rural districts. It, is so usual indeed that the word ''anathema'' ap- pears in the current Greek English conversation books, under the head ing of common religious terms Nor is it the first time that Venizelos has been mathematical. According to General Vasos, who worked simultan- eously with Venizelos for the freedom of Crete the ceremony was pronoun- Lced against Venize1os by the Cretans some 20 years ago.
 On the present occasion the cere- monies have been more widespread. Few villages now remain in Old Greece where the anethema against the Cretan has not been pronounced, with all the forms of the days when Alcibiades, having deserted the Athenians for their Spartan enemies some twenty-three centuries ago, was stoned in spirit after his departure. Tn each instance the clergy of the Greek church have not only sanction ed but taken active part in the cere- monies.
 The first of this series of janathemas against VenizeIos was pronounced in Athens. The spot set for the cere- mony was the immense military ex- ercise field of the garrisons of Athens. The government formally forbade the ceremony the day before, fearing dis turbances, and it was thought that the ceremony would be abandoned. At daybreak, however, peasants from their Attican and Boeotian farms be- gan to flock into town, each carrying stone from his own soil tucked away among the accordean pleats of the white skirts that the Greek peas ants wear upon occasions of cere- mony. Many brought their wives and children, the women all carrying their own stones and frequently the chil- dren also.
 By noon the streets of the capital witnessed an intending procession of peasants and poorer folk bound in the direction of the Kypselis quarter where the exercise field is located. On the Patissia road, which leads to the field, a house was in process of con struction and piles Of stones were heaped in the yard to be used in building. As the people passed, those who had forgotten to bring stones took one each from this pile. In a quarter of an hour but one was left. The building contrae4or who had been trying in vain to protect his property shrugged his shoulders. hoisted the remaining rock onto his back and joined the march, to pronounce an anathema of his own-partly against Venize1os but probably partly also against those who had stripped his yard
 Immediately following luncheon. the wealthier Athenians began to an- pear in carriages. On the seat of each smart turnout was a small stone and each coachman had one for himself hidden between his feet. Ladies of the best Greek society cIutched in white-gloved hands a vanity box and a rock. The Archbishop of Ath- ems in full canonicals drove in a car riage which was followed by a pro. cession of other carriages bearing the