The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-08-21
NOT ALL RUSSIANS BAD
ACTS AGAINST RELIGIoN-iN-
CIDENTS WHICH SHOW THE
PEOPLE OUT OF SYMPATHY
WITH LEADERS-WOM DE-
RAGE.
(By N. G.. w. G.. News Service. }

ment is, in principle, inimical to all
forms of religion, and particularly to
the Catholic and Orthodox churches,
the fact is that the Bolshevists have
thought twice about showing too open
ly their hostility to religion of all
kinds.
In accordance with their design to
destroy the Church in Russia the So
Wet authorities issued orders for the
arrest Of the Orthodox priest of the
church at Vassili-Ostroff, near Petro-
grad. The charge was that the priest
had held services, which were a vio-
lation of the regulations against I'M
authorized public meetings. Accord
ingly Bolshevist troops were sent to
make the arrest, but when they ar
rived in the village they found the
priest on the steps of the church of
his church surrounded by parishion-
ers, including great number of
women. The crowd was armed with
sticks, shovels and kitchen pokers
they threatened the troops, and after
a parley the soldiers withdrew, and
the priest was left unmOlested.
Russians Still Religious.
Now, this is the sort of thing that
has been happening throughout Rus
STA for a long time past. The mass
of the people, particularly in the cOun-
try villages, are strongly religious.
Services have been held regularly, in
spite of all the efforts Of the govern
ment to forbid them, and the people
still observe their religious rites. A
few parish churches have been
robbed, but very few, if any, have
been prOfaned A few churches were
looted and turned into theaters or
moving picture shows, but these were
the regimental churches which ceased
to be used as soon as the old army
came to an end.
But for all that, the Bolshevist
leaders have done all they dared to
upset the Church, particularly the
Russian Church. The priests are not
allowed to receive ration tickets, and
are compelled to subsist upon the
aims of their flocks, who are nearly
as badly off as their clergy. And
every possible step has been taken to
try to discredit religion in the eyes
of the working classes.
Bolshevists Fear Pogroms.
But it is realized among the Boil
shevist leaders that any attempt to
put into practice the program Of abol-
ishing religion would be followed by
series of pogroms that would wipe
out the Jews, who are in majority
in the governing classes at the present
time Trotsky himself was violently
assaulted at public meeting little
more than year ago, when the
working men in his audience booed
and Kissed him for having caused the
sacred ikons to be destroyed.
Russian Women Refusing Civil
Marriage.
To make up for what they have not
dared to do in the direct religious
sphere, the Bolshevists have tried to
undermine the religious sentiment in
the people by an attempt to seculariZe
marriage, and make divorce matter
of few seconds talk before com
missary In this direction, also, the
Bolshevists have not met with much
success. A small minority have &C
cepted the Bolshevists' theories of
marriage and divorce, but the mass of
the people ignore the whole thing. AS
for the Russian women, in the mass
they have defeated the Bolshevists by
refusing to accept marriage cere-
mony that is purely civil. To quote
Vassili-Ostroff again, in that parish
four prominent Communists left their
party in order to marry, because the
women whom they wished to marry
insisted on being married by a priest
of the Russian Church and according
to Christian rites.
Archbishop Denounces BoIshevists.
Something of this fear of the relig.
ious sentiments of the Russian people
has restrained the Bolshevists from
taking vengeance on Archbishop Tx
hon, Patriarch of Moscow, whom they
have good reason both to fear and to
hate. In unmeasured terms Arch
bishop Tikhon denounced the Soviet
authorities as gang of murderers
whose hands dripped with the limo
cent blood of slaughtered and mar
tyred Bishops and priests. AS far as
is known, the only revenge the Boil
shevists have been able to take on
the Patriarch has been to prevent him
leaving for Finland to consecrate an
Orthodox Bishop for the Firms.
A new era for religion may possibly
come through the Russian Church, but
| it is doubtful. The promise seems to
\