Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-10-17
ARCHBISHOP SLAIN
OVER Church GEMS
Resistance to Soviet Decree
of Confiscation Led to
Execution.
TRIAL LASTS 80 DAYS
Russian Prelate Accused of Incit-
ing Mob Against Collectors of
Ecclesiastical Treasures.
BY r. A. MACKENZIE.

Especial Correspondence Of The Star and Chi
cagO Daily News Foreign Service)
MOSCOW, Russia, August 20.-The
trial and execution Of Archbishop
Benjamin. metropolitan of Petrograd,
is red page In the history Of modern
Russia. 1t is not every day that an
archbishop Is hailed to prison, tried
as a criminal and shot as a convict
foreign writer in Petrograd at the
time Of the trial. Here Is the story
as 1 learned and saw 1t.
The archbishop and a large number
of his advisers and supporters were
arrested In May. and brought to open
trial in the hall of the old Mobiles
Club in Petrograd. the trial starting
on June II.
Among the prisoners were the arch
mandrite Sersi. the Bishop of Kron-
stadt. the deans OF Petrograd's three
cathedrals. st. Isaac's. Kazan and the
Troitsky. Prof. Novitsky. a famous
lawyer and chairman of the church
council: the Rev. Prof. Ognieff. Shein.
a former member Of the duma, and
some three-score others. Altogether
as distinguished a group of men as
you could find. even in Petrograd, the
intellectual capital of Russia.
The prisoners had conspired to re-
sist the DEGREES of the soviet govern
ment. When the authorities informed
Mgr. Benjamin that the church treas
ures were to be taken for famine re-
lief he replied in formal document
In which he asked three things. %
proof that the money could not be
raised in any other way. 2) guaran-
tees that the money should not be
used for any other purpose than fam
inc relief. and go that the consent of
the patriarch in Moscow should be
obtained. He added to his offense by
at once publishing this document.
He was summoned to the Smolny
institute. the headquarters of the
Moscow soviet. He came attended
by his counsel He withdrew his first
and third points. but chung to the sec
ond. Give US assurances that our
money will really go for famine re-
lief" he insisted. On his return home
he issued still another appeal to the
people.
Let me describe what followed. in
the words of one of his holshevist ac-
cusers. LAS a result of this. restless
mob demonstrated on March Is. at the
Kazan Cathedral. a mob beat the
militia in Sennaya street on March
16. and the soldiers had to be called
out, stones were thrown at the SOL
diers at the church of Rozhdestvo. on
April IA, there being alarm. violence
and mob rule, the mob also throwing
stones at the officials who were coll
lecting the church treasures. Similar
violence took place at the Putilov
Zastava April 81 and on May A.
Cause Of Alarm.
The Putilov Zastava is in the midst
Of one of the greatest working class
districts in Petrograd. so perhaps the
authorities had some cause for alarm.
The trial lasted for nearly month.
not ending until early July. The
authorities attempted to prove that
Benjamin and his supporters were
really anti -revolutionaries, that they
were In touch with the anti-bolshe-
visits outside Russia who had sum-
moned the Karlsberg conference, and
that they were plotting to overthrow
the government. The chief judge of
the revolutionary tribunal was
Eakovchenko. a technical engineer.
1t was a wearisome trial. The great
audiences that listened day after day
were carefully drawn from the fac
tories and government Offices. Few
Of the friends of the prisoners could
obtain admission. So they assembled
outside, and when the prisoners were
brought in each morning and left
each night they found crowds of
churchmen singing hymns, praying
and asking their blessing. One night
cavalry made their appearance, sur
rounded every way out, and made
prisoners of all the crowd.