The New York herald., 1922-12-03
Patriarch and Metropolitan Of Petro-
grad Held as Traitors Archbishop
Of Moscow and Other Anti-Soviet
Prelates Seized Priests and Lay
men Executed for Opposing the
Pillage of Churches by Red Soldiers

pasted on the walls. The Belshaxik
leaders decided that the church yslu-
ables should be contributed not by the
church but ty the State.
The press attacks on the Patriarch
became SO strong that on February 26
Tikhon wrote to Kalinin, the President
of the All-Russian Executive Commit
tee, asking that they be stopped.
| Tikhon also asked that the Central
Famine Committee should abide his
| original Offer whereby church valu-
ables We're to be offered, not forcibly
confiscated. checked and then handed
over to the famine committee with the
consent of the faithful. Finally, Tx
hon warned Kalinin that In the event
of his request being refused he would
| inform the faithful that he had been
misled by' the famine committee and
even by written documents which he
had received from it. co.
| The Patriarch received no reply, and
on March % he issued a second edict
explaining his position and the
church's view of the confiscation OF
consecrat ted objects. In This edict as
in his first, the Patriarch encouraged
the faithful to offer church objects
which were not used for divine SER
vice. and only protested against the
conflscation of vessels, &C., which We're
| SO used.
Gold vessels are rare IN the Russian
| churches. Chalices are usually of sill
! yer gilt ardN represent very insigni-
I flcant proportion Of the total amount
| q -sI. - -. Fr,--.-
fund would have lost very little If in
It's confiscation OF ecclesiastical orna-
Inents it had excepted eucharistic ves-
sells.
A high ccclesiastic who stood at
| Tikhon's side throughout all this
troubled period informed TIE New
| York HERALD correspondent that the
Patriarch had no intention OF melting
the faithful to use physical force. On
the contrary. the Patriarch always
had condemned >bloodshed and civil
war, and on April II in circular let
ter to the bishops he condemned ac-
tive opposition to the Government
such as had taken place at Shouye,
Smolensl, Rostov-on- Don and at Doe
ogomilov in Moscow, and he enjoined
| lHe bishops 10 clSSudue tne IaltnlOl
from the use OF violence.
| The theologians searched ecclesiasti-
cal history for precedent to the Pa
triarch's criticism of the civil power.
and they found plenty. st. Ambrose
of Milan, recognized by the Latin aud
the Greek churches, refused to obey
| the order OF Valentine II. to hand over
the Slavonic Basilica to The Arians.
and the Metropolitan Philip publicly
denounced John the Terrible for his
savage execution of his son.
The Soviet press grew more violent
over the second edlct. Tikhon and the
priests were accused Of greed and
syarlce, though church yaluables had
never been used to satisfy the, ma
terisl needs of the clergy. Tikhon1was
told that he had forgotten the laws of
I Christ and that he placed gold before
human life. Any one who knows how
able and insidious Bolshevik propa-
ganda can be will understand how
these attacks damaged the prestige of
the church. And as there is no press
! IN Russia except the official press,
there was no possibility of refuting
| these calumnics.