Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-04
Aladdin CAVE
Of JEWELS USED
To FEED HUNGRY

MOSCOW, April 1.-By the Asso.
ciated Press. SAN Aladdin's cave Of
jewels has been opened by the de.
cision Of the Soviet authorities to
conf1scate some of the treasures OF
the Russian churches and sell them
to feed the famine sufferers.
CThe Soviet decree, issued Febru.
airy 26, directs the seizure of all
precious metals and stones (which
would not interfere with the
interests of the various cults"
1t has been announced that
the all-Russian central commit.
tee will determine what articles are
absolutely necessary for religious
purposes and exempt from requisi.
tion.)
Most Famous Treasure
Most famous Of the church treas
ures, describedsby the Moscow news.
paper Izvestia, is the bejewelled
ikon, "Our Lady of Kazan," at the
Kazan Cathedral in Petrograd. It is
representation of the Virgin done
in beaten gold, weighing ten pounds
and decorated with 1866 larger and
,432 lesser diamonds, 63S rubies,
seven sapphires, 1 400 pearls and 155
other jewels, and hung about the
neck of the Virgin is a diamond
necklace of huge, first-water stones.
At Peter PaupS cathedral, also in
Petrograd, there is another famous
ikon, known as the Jerusalem Holy
Lady," in solid gold. 1t is about two
feet square, and contains 3S karats
Of large diamonds, 13 karats of mid
dle.sized diamonds and IA IA karats
Of smaller stones. Altogether, in this
church, says the IZvestia, there are
twenty-four almost equally valuable
ikons.
To st. Isaac's Cathedral, Petro
grad, were presented on the day il
was opened, "a total of 215 articles
containing 81 pounds Of gold and
4,788 pounds Of silver, and later a
shrine was built of solid silver
weighing 468 pounds. st. Isaac's also
has one ikon, Fl inches wide by rs
inches high, done in gold overlay and
bearing a wreath in large diamonds
There are a dozen other ikons OF
tremendous value at st. Isaac's
alone.
Many Valuables Held
While these big Petrograd cathe
drals, which were long favored by
royalty, probably contain the most
valuable treasures of the Greeli
Orthodox church in Russia, nearly
every one of the estimated. 1000
other cathedrals, monasteries, con
vents and churches containing OBJ
jects in gold and silver and jewelleC
ikons are not at all rare, even ir
the smaller edifices.
Royal gifts, donations by pious
parishioners and church taxes fol-
centuries went largely into orna
menting the churches. Kazan cathe
dral was the holy of holes to the
Cossacks. The Cossacks of the Dor
once sent to it LAO pounds of silver
asking that it be made into ikons
of four Of the Apostles.
Beyond their value in precious
| metal and jewels, some of the oh
jects might be extremely sough
after by collectors. The Byzantine
A1i0So ll14lNO1lSO VI IIlC JS"SllCu lAOIlS
however, might impress the western
| world as more ornate than artistic
With few scattered exceptions
| wherein some looting of churche.
may have occurred during the early
days of the revolution, church treas
ures have been left practically in
| tact.
Patriarch Tikhon, the head of tn,
| Russian church, is understood tt
| contend that, since the church ant
| the state have been separated, tn,
title to the treasures rests in thu
| hands Of the Pensioners of eacl
church and that, therefore, il
for each parish to decide what treas
ures it wishes to surrender for tn
| famine sufferers.
He advises charity in this respect
but it is believed in Moscow tina
the church, as a whole, will strenu
ously oppose general confscation
while willing to surrender those oh
jects which it does not consider par
ticularly holy or of essential use il
sacramento observances.