The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-03-30
Sell Treasures To Feed Poor
 In India
Many Famous Church Treasures To Be Con- fiscated And Sold By Soviet Authorities.

Moscow, March 2s-(By A P)- An A1addin'S cave of jewels has been opened by the decision of the Soviet authorities to confiscate some of the treasures of the Russian churches and sell them to feed the famine sulf- fererS.
 (The Soviet decree issued Feb. 26 directs the seizure of all precious metals and stones (which would not interfere with the interests of the various cults" It has been announce ed that the All-Russian Central Com mittee will determine what articles are absolutely necessary for religious purposes and exempt from requisi- tion.)
 Most famous of the church treas ures, described by the Moscow news paper Izvestia. Is the ibejewelled Ikon, 'tOur Lady of Kazan," at the Kazan Cathedral in Petrograd. It is a. rep resentation of the Virgin done in beaten gold, weighing 10 pounds and decorated with 1855 larger and 1,432 lesser diamonds. 638 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. It is about two feet square. and contains 3S carats of large diamonds, IS carats of mid
 
 of smaller stones Altogether, in this church. says the Izvestia, there are 24 almost equally valuable ikons.
 To St. Isaac's Cathedral, Petro- grad, were presented on the day it was opened. a total of 215 articles containing 81 pounds of gold and 4,78S pounds of silver and later shrine was built of solid silver weigh one ikon. 21 inches wide byN2S inches high. done in gold overlay and bear ing wreath in large diamonds. There are a dozen other ikons of tremen- dous value at St. Isaac's alone.
 While these big Petrograd cathe- drals, which were long favored by royalty. probably contain the most valuable treasures of the Greek Orth- odoX church in Russia, nearly every one of the estimated 61.00O other churches contains objects in gold and silver and Jewelled ikons are not at all rare, even in thes mailer edifices.
 Royal gifts, donations by pious parishoners and church taxes for centuries went largely into ornament- ing the churches.
 Kazan cathedral was tfle holy of holies to the Cossacks. The Cossacks pounds of silver, asking that it be made into ikons of four of the Apostles.
 Beyond their value in precious
 
 might be extremely sought after by collectors. The Byzantine magnth- cence of the jewelled ikons. however, might impress the Western world as more ornate than artistic.
 With a few scattered exceptions, wherein some footing of churches may have occurred during the early days of the revolution, church treas ures have been letf practically intact.
 Patriarch Tikhon, the head of the RllCCiaT ohI1rPh jC arSfnn6 fn tend that, since the church and the state have been separated, the title to the treasures rests in the hands of the aprishonerS of each church and that, therefore. 1t is for each parish to decide what treasures it wishes to surrender for the famine sufferers.
 He advises charity in this respect, btu it is believed in Moscow that the church. as a whole. will Strenuously oppose general confiScation, while willing to surrender those objects which 1t does not consider particu-' 1arly holy or of essential use in sac ramental oGbServances,