The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-08
RUSSIAN WORKMEN
STRIP CHURCH Ik0NS
OF RICH TREASURES
(By Associated Press)

MOSCOW, June 8.-Hammers and
chisels, welded in a matter Of fact
manner by employees of the govern
ment committees for Requisition of
Church Treasures, have stripped in a
few moments the silver or gold over
, lays from ikons that took years to
I construct Today these sheets of val
liable metal are being weighed Oh
scales and melted down to be sold to
help feed Russia's famine sufferers.
Here and there throughout Russia
there have been disturbances In con-
nection with the acquisitions, but the
outstanding feature of the campaign to
transform these valuables into bread
has been the calm manner In which
parishioners have watched the requist-
tions.
The Associated Press correspondent
spent a morning with the Moscow
Requisition committee, watching the
work at an ancient church and big
convent in Moscow. At the latter a
few nuns, solemn faced but unresist-
ing, watched the methodical work of
the acquisitions and even assisted
them by pointing out the treasures
containing genuine diamonds.
Fifteen minutes work stripped from
an ikon. all of the silver and gold be-
fore which Ivan the Terrible once
knelt, and left it a cracked oil paint
ing. A few ships of the shears and a
collar of tiny seed pearls, weighing
perhaps six pounds and which must
have taken months of patient needle
work to construct was cut from anoth-
er ikon and tossed into a box with
silver cups, diamond-studded crosses
and communion cups of gold. Scores
of hanging lamps of silver and hand
wrought enamel, which had been care
fully tended and filled with oil and
lighted for centuries, came down just
as quickly and were thrown in heaps
on a wooden bench to be listed and
a weighed on the scales.
q Wealth In ikons.
Most of the wealth of the church
has been placed in the overlaysA Of
ikons. The Greek Catholic church
abhors statues, but permits pictures
of the saints. Originally mere oil
paintings, these ikons have beer
framed in gold or silver and Their
overlays of precious metal fitted over
the canvas Sometimes only the
faces of the paintings can be seer
under the gold and silver. If the
painting is that of the Virgin, for ex
ample, pearl necklaces are huns
about the overlap that covers tht
neck. In some cases garment!
heavy with jewels are added. Whel
all these decorations are torn away
there remains only an old oil paint
ing.
The work of the requisitioners was
extremely careful and methodical
Though probably Communist them
selves and therefore scorning tn,
customs of the orthodox. they doffet
their hats upon entering the church
They did not enter the Sanctuary o
other holy rooms but permitted tn,
priest or some other person desig
mated by the faithful to hand out Il
them the valuable articles from thest
places.
Experts from the government
museums accompanied the requisi
TONERS and If they discovered object
Of great historical value these wer,
pronounced museum articles" AM
not sold but removed to the museum
> or permitted to remain in tn
4 churches.
At the Nikitsh convent one ikol
which the nuns particularly values
was not taken, as the parishioner
agreed to pay over to the famine fun
its value in silver coin.