Evening star., 1922-06-30
S0V|ET|SM FATAL
TO RUSS Church
Requisition of Church Treas
ures for Famine Sufferers
Has Its Effect.

! MOSCOW. June 5.-The great Rus
sian Orthodox Church. which for CEN
turies was probably the most import
ant social factor and one OF the most
! important politically in Russian life,
I seems to have gone to pieces itself,
rather than to have had any effect
| upon the bolshevik government in
! its first direct conflict with the soviet
| regime.
| Whatever may have been the under
! lying purpose of the communist gov
ernment in directing the requisition
| famine sufferers. the requisition It,
self has succeeded in splitting the
, church. Scores Of priests are under
arrest and revolutionary tribunals
throughout the country are trying
them for counter-revolItton or theft
emu secretion Of church valuables
without any particular resentment on
/ 'he part of the parishoners.
/ Head Of Church Abdicates.
I Patriarch Tikon, the head of the
church. abdicated when faced with
trial by the civil courts on the charge
or opposing the requisition. One of
the men he Suggested as his possible
successor. the Metropolitan Benja-
! min of Petrograd. is also to be put
on trial, and in the meantime the
| control of church affairs has been
turned over to a group known popu-
larly as the red clergy"
| This group. pledged to simplify the
church services and to work in har-
mony with the bolshevik government
already has taken over a number of
churches. It is headed by Bishop
Antonin of Moscow. who early In the
! QUESTION of treasures volunteered to
assist the soviet government. Now
| Antonin is planning to secure close
| cooperation between church and
| state by appointment in the Russian
! cabinet OF a commissar for church
affairs.
Full Value Not Obtained.
7 The actual value OF church treas
ures of Russia probably was several
hundred million dollars, but the requi.
| sitioners obtained but a small proper
| tion OF this amount. They secured
| tons of silver. much gold. and thou
sands of precious stones. but for
| every diamond studded miter the
requisitioners found one or two SINH
| lar articles listed as stolen or miss
| ing. For the theft of these and for
open agitation against requisition,
there is scarcely a province in Rus
sia where churchmen have not been
| arrested. In addition to the eight
| priests. one woman and two laymen
sentenced to death at Moscow. and
| the four sentenced at Shuya, other
| death sentences are being imposed.
| Except at Shuya. however. none has
| been carried out. and it is generally
| believed in Moscow that most of
| those convicted will be pardoned or
! receive reduced sentences. Gen.
| Brussiloff. one of the heroes of the
/ Russian war against Germany and
, Austria. has interceded for his daugh-
ter-in-law, Mrs. Barbara Ivanova
Brussiloff. the woman sentenced to
death in the Moscow trial
Old residents of Moscow have told
the correspondents that the arrests
of the clergy were not resented be-
cause Russians. ordinarily, had very
| little respect for the priests. They
were devout in their church worship,
but regarded the clergy, particularly
, in the villages. as men who charged
them for all the services the church
! rendered. making them pay for births,
marriages and deaths