PLACE FOR RELIGION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 66, 20 April 1943, Page 6

PLACE FOR RELIGION

RUSSIANS STILL LOVE THEIR PRIESTS

An outstanding feature of tlic renascent religious ilifc in Russia is 1 poverty. All the sumptuousness of ' the Orthodox rite lias disappeared : in the agony. It has given way to : surroundings which recall those of 1 the primitive Christian communi- 1 ties. The liturgy has retained only the barest essentials: the chalices are of pewter or wood, the chasubles of crudely coloured cloth. The priest lives on alms and dwells in a tumbled.-down juin or hides in the woods. Perhaps lie is a,young man who- has been secretly' ordained, or an old monk render-i ed homeless by the persecution. In any case, very different from the bigbellied figure which the. anti-re-ligH ous propaganda represents with guns and bags of gold holding out his hand to the capitalist. The social influence of the priest has thus grown considerably. Especially in the country districts, the clergy" and more in the daily ilifc and Avork of their parishioners. They even join in the activities of many factories, and there tlie3 r are often particularly useful in expounding the economic and the- social measures taken by the Government, or in putting at the disposal of the faithful their culture and technical experience. The priest is a typical representative of the Sovietic intelligentsia. He has a passion for reading—books, reviews, and newspapers. He is intensely interested, in current events and in what is called Sovietic social activity. He has submitted to the general trencl of Russian life*; liav-. ing become more "realistic"' he has by that fact become more Europeanised. He. is more like a Catholic cure or a Protestant pastor than his predecessors. He is in turn a medical practitioner, an agriculturist or a. horticulturalist. He seeks to penetrate everywhere, and. he often succeeds; he works for the de-. velopment of aviation, and takes active part in the various "days" of "Youth,-' of "Woman,'' or "Frontier Defence." It often happens that the local party head, and the priest, a!though officially hostile to one another, work hand in hand to inspire t.lie seasonal agricultural activities or in the propaganda campaigns/which have, social aims. Whenever there is a call "to mobolise all the force;! of the country,"' the Soviet priest will be in the front line. But it is precisely this new type of priest, who differs so enormously from that ridiculed by the. anti-re-ligious propaganda, that causes anxiety to the Soviet leaders. Yaroslavsliy (head of the '"Godless") cited these figures: "If it is remembered that the number of* bei lievers constitutes thirty per cent, of the population of the towns, it. will* at once be seen hat there are millions of Soviet subjects who are. faithful to religion. Among the rural population, two-thirds are believers. Yaroslavsky continued: "There are some people who take comfort from the thought that a great number of -churches are closed, and think that that means the end of religion. That is a great mistake. The danger consists precisely in the fact that, although the churches have been, closed, our work lias not been very effective among the masses. The priests are without their churches, but they are surrounded by their faithful. They have simply become 'travelling priests.' The 'travelling priest'' sets out with his paraphernalia, which can all be carried in a light suitcase: a censer, some bread and aflask of wine for Communion. He goes from village to village. If he has not visited a village for a year or so, lie baptises all the children who have been born in the meanwhile, conducts | marriages and funerals. Though the ! churches have been shut, the priests continue to be necessary in the eyes of. the people. . . . According to the official figures quoted, by Yaroslavsliy, there are at the present time 30,000 parishes in the U.S.S.R. legally recognised' > and registered. Each of these parishes counts some twenty-live rcli--5 gious enthusiasts forming a sort of r confraternity to assist the priests. There, are, therefore, about 750.000 k ' militant Christians working legally '• among the masses and contributing to the upkeep and development of Christian life. The Sov'et Press continues to deplore the collective baptisms of the - "travelling priests" and. the Immense attraction which religion still

14; swing. 10c choral 7: crooning, 2. exercises on the peasants and workcrs. Confronted with this invincible spiritual power, terrorism itself remains impotent. The principal characteristic of the clergy in Soviet Russia as noted by all who happened to meet with any of them, is the absence of petty anxiety, of indignation of fanaticism; the tranquillity, clear insight and real peace. This is so striking to every one, so, in .contradiction to the psychological aspect of. the outer setting, that it cannot fail to cause surprise. As a result, all those who until now have failed to understand the real meaning of the experience of the Russian Church will, sooner or latex", be brought to revise their opinion of it, and to many it will be a cause for a better estimation of the fundamental problems'of iif.e.