OBITUARY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 397, 5 January 1909, Page 5

OBITUARY.

■■■: OF KRONSTiDT; •■: ■: (BT' CTWeawS—jjlEW' ASBOCIiTIOK— ComidHT.)' .;:' • : ■■; I;.;) 1 ;;''Jj;^ti'Petersburg^January ; 3i; ':' i.; ofSronßtaftti. ■~..; '.' f Af H EB ' JfrftN JMi 0 TH E R E VOLIJTI ON/; Of: late hUtWhp-, -been heard of 'Father John of Kvonstfldt!'.rA ; ms . herprof .the people, he found himself in;3ire;oross-ourrenr,s -when,the rerolutioij waxedVfitrong. ; -lljtimatelyi : . it.'seeins, he -went altogether over: to -the./reactionaries, for it w&s in' a: brief .cablegram'.in. TOSi-r-'Tafher'JDhii'of Kronstat, in. the pres'enoeVof thp'^saridf:pf; reivptionaries; at: St' r Pe.tereburg., blessedrthe -pahher' of the . Union of;"the Russian People ■■(the.: Bkok Huadred)ir He de-no-nnoed' the'.'Diima: as "ah' unhealthy : rtdwth,"' Y«rt a DT?ma v has:'Btirvived;' Ministers like' Premier-.■' StplTp.in ; !.Vand..'M.'■ ;Isvolsky (Foreign Affairs) w&ko;poUey'speeohes : to it in the,modern manner;'-■ and -the; new 'Bussia—the ruling .Knssia—ee'eas' to C: have .little• -vrith that the., deceased priest as if'Tie//.Messiah." ... , . .'-'■ .;•'/■> : A porrespohdont;.of;."The Times", in one'of a , series ; of-, articles;/- on. 'Ilnssia } Keyisited" eketohesV,tlii;.po*ei'. and the. fall' of Father. John of ..Kronstadt.v.The cprrespondentjTritesi "Wnen-I, wasV-.in '.Russia some .y.ears ..ago, Father John leputcd my.stio Baint and thaumaturge,'-seemed ■to be os._ popular and' as powerful''throughout thV Eripire , ns everi ; the; Teftijritod'when revolutionary, 'disorders broke'but-Wtne ' thought that' he -had but to ? 6peal£«the'.-wprd. onlr in .order.to ; exor-' cisethe demon'Qf idisoontent by, whioh-the body. ,'-I have frequently met Father-: Johrf ■since r then, in his., own house at KiDn9tadi-te'jny:¥ooms at' St. Petersbiire, when I had roptasVtnere,''-and in sick;chambers 'to ,whioh he^had^eeii. called to offer what. pr6ved to be'the:, fervent .'effectual prayer of. a righteous man.' '• Ipha've. 1 heard him preach ( and 'he' always. to strive to. substitute personal Teligi6n;;fpr. a degmatio- and ecclesiastical disousse.d with, him;his I reputea..powerj,ft's'>'worker of miracle's, and ihe invariably reptied with simplicity and sinoority that'mari.'can' do. nothins, . but that through mail' completely surrendered to God all things by : God. 1 With such a. creed a man'/uay.go far, and must go far if'.he'has tho.qualities of a martyr as well as those'of »'saint. , :-/; I, knew" that. Father John was Pf most'.'aelicate' and'sensitive fibre) but I wasnot .witho.Tit.jippe that his meek and lowly .temper would, .riße'into firmness and grandeur when: popular'passion* or bureaucratic tyranny demanded,that deep should answer into-deep. - "But whon'ibe. hour came I looked, and there was no man. Vji On a previous occasion in conneotion with the" Jewish .'pogrom' at Kishineff, Fath "r -Johnp-h'^d''. '.discovered the 'fatal disposition to funk a"crisis.' and when great rioting broke out. in KronstadV and all looked to him to still the: passions of the mob, the priest of- Kronstadt---fled. 'Up to that time;,in spite of many "calnmnies, for which some eredence had own indiscretions and .the greater indiscretions of his friends, the. lnflu. ence- Of Father"', John, had[been ..incalculable. From' that'm'btnent, the whole Empire turned against him as .completely 4s • Florence ■ turned against Pra oirolamo .Savonarola j when that priest and his. monks refused the ordeal by fire."

A VICTORIAN POLITICIAN

(■> j, Melbourne, January 4. The do'ath; is ' announced of Mr. David Gaunsonjicuee prominent in tho political life of the State.; ' ' Mr. David Gau'nson, a solicitor by profession, was a member of the Government wluoh hold office in -Victoria in 1881, being Com- ■ mitsioner-of Crown> Lands.