FATE OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH s

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 81, 31 December 1918, Page 5

FATE OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH s

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION BY THE • BOLSHEYIKI .

(By Captain J. A. F. Ozanne.)

It is not generally known that at this present time the Bolsheviki are waging a war of extermination against the Russian Church. Events move si> rapidly nowadays that one is rather apt to forget that there are institutions in that unhappy country besides Tsimlom, tho aristocracy, and'the bourgeoisie, and if the revolutionaries did not meddle with Christianity in the first instance oj the revolution, it was not because they cherished any friendly sentiments towards Christianity, but rather because they were too busy getting rid of tho other element.* iii the State Perhaps tliey recognised the utter futility of attacking a great and powerful institution, as the Russian Orthodox Church undoubtedly was. until they had first massacred most of the supporters of that institution. Now, having murdered the Tsar, the aristocracy, and the. bourgeoisie, tliey are in a position to make, war upon the Church with some chanco of success.

Tt is not very easy to get news from Russia, but the little which has come through leaves no doubt I hut the persecution of the Christian community in Russia as undertaken by the Eolshoviki bilk fair to rival the carlv persecutors of Nero. Diocletian, ■ami Julian the Apostate; while it has already surpassed anything which one has read of 'in connection with the Reign of Terror. Tn recent history there is only ono religious persecution with which it can be convnared. i.e.. the religions atrocities perpetrated by the Germans in the invaded, districts of France and Belgium.

Tt'was on the occasion of a service of intercession on behalf of the Russian Church and noonle which was held in the Church of St. Martin-in-tho-Ecikk Trafalgar Square, London, towards the middle of Auirusf, that Bishop Gore, the Bishop of Oxford, mentioned in the course of hi=i sermon that there w» rumours of a religious ))°rsocution in Russia. As vet 'no details had come to hand, but a? has imp,] «>(>». the nrenehcr's worst fears have been fully lealised. The nersecution storied in Moscow, vh.ic'i is Ihe Rome or Centcrlmrv of the Rus= : iin Orthodox Church. At first the Patriarch of Moscow was forbidden to anpear in any church of the Kremlin. Next he was forbidden to apnear in any church whatsoever. After this he was forbidden to show himself in the streets, end, fin-'llv, he was cast into prison. The sufferings which the Patriarch is forced to undergo are matters for conjecture, since he is unable to communicate with the outside world. No sooner had the Patriarch been tlisnosed of than the Bolshcviki tunnM their attcnl'mi to the elernrv. Th* Archimandrite Makarius and the Protopresbyter/). 1) VostosßOv. two of the most important nrelates in Mn--cow. were arrested and shot, together with twentv other prominent priests. This was followed by the closing of all the churches and the proscription of Divine service. Hundreds of priests nnd monks have been imprisoned, and, as no food whatever has been given them, it is presumed that most of them have since died. The. Red Guards then besieged tho Troitsky ■Monastery near Moscow. Many of the monks were execute"'', and the rest were kept within tho walls in a state of utmost misery and starvation. Tho people of Moscow tried to come to the rescue, but they were shot down by machineguns which the guards had mounted on the walls of the monastery. Those who were eye-witnesses of the tragedy say that, the people were as though animated by a religions, frenzy. As fast as otic group of rescuers was shot down another rushed forward to meet the same fate, while the guards who worked the guns screamed out to them: "Lot your Christ raise you from the dead"

One morning the Bolshevik! exhibits a lingo ikon of Christ outside the monastery gates. Suspecting nothing, the nroplo rushed forward to venerate tho ikon. As soon as the people l>eg/in to kiss the ikon the soldiers, who were stationed behind it, opened fire •with their rifles. Many fell mortally wounded, while their murderers asked: "Is tho kiss of your. Saviour so awfully hot?" One sees the history of Germany's recent invasion of h'mnce and Belgium'being repeated in Russia. Four years ago all Christian peoplo were horrified at tho ghastly stories of small children being crucified alive on the doors of bams in the invaded districts of Flanders. Tt was the Huns' sacrifice to the God of Kultur. It was in order to nropagate the "osnol of Knltur that, prwls wore hutchereil. tear altars were tlenle;!, and nuns riperl. Priests, nuns, altars, churches— Hie--e are all symbols of Christianity, imd the iino=tlc.-i of luiHnr have no iko for Christianity. The Sermon on the Mount '"'v little in common n-i(h (lie doctrine of fvielitl'iilne«. and wide ih the world : ~ there is little room in it for both ri"-i«t end Gotf. The German philosophers have com-tniitl.v and consistently nvpiiched thnt. Christianity is an enervating religion, fit only for weaklings, mid a positive danger (o .1 nation which seek? to dominate all mankind. One sees (he result of that teaching in tho ruins of France nml Belgium, and one also T-ns its results upon Germany's latest converts to Knltur—the Russian Bolsheviki.