THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 137, 26 June 1937, Page 11

THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA

Some Signs of Revival

Despite tlie fact that during the twenty years since the Bolslievik revolution the Russian Church has sutl'ered a steady decline in membership and • infiiience, • having lost more than half its pre-revolution. adliereuts, Clmrobmen have never ceased their efforts to save religion from extinction in Soviet Itussia. Latest reports show that Church organisations have succeeded in • maiuitaming annual incomes amounting to hundreds of millions of rouhleK. These figures have been made public for the first time in the report of a speeial investigator of Komsomolskaya Pravda, ihe influential organ of tlie Yopng Communist League, which lias been a steadfast enemy of Church influence, and is now taking the lead in a new anti-religious campaign throughout the conntry. The investigator admits that official Church statistics reveal'that in Moseow one religious society in thc past three 3Tears enjoyed an income of more than 650,000 roubles, while the Red capital's "Church of the Resurrection" alone reported *n income of over 400,000 roubles for tlie same period. These, and other Church imits, contrihufcod libcrallj to flic support qf the syuocliq

and diocesan administrations. The newspaper rei-eals that the bulk of the enormous income is being expended on the maintenance of clerical staffs and on organised religious propaganda intended to extend Church mfluence particularly in • some rnral regions \ wliere the peasantry have held tenaciously to religious be'iiei's. Jnformed foreign observers here declare that the few Church repreheutatives who might be eletted would be an insignificant minority, powerless to off-set the Soviet rlgime's control of the Press, radio, cinema, theatre, and trade unions, which can be marshalled for a concerted attack at any time the Soviet- leaders wisli to clieek " the niomcntum of the religious revival. Deprived of financial support l'rom the Government, and realising less than 10 per cent. of their income from donations, churchmen have resorted to "trading" in ik'ons, crosses, incense, candles, and. wedding rings^ whieh they fniy from private craftsmen and are alleged to resel] at several times their original cost. The Konisomo'skay* Pravda report places speeial empliUsi« on this aspect of Church income* eluiructcrisipg the cJer^y 'as pi-Qffteerg,