CHURCH ACTIVITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 264, 6 November 1937, Page 22

CHURCH ACTIVITY.

POSITION IN RUSSIA. CLERGY AND THE ELECTIONS. MOSCOW. There are still more than 30,000 churches in operation in the Soviet Union, and the clergy continue to maintain their direct influence over millions of their parishioners. In the forthcoming elections when Russia's millions will for the first time exercise the privilege of electing their representatives by secret ballot, the clergy are destined to play a role of some importance. The danger is clearly foreseen by the authorities, and already efforts are being made to counteract "the subversive Church influence." Much has been written in the Press within recent weeks exposing the alleged attempts of the clergy to misinterpret the new Constitution, especially in its provisions concerning the right to nominate candidates. This right, says Article 141, is granted "to public organisations and to societies of toilers, Communist party organisations, trade unions, co-operative and youth organisations, and cultural societies." The Church, according to Soviet authorities, does not fit into any of these categories, and is not entitled to nominate its own candidates for office. In an article in "Pravda" on "Church and State," Emilian Yaroslavski, the veteran Bolshevik, who is president of the Militant Godless Society, declares that "The activities of the Church under the Soviets were always limited, and all the more so by the law of April 8, 19*29, which limits Churches strictly to religious activities." As part of the campaign now going on to discredit clergymen, the Press reports that a number, especially in the Leningrad region, have been arrested as spies and wreckers. Most of them are said to be Finnish pastors. A group of counter-revolutionary clergymen, it is reported, was exposed in Leningrad several months ago. That group was led by Archbishop Benedict. "This knave," states a Leningrad paper, "acted under the instructions of his Fascist masters. He directed his followers to assist the enemy when it attacks the Soviet Union. Uniting with Trotskyists and other internal enemies, this group was to attempt to nominate its own candidates in the forthcoming elections."