THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 6

THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA

BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION

COMMUNIST ATTACKS ON A SPIRITUAL ROCK

Long ago in Tsarist days, such was the power of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church that Peter the Great, fearing that a possible conflict between Church and State might prejudice his reforms, abolished the patriarchate. It was replaced by a synod of bishops appointed by the Sovereign to govern the Church under the virtual control of a lay HighProcurator, acting as “the eye and ear of the Sovereign.” This was the beginning of the so-called Synod period of the Russian Church which lasted for 200 years. The Church, or rather the body ecclesiastic, became more and more absorbed by the State, the higher clergy especially practically depending on the High Procurator for their "career.”

Secure from all rival denominations as the established Church of the realm, richly endowed and protected by the entire weight of the government machine, the Church certainly lost not only her independence but suffered also in her spiritual life. Down in the depths, in distant monasteries and humble parishes as well as in many a bishop’s dwelling the flame still burnt bright and clear. The people still lived their spiritual life so different from that of the West, intensely introspective and with no apparent correlation with their everyday practices. But outwardly the Church was silent. The voice of her prelates which in the old days had sounded so fearlessly in denunciation of corrupt and evil governments was no longer heard. Those among her pastors and laymen who loved their Church and worshipped the eternal truths she stood for asked themselves whether a day would come when she would be free from the bonds of officialdom and too much protection. A strong current in favour of the convocation of an AllRussian Church council existed within and outside the Church, and a special body was set up to work out its programme, but the event itself was always postponed. The Revolution. Then came the March revolution of 1917 after the fall of the Tsar. The first Provisional government proclaimed full religious freedom and authorised the convocation of the AllRussian Church Council. This —the first after a lapse of 200 years—met in Moscow in August, 1917. Whatever doubts and fears may have existed concerning the state of the Church these were set at rest. The Church, as a “community of the faithful” was alive. Her highest dignitaries and the rank and file clergy, university professors and halfilliterate peasants—all were banded together in a common enthusiasm for the revival of Church life. A broad scheme of reform embracing its whole structure was carried through in conformity with the agelong tradition and canons of the Eastern Orthodox Church as the accumulated spiritual experience of many generations of Christians. Whatever modernist tendencies may have manifested themselves under the influence of the revolutionary currents which swept the land these were deliberately set aside. Reform, not reformation, was the watchword of the Convocation. The restoration of the Patriarchate was the first act of the Council, which proceeded to nominate the candidates by secret ballot. Conforming to the ancient Apostolic tradition which believes that the casting of lots was guided by Providence the names of the three candidates who received the majority of votes were deposited in a casket on the altar table in the cathedral of the Assumption. After a service of intercession for Divine guidance a blind hermit venerated for his holy life drew out the name of the future Patriarch. The lot fell on the meek and gentle Mgr. Tikhon, only recently elected metropolitan of Moscow. The elections coincided with the Bolshevist revolution of November, 1917. Disestablishment. The new Patriarch was no sooner enthroned than the Soviet Government disestablished the Church and set up their famous proclamation: “Religion is the opium of the People.” By a stroke of Lenin’s pen the Church was dispossessed of all her property, deprived of all legal status and the clergy of civic rights;.all religious instruction to persons under 18, and the

publication and sale of the Bible and religious books were prohibited, theological colleges closed. “Anti-God” societies sprung . up, many churches and monasteries were turned over to kinemas and other uses, burlesque street processions, blasphemous posters and the teaching of atheism in the schools introduced as a means cf combating religion. The people replied by an outburst of religious fervour. They came out iuto the streets in tens of thousands headed by the clergy bearing crosses, ikons, and banners and singing in the dead of winter the triumphant Easter hymn of Resurrection: “Christ is risen from the dead.” These demonstrations assumed such proportions that they were soon suppressed. Then the Church as it were retired into the catacombs. The great process of winnowing had begun. All the chaff, all those who had only nominally belonged to her now fell away; only the good seed remained. The spirit of the early Christian Church seemed to breathe again. Once more the faithful were as “one body and one soul” sharing everything in common, gaining strength and courage in communion with their mother Church. As in the early days of Christianity the Christians in Russia gathered together in the churches for all-night vigils and the sacrament of the Eucharist. Many brought their scanty supplies of food and clothes to share with those who had none. "We thank God for the trials He has sent us. Only now since we lost everything we realise the fullness of His love and that no power on earth can separate us from Him.” The man who wrote this—just an ordinary “good sort of fellow” not only lost all he possessed and those dearest to him, but himself had more than once faced death for his faith. Many bishops and thousands of the lower clergy sealed their faith in Christ by dying a martyr’s death praying for their enemies with their last breath. The Patriarch Tikhon himself was imprisoned for a long time, and his impending trial was announced, but eventually that idea was abandoned. Persecution Fails. Open persecution having failed, an attempt was made to disrupt the

Church from within. The less steadfast of the higher clergy encouraged and abetted by the Government seceded from the patriarchal Church and formed “churches” known as the “Living Church,” the “Reformed Church,” and others. They were granted certain liberties and administration facilities denied to the “Tikhonites.” To attract adherents the organisers of these “churches” introduced various innovations and modernish reforms “more in conformity with the spirit of the age.” But the “church people” as the Orthodox were designated, who had already weighed in the balance the values of the faith and institutions handed down to them through the ages and found them of sterling gold, were quick to detect the fraud and turned away in scorn.

The cathedrals and large churches handed over to the reformists remained practically empty, while the meaner buildings occupied by the “Tikhonites” were filled to overflowing—a puzzle foreign visitors to Russia found difficult to account for. At one of its convocations the synod of the “Reformed Church” declared the Patriarch to be deposed and unfrocked. When the document was brought to the imprisoned prelate he wrote briefly : “Illegal. The humble Tikhon Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.” The “Living Church” might boast of a large body of renegade clergy, but the flock remained faithful to its gentle and unassuming spiritual father who in his prison cell held the heart of the Russian people in his keeping.

He was finally released and issued an encyclical bidding the clergy refrain from all political activity, and owe civic obedience to the existing Government. Wherever the Patriarch went crowds flocked to the church where he officiated, and filled the neighbouring streets duly to catch a glimpse of him and receive his blessing. Many "reformist” .bishops returned to the Church, and after public repentance for their errors were readmitted by the Patriarch.

Tikhon Passes. At last, worn out by the intolerable strain, the Patriarch Tikhon passed away in April, 1925. His funeral, attended by scores of thousands come from far and near, was a triumphant manifestation of the deathless spirit of the Church.

Before his death the Patriarch appointed three metropolitan of whom the one available was to take up the office of Curator of the Patriarchal See pending the time when the free and lawful election of a new Patriarch would become possible. Two of these prelates never reached Moscow. The third Mgr. Peter too was very soon imprisoned and banished into exile. The present locum tenens, Mgr. Sergius, has reaffirmed the non-polltieal attitude of the Church, and is asking in return that she should be recognised as a legal body. Meanwhile in the absence of their spiritual head, the clergy and flock “in dispersion” but strong in unity are looking more and more for guidance to the Spirit which lives in the Church as the mystic body of Christ. “Our conditions are harder now than they were two years ago, wrote a priest recently, but still we are growing stronger and have no fear, for the people who are the body of the Church have themselves become the guardians of the Truth.”

Two great dangers are ahead of the Church. One is the growing shortage of priests, for with the closing of all theological schools there are no young ones to take the place of the old. There is also a whole generation of children growing up without any religious education whatever, and who have never so much as handled a Gospel or a prayer book. With these problems the Church will be faced in a very near future.

Perhaps the most appropriate ending to this picture of the spiritual life in Russia would be to quote a passage from a letter by a foreigner recently back from that country. He wrote: “The Russian Orthodox Church deprived of her wealth, reduced in numbers, divested of her magnificent raiment, stripped naked as it were, still stands strong and immutable because her foundation rests upon a rock.”— From “St. Martin’s Review.”