ROBBING THE CHURCHES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3128, 31 July 1922, Page 7

ROBBING THE CHURCHES.

Recent cables announced that a number of priests in Russia, bad been condemned to death by the Soviet Courts because they protested against their churches being robbed, and that the sentences had been commuted to imprisonment for life. The Berlin correspondent of the New York Herald supplies detail® of the saeriligeous outrage as follows: — Twelve priests were condemned to death at the trial in Mo.scow of fiftyseven church supporters whose, crime was the holding of a mass meeting to protest against the requisitioning of church property, including the precious stones, gold and silver vessels and! ornaments, by the Bolshevik!. The Soviet Government made an example of these churchmen not only by the severity of the penalty but by holding the trial in Moscow’s largest theatre and giving wide newspaper publicity to the verdict in order to impress on others the futility of resistance. The crime of the defendants was no more than that committed by any body of persons who might hold a protest meeting in Carnegie Hall of a Sunday afternoon. A group of church, adherents, including the twelve priests, held such a meeting in Moscow, at • which a, letter was read from the patriarch condemning the requisitions As a result they and seventeen other priests who read the letter from their pulpits were arrested. When brought to trial the prisoners were herded together and surrounded by Bolshevist troops with bayonets set. and pistols drawn and marched into the theatre, which was packed with Communist sympathisers, who had received' tickets. Patriarch Tikhon, who since then has relinquished his high office, was called as a witness. On entering the hall he raised his hand and blessed the assembled people. The crowd’s religious instincts were awakened for the moment by the Patriarch’s dignity and appearance, and it rose with bowed heads. Then the trial proceeded. The Judges held that the fact that the mass meeting was held was sufficient evidence to condemn the priests for treason. In addition to those who received the death sentence several wore sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from ten to fifteen years. The Patriarch is again undter democillary arrest; that is, guards are placed about his house to prevent him from leaving or any one from visiting him. Soviet authorities here tell the New York Herald correspondent that it will require another month to complete the requisitioning of church treasure. The Bolsheviks admit that they feel uneasy about the consequences of this renewal of the war with the Church, but they are not considering the hostility that may be aroused abroad. They excuse their act by saying that they have no other way to get funds. It is typical of the general apathy m the country that conflicts between churchmen and Bolshevist treasure hunters are relatively rare. Among those who sat as judges in the Soviet Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal which condemned the priests to death was a former Pittsburg, metal worker named John Kotek, a Russian American, who was arrested for his radical activities in Pitthurg and deported. Six months after he rereturned to Russia he was appointed to the Supreme Revolutionary Court and now with ton other workers he has the power of life and death over the Russian people.