IN RUSSIA

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 5, 6 July 1921, Page 3

IN RUSSIA

NEW RELIGIOUS SPIRIT

"Tho old bureaucratic Orthodox Church has died; or, rather, it' is dying," writes Boris Sokolov in Posliedniya Novosty, a Russian radical daily published in Paris. "The pli Orthodox clergy, partisans of the Autocracy, its obedient officials, have disappeared, no one knows where. Many of them have died. Others again" are eking out their existence, in obscuro parishes. NEW TYPE OF PRIEST. "A. new type of priest has taken their places; or, more properly speaking, is now arriving, for this phenomenon has its own history and course. This new priest is more a man of the world: he does not wear long hair, and he wears a collar... In the day time he is serving somewhere, frequently in some Soviet or Commissariat. He is a priest for liis fervent teliof, in the name of religion. Ho is an apostle of that faith. In religious questions ho is independent.; He is in- favour lof an independent Church. He is nonpolitical. At the same time he is. undoubtedly a staunch democrat. And frequently ho happens to be an irreconcilable foa of the Soviet, regime. ' Often we see him attacking tho Bolsheviks. • Still they forgive him. The struggle between the Bolsheviks and religion Has ended in tho victory, of the latter— an obvious and decisive victory. At the present time the Bolsheviks aro no longer interfering with religion. Nay, more than that—and these are well-established facts —more and more frequently the Coml Jnunists themselves are being married at Church. At the point of death they send for the priest. Their children are being baptised. And so all through. Here is a Red army hospital to be inaugurated; and, at the" request of the ' soldiers, a player service is held. The sentiments of 1918 and 1919 seem never to have existed at all. In a bloodless struggle the Orthodox Church has defeated Bolshevism. But, having been' victorious, ifc has been transformed itself. It has become more of a church, more Christian, less canonically orthodox. ; RELIGIOUS FRATERNITIES GROWING. "Lately religious fraternities have been growing and gaining firm ground more and more in Petrograd: These fraternities are forming themselves in the various . districts of the city, attracting the more religiously disposed elements, and organise peculiar societies, regular communes with common property. This because the organisation ia founded on fraternal ver lationship and Christian love. Much time is I eing devoted in these fraternities to ' discussions, 0n.,. .religion, and,, .philosophy. ■'Prayer' meetings are frequent. These fraternities .are headed by the newly-arrived clergy. Lately there have been more and more frequent cases .of ;layropp joining the clerical profession. "Moro and more frequently, especially .in the workers' quarters of tho town, discussions are carried on after the religioun services. I was present at oho of thesp. And I, a strangor to religion, have to admit that it affected me wonderfully and deeply. It was a small parish church. It is half-dark. Instead of candles there ai« burning 'loutchihos' ■ (kindling wood), dim, and smoky. The church is crowded, as if it were some great holiday. Tho I congregation is all through composed of labouring people. The women wear headshawls. There are more men than women. A MOVING SERVICE. "In the pulpit is Professor Losski. Ho is slight of build and a splendid orator. Ho it speaking about the universal soul, and about the God-idea. And ho connects his philosophic Intuitivism firmly with the Orthodox faith. Ho speaks plainly and clearly. .He has finished. Silence ensues —long, very long. Then a Communist jumps, up. He is a youth, about twenty, chairman of the local union of Communistic youth. And he began to talk, railing at God and Church. Thereupon the whole congregation, as if at a signal, began to chant a prayer-hymn. "The group of Communistic youth, not numerous, in turn, began to sing tho Internationale.- For' some time both' blended into one, the prayer and the Internationale, until at last the powerful :chorus of the worshippers drowned the sounds of th~e Internationale. Then Losski spoke again. And the congregation sank to their ' knees after his sermon, praying long. And the majority. of this assemblage was workers. This seemed strange to me. —(Brotherhood.)".