RELIGION REMAINS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 16

RELIGION REMAINS

IN ATHEIST RUSSIA

SMALL TOWN CHURCHES

To celebrate the revolutionary holiday on May Day of last year, the authorities of Petrozavodsk, capital city of the Karelian Republic, dynamited the cathedral, which has stood in the centre of the town for one hundred years, says a correspondent of the "Christian Science Monitor." When the writer visited Petrbzavojlsk a few weeks later, the debris had been cleared away and workers were drilling in gas-masks on the vacant site. The cathedral had been firmly built and resisted the first two attempts to blow it up. The third charge finally brought it down early in the morning of May 1, while hundreds of onlookers cheered. "UNUSED SINCE 1926." The "Mayor" of Petrozavodsk, I. DolIcin, complained that some newspapers in. Finland had published a false account of this incident. He declared they had reported that the cathedral was blown up without warning at midnight while a service was being held. On the contrary, he said, the cathedral has not been used for services since 1926, and during the past year has not been used for anything. He said the authorities notified the people twentyfour days in advance that the cathedral would be destroyed. "BLOT ON OUR LANDSCAPES." One of the Communist directors of the "House of Culture," which was constructed next to the cathedral, smilingly pointed out the vacant space upon which the cathedral had stood, and said: "We have finally gotten rid of that blot on our landscape. It was painful to look out from our Soviet House of Culture upon this remnant of dying religion." (All Communists, of course, are militant atheists, and look forward to the time when'religion will disappear entirely,, not only in Soviet Russia, but everywhere.) In this city of 56,000 inhabitants only one small Russian Orthodox Church now remains open. The others have either been destroyed or are used for other purposes. One of the largest is used as an anti-religious museum. The writer attended a mid-week service in the small remaining church, ■which stands somewhat apart from the town on a quiet hill in a grove of cedar trees overlooking Lake Onega. The church was crowded, and many people stood outside in the vestibule and the yard. While most of the worshippers were old or middle-aged, there were some young people. A young girl stood in the doorway, devoutly making the responses. The choir of men and women was better than most in Moscow. , „ Several beggars stood around the cloor, and received alms with murmured thanks. The writer did not see a beggar anywhere else in Petrozavodsk. Here, as in other Soviet cities, beggars seldom appear on the streets, but are always to be found near those churches which remain open. UNDISTURBED. Residents declared that militant antixeligious campaigns are no longer conducted, and those who cling to religion are not disturbed. But atheist education is conducted in all schools, and even in kindergartens, as well as in ■the Communist youth organisations. Ambitious young people understand that church attendance is likely to interfere with their careers. Under ' such circumstances," the Communists are satisfied that all organised religion Will in time disappear. It nevertheless seems remarkable that in the face of official disapproval so many people cling to religion. The writer visited several villages in Karelia. Each of them, however small, had at least one church. In a few villages all of the churches were closed or used for clubs or museums. But in most of 'those visited at least one church was freshly painted, and wellattended services were held regularly; The faithful still give a share of their meagre salaries to keep up the church, provide a living for the priest, and pay the high taxes. Church members . declared that religion has become much more real and vital to them since the revolution than it was before, and that the Russian priests who remain are the most intelligent and devout.