THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA

New Zealand Tablet, 31 March 1910, Page 491

THE CHURCH IN RUSSIA

Since the famous toleration ukase -of April 30, 1905 (writes the 'German correspondent ■ of ' the Philadelphia Standard and Times), which granted freedom of worship to all the subjects of the Czar, the condition of the . Catholic Church in Russia has been a frequent subject of discussion in Italian, French,- and German periodicals. ' Gregory Reinhold has carefully collated the. varied information thus supplied and presented it to - the German ■ reading public in an interesting and well-written section of the second volume of the Kirchliche Eandbuch., The immediate consequence of, the toleration ukase, he says," was a movement en masse Rbmewards. , In the Baltic provinces Protestantism made considerable gains, and in Asiatic Russia Mohammedanism received some few additions. S V During the first two years of religious tolerance (19051907) in the western. provinces alone 170,936 went ; over to the Catholic Church, according to the report read at the Orthodox Mission Congress held in Kiev in 1908. There is no doubt that these figures are far below the reality. In the first place, not all the dioceses in which conversions took place were considered (e.g., Mohilew and Riga). - Besides, for the dioceses mentioned in the report the figures are certainly not accurate in all cases. For instance, ' for Cholm the number of conversions is placed at 119,278, whereas it is certain 1 that they reach nearly 200,000. In 1875 the Catholic diocese of 'Cholm was forcibly suppressed by the Czar, and the 266 parishes, with 260,000 souls, were unceremoniously incorporated in the Orthodox diocese of Warsaw. ■ The vast majority of these returned to the ancient faith immediately after the publication of the toleration edict. •, '.•- ‘ On June 14, 1909, a number of motions relating to the toleration ukase, extending or explaining its provisions, one even permitting Christians to join a non-Christian body, were warmly supported by Stolypin and passed by the Duma. The Russian. Synod protested against these provisions. The toleration granted by r-them was unreasonable, it maintained in a lengthy expose, and damaging in the extreme to the interests of the Orthodox Church. In place of the long-planned general council, a general Orthodox Mission Congress, the fourth of its kind, was opened in Kiev on July 12,' 1908. ' Three Metropolitans (St. Petersburg, Moscow, ; and Kiev), seven Archbishops, twenty-six Bishops, and over five hundred delegates from all parts of the Empire were in attendance. Practically the only, questions discussed were the toleration ukase and the ways and means i to stem the tide of conversions to Catholicism. The revocation of the toleration edict was demanded; the right of making propaganda was to be reserved to the Orthodox? Church,- and missionaries I from other countries were to be forbidden to remain in Russia. A number of resolutions were’ also adopted dealing with the Orthodox Church itself. - .To strengthen its hold? on the masses of the people, greater solemnity at the divine services, closer relations between priest and > flock, greater zeal in- preaching and, catechising, and. a wider spread of the religious press were earnestly recommended. ‘ ‘ : : More fanatically intolerant than the Holy Synod is the : ‘ Association- of True ■ Russian People.’ r ‘ Russia for the ■ Russian Church ’ is . their motto, . and they demand the forcible suppression of every other religious denomination. In a document addressed to the Holy Synod the ‘ Chief Consul ’ of the association’ demands the revocation of the toleration edict and the order.in council of March 17, 1908, by ■ virtue - of which most of the > Catholic Church "property, confiscated during the Polish insurrections is to be restored to the Catholic Church. ? All philosophico-religious e associations,? says this spokesman - of .the true' ? : Russian people,’ must be suppressed and all open meetings -of i the * sects; ’' forbidden. And he calls on the Holy Synod to

issue an, encyclical formally ' condemning the present regime, 1 which leads not to renovation, but to destruction; not to reform, but to unrest; not to liberty, but to slavery; not to well-being, but to poverty.’ The Holy Synod, of course, foreseeing the futility of presenting such exaggerated demands to the Government, declined to receive the petition of the ‘ true Russian people.’ The appointment, in February, 1909, of Privy Councillor Lukjanow to the head procuratorship of the Holy Synod raised for a while the hopes of the obstinate Orthodox circles. The condition of the Catholic Church in Russia has somewhat improved during the past year by the appointment of several new Bishops. To the - See of Mohilew 7 , vacant since 1905, Monsignor Apollinaris Winukowski was appointed last spring,' but died shortly afterwards. As suffragan Bishops were appointed Monsignor John Cieplak and Monsignor Stephen Denisevicz. On April 30 Bishop Cieplak began a visitation of Siberia. The visitation began in Walogda, and is to terminate on the island of Sanchalin. The archdiocese of Mohilew is the most extensive in the world, , covering fourteen million square kilometres. Five dioceses are still vacantKielzy, Sandomir, Sejny-Augustow, Samogitia, and Wilna—whose last Bishop, Baron von Ropp, was deposed by ukase of the Czar on October 14, 1907, charged with using , disrespectful language and being too friendly. towards the Poles. .