RELIGIONIN THE U.S.S.R.

byRev. Wm. H. MELISH and F. OLECHTCHOVK

ABOlT THE Al...lmR: Rc\crcnJ \\'illi:l11l Howard\le1ish isAssociate Rector of the Olurch of the Holy Trinity ofBrooklyn. l"e\v York, FOfllll:r Ch;tinllJIl of the Depanmelltof Christian Socioll Relations of the Episcopal Dioce')~ ofLong- Island and Chairman of .he International Justice COIlI­

mi~ion of the Brooklvn Church and\lission Federation. Hehas lectured and \\'citten widch' on the So\"iet Union. \lamof his articles ha\'c heen publi'ihed in Tbe CIJUTe/mum andTbe n'itness.

Foreword

R ELIGIOUS men and women who stand in the Hebrew andChristian tradition are committed by their faith in a ra­

tional, just and gracious Creator to believe that life in this warldis ]lul"J,oseful, that men can learn to lh'e lugether as brothers,that war between nations must be banished from the earth andthe ,;ocial and economic life of humanity so ordered that thematerial needs of men can be met and their spiritual capacitiesfully released. "I have come," declared Jesus, the Jew who wasthe Founder of Christianity, "that ye mig-ht hav(~ life, and haveit more abundantly."

Religious people desire an endurin~' peace and a better world.They have been painfully learning, hcmeHr, that it takessomething more tangible than mere \\'anting to achieve thespobjectives. Peace and social advancement must be wroughtout of the rude fabric vi things as they are. For better or forworse, men must assume their part in the ongoing struggle forhuman freedom at the point where they now stand and withinthe context of their times.

The defeat of Germany and Japan by the Allied coalition,removed the grave menace of the Axis' military aggression but,in itself, does not make for an enduring peace. Those nationswhich have locked hands in mutual self-defense must continneto bind their destinies together in good faith and commonaspiration. That is the basic condition for an enduring peace.Clearly, this is the premise on which the United Nations havegathered at San Francisco and have drawn up the Charter for apermanent international organization.

The old League of Nations, from which so many religiouspeople expected so much, failed in its mission because the twomost important nations of the coming world were on the outside,and because the European powers that formed the backbone ofthe old League's structure allowed their fear of an emergingsocialist state in Russia to drive them into a fatal policy ofappeasemest towards their real enemy-the Axis aggressors.The Jesson of these tragic years should by now be plain to allthinking men and women in our churches and synagogues. Thenew international organization will include both the UnitedStates and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the

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constant spirit that guides its deliberations must be that of aunited approach to world problems. baged upon the firm con­viction that the older capitalistic states of the west can, andmust, sit dawn and work together with the new socialized statein a common endeavor.

This is the political framework and the fundamental problemof our times. It is important that religious men and womenshould grasp it and lend their effarts to solve it constructively.For the truth is that the religious issue has been a major separat­ing influence constantly at work between the United States,Canada and the Soviet Union. The opinions of church peoplehave had much ta do with the coolness between us, and todayto a considerable degree will determine the character of ournation's foreign policy towards the Soviet Union and the extentof our country's participation in the future United Nations'organization. German propaganda portrayed the Soviet as thespearhead of a "godless communism", exploiting in the Naziinterest certain aspects of Russian life. Today Goebbels isdead but his words have taken deep root and the myth he plantednow stalks on. Unless this fiction can be weeded out and thevast accumulation of misinformation cleared away, we shallharvest a crap of prejudices unrelated to the facts and ableto undermine essential ties between our peoples. If unchecked,they could help to send us spinning down the ugly spiral to WorldWar III.

IThe Church in the Great Crisis

When Adolf Hitler attacked the Soviet Union on June 22,1941, the German Propaganda Ministry made use of the air­waves and a flood of printed literature to appeal to religiousgroups in Russia to welcome and support the Nazi invadersas liberators. Lush promises of political freedom and financialassistance were loudly proclaimed. When a few isolated church­men here and there in the Ukraine succumbed to these blandish­ments, their collaboration was retailed at large along withdescriptions of the better days that Nazism had brought tareligious institutions in the satellite countries through whichthe Wehrmacht had rolled. It was the confident expectationof the German High Command that religious dissidence an alarge scale would help produce a rapid Soviet defeat. To theirdismay, exactly the opposite happened.

The Soviet Union's religious leaders instantaneously andunanimously supported their government with the strongestpossible messages of sympathy and promises of aid. Telegramspoured into the Kremlin from Orthodox, Evangelical, Jewishand Mohammedan authorities alike. Within the first few days

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following the attack a nationwide hook-up on the radio carrie,1the voices of these leaden;. summoning their respective con­stituencies to repel the invader. Goebbels had failed. He hadoperated on the false assumption. that religious leadership inthe So-viet Union was chafing under the heel of an oppressi\'eifO\'ernment and was ripe for ren.lt. When the great crbiscame, there was no religious dissidence in Russia.

This summons by religious leaders evoked a whole-heart~d

response from their people. Although it was assumed in HitJeriLrGermany, that a deep cleavage existed between religious peopleand the Soviet government, no ,uch chasm was there. Quite'0 the contrary, congregations vied \\"ith secular organizatiOl!Sin contributing to the Defense Fund and all wartime appeals.They petitioned the government to let them pmchase equipmentfor units to be named after historic personages. and at least two..,uch "all-church" tank cGlllmns were authorized, the DmitriDonskoi tank column purchased b>' Russian church contributiomand the Da\"id Sasun tank column purchased by Armenian churchgifts. Airplanes named after Dmitri Donskoi, Alexander. Tevskiand other canonized heroes were contributed by individual clergy.A typical letter accompanyimr ,uch gifts is the fc;llowing:

'·fort-pl., SIll/ill

7Ie Kremlin, .Hoseo",,:,'.

"It is not '\virhour God's" ill that In this '1tern ,",';If of cruel. blood,'trials which have befallen OUf country you st:md at the head of people'i'If the U.S.S.R., at rhe head of (Jur ,-alIAnt .UI!IL

"Pra\-ing that God rna'" help YOU and ,"our 'loldicrs. dcfendil1~ ourhdoycd country frolll the im'asion of the fascist~: mcr!!inJ! with thegl'ncral patriotic upsurge of the peopk, the Rll!)si<l.1l Orthodox Christiall"iof the city of Kuibvshev arc desirou::. of m~teriallv helping' the natioll­wide cause of defending' Ollf countr....

"In the last few da\"s Kuibnhl. y Cathedral Church. the IJrie~ts

of the Cathedral, the Parish Council .and the faithful in response ttl theinitiati'"e of the ,'enerable patriOt. tht Patridrchal Incumbent. "\!etr.)­politan Scrg-ei, hayc contributed w+.noo ruliles to the Dmitri Don... t.;oitank column O:"4.{)()(J rubles heinl! nmtrihutcd b,' the CathedrJ!. theP~1rish Council alld the faithtuL .:'"~(I.t>lJO mules tn' the clergy), \lam"anicl<:s of YUille haye also bc:<.:n conrrihut..-:-d to thi~ fund: gold \\-Jtche'i,J. gold ring', ~1 ten-ruble gold picct, The collecrion of conrribution'iI~ cominulIlg

"In addition to this. durin!! the pJ'it year the Kuib\"She'" CJ':"hedrJlChurch :lnd the hithful contribut("d dl wid 1.558.-4~ rubles to "arion">('ames (Ddensc FUlld-l,!94,.:'S- mHcs; fund for e,'acuatcd children­I_~ l.OOO rublcs; j!ifts for Red ,-\r01'- s01diers-80,OOO rubles; gifts for soldierswounded in the defense of Stalinl!faJ-j 1.4;; rubles; nmk colullln-10.000rubles; and a ten-ruble gold coin to the Defensc Fund).

"\\'e helie,'c 'n the strength Jnd might of our peoplc, wc ha'"e e"cn'f.. ith in the ~t~unch conrage and soldilTh" skill of our leaders and fi~ht­

ers. we h.. ,"e faith in the coming \"jcwn" OYcr the blood,' enen,,","\\"c wish you. Joseph \"i~ri()llo\"ich. the chief commander and

leader of our ,ictorious armies. !!ood health ;,l.~d success in your difficulttasks.

"ALEXEI. .\rchbishop of Kuibyshe,·."

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Many such letters appeared in the press along with gratefuiacknowledgments from the government. The total of suchcontributions is not known but clearly it ran into many million,;of rubles. Religious people of all faiths were in full support ofwhat rightly was called "the great patriotic war".

Spiritual and Material AidChurchmen prayed for the whole nation without distinction

in all services and sough t through the Liturgy and personalutterance to strengthen the will to resist and to make sacrifices.The defense of the Saviet Union was no simple matter. TheNazis had developed the most powerful army the world had asyet seen and the first drive on Moscow rolled on relentlessly.The stand which saved the Soviet capitol was epic, as were thethree-year long siege CIf Leningrad, the decisive battle for Stalin­grad, and the massive countel'-offensives which ultimately brokethe Wehrmacht and drove the invader from Soviet soil. Victorycost the people dearly, and it cost the churches. Before thewar a religious census of the entire country indicated that halfthe total population claimed some religious loyalty; one-thirdof the urban population so registered and two-thirds of therural.

The Red Army before the war was drawn in large measun~

from urban and industrial workers but when the nationwidedraft went into high gear the Red Army drew more and marcheavily upon the agricultural manpower of the provinces. Thi3vastly increased the number of believers in the ranks and wasthe reason for the issuance of an edict signed by PresidentKalinin to the effect that there must be no ridiculing of religiou3acts or of the wearing of religious medallions by Red Army men.

Not only did religious congregations as the war progressedcome to have a considerable personal stake in the Red Army butas the toll of life increased to staggering proportions, hardlya family throughout the nation but had some immediate lossof kin. The churches knew they had work cut out for themand they swiftly and unselfishly bent every effort to bringout the inner meaning of the doctrines of the Faith on thesignificance of struggle and the value CIf sacrifice to steel thepeople to meet the national tragedy.

1Ioreover, women had to assume a disproportionate share ofhome front labor, much of which also fell on the aged who inbetter times would have enjoyed their well-earned rest, andthere was personal strengthening which the churches couldprovide. The steadily increasing number of ruptured homesand the presence of a multitude of war orphans brought a sharpchallenge to tlie faithful. In his Easter pastoral message theArchbishop of Saratov wrote:

"How much the magnificent Easter hymn teaches us! It reaches usto love [hose who are suffering', especially children "ilo have been

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bereaved of maternal love and p:lternal care ... :\Ian~' patriots han:conceiycd the kinJh- idea of prO\oiding thc\c orphans with the motherly ]o\"e and cafesse~ of which the\' han: betn deprind iI\ t;u.: loss flfthcif mothen; :tnd lathers III the \\ar .. \Iorher. woman and patrio"Can YOU rem:J.IIl calm, kno\\ inu that upon \ (lU depend .. the.: life 3n.

happiness of an orphan child~ Go toda\- oW a ('hildrcn'~ home :lIlJ hellthe wounds of some poor, SUffCfltll! child; c( mforr It \\ ith lll,ltC.111

~r~h~Sf:s~tst tf~~ldt~!c ~:~~r~f t:~~ ~I~fl~llt;o \ll1~~rt\~"~~lltil~~Il~~t! the h,1l1,h

The number of war orphans rapidly a,sumed grave propor­tions. They were placed tempor31ily in state institutions butSoviet notions of child care encouraged wherever possible the."eventual absorption into families in home,. Already a quartet'of a million havoe been adopted, many of them into the homesof believ-er, on the direct appeal of their churches. Thus, in -'lhundred and more ways, religious institutions have sought toinspire and strengthen the populace, asking for themseh"es norewards and setting no conditions fur their sen'ice. The heartof believers and the heart of the nation beat as one!

The Church Identifies Itself with the PeopleThat the Orthodox Church had deliberately identified itself

with the Soviet people was the blunt statement contained in :llengthy volume published in 1942 by the ;\Oloscow Patriarchate.entitled The Truth About Religion In Russia. This enormouslyimportant book (now available in English in a British edition),in spite of its quiet tone, careful documentation and copioususe of photostats and illustrations. received a singularly badpress when it first appeared. That it was printed in sev"eralcolors on good paper stock, handsomely bound and decoratedwith artistic chapter headings in Old Church Slavonic type,suggested to hostile and suspicious critics that it might be justanother piece of elaborate political propaganda.

However, those who took this book in hand and studied itscontents recognized at once that its account of the curl'emstatus of the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union was un­doubtedly accurate. It detailed the ways in which the churcheswere supporting the war effort, it meticulously exploded t\11'myth of Nazi friendship for religion by a gallery of photographsshowing what they had done to churches and to innocent peoplein the areas they had inundated, it declared the identity of theinterests of the Orthodox Church with the survival of the nationand the perpetuation of the new Soviet way of life, and it ex­pressed the satisfaction of the church authorities with the COIl­stitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience and freedomof worship it was enjoying.

'l'he picture of religion in the Sov-iet Union which this volumegave has been fully authenticated by the passaR"e of time. Itis now clear that those who doubted its integrity were rakingover dead embers and refusing to ccnsider that Russian church-

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men might have minds of their own and had come to see thingsin a different light and from another vant?ge point than tha:which Americans shared.

I I

Feeding the Fires of PrejudiceLooking backwards with the historian's hindsight, "'e can

now clearly see how religious opinion was influenced to discreditdocuments which should have been accepted as authentic andreliable. The German Propaganda Ministry was working hardto keep alive the fiction of "godless communism" in the hopethat it would restrain our aid to the Soviets and rupture theunity of the Anglo-American-Soviet co?lition. In this programit was unconsciously aided and abetted by those anti-Sovietforces which feared the Russians for ideological or ecclesiasticalreasons. Whatever the motive, the method was the saine.Developments within the Soviet Union were deliberately ignoredand earlier events from the Civil War period and the GodlessMovement of the 1930's were retailed as contemporary happen­ings. This is a simple propaganda technique that, unfortunately,is still in existence, as one can judge by scrutinizing with carecertain political and religious publications now being circulated.But apart from these falsifications, there were also certainevents influencing public opinion agaimt the Soviet Union, tr)

which time has given a somewhat different complexion.

War-time Propaganda

As part of the defensive preparation for the war which theauthorities saw coming, the So\'iet Union incorporated the BalticStates as constituent SO\'iet Republics and the Red Army ad­vanced into eastern Poland to a point approximating the CurzonLine. By these two moves large bodies of Lutherans and RomanCatholics were brought under Sm'iet jurisdiction. We now knowthat the reason for this incorporation of territory was defensiveand was required by the steady infiltration into these areas ofGerman agents and the wide-spread circulation of propaganda ofthe most viciously anti-Sm'iet and pro-Nazi character. Whilethe majority of the people in these areas understood what itmeant when the Red Army moved in, thousands of residentsincluding many church people fled out, frightened to death asto what the occupation portended. They did not know that theywere themselves the victims of N?zi propaganda that had bru­talized the Red Army in caricature. Furthermore, in the monthsprevious there had been a tendency inspired by this propaganda,for the people of wealth to draw closer to the Germans, andfor propertied men and some of the clergy to collaborate withthe Nazis.

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When the Baltic States declared for the U.S.S.R. and easternPoland was occupied by Soviet troops, a horde of refugees flerlinto German Poland, East Prussia and the Berlin district, carry­ing along with them the most lurid tales of the "Red Terror"from which they thought they had fled. Soviet occupation at'these areas was the first round of the as-yet undeclared warwhich "'as later to come. Persons sympatetic towards the Nazisdid receive harsh treatment but the evidence indicates that theSO\'iets were careful not to molest the churches; they did notsecularize the country, and permitted church holding of propertywhich was not tolerated in the socialist economy of the SovietUnion. In other words, the refugees were fleeing on the basisof fears stimulated by propaganda or because in the politicaljockeying they were personally implicated in a way that laidthem open to suspicion as traffickHs with the Nazis and liableto arrest. Religion had little or nothing to do with a situationthat was first and foremost political in a state of undeclaredwar. But Lutherans in Scandinavia and Roman Catholics gen­erally, assumed that they had first-hand evidence of the anti­religious policy of the Soviets. Nor did the Germans mindrepeating the charges.

The Myth of Religious PersecutionSimilarly, the German attack upon the Soviet Union created

a situation for the Kremlin which had a widespread religiousreprecussions l'!broad, especially in Lutheran and Baptist circlesin (he United States. It·so happened that before the war nearlya million Soviet citizens of German extraction, speaking theGerman language, affiliated with Lutheran or Evangelicalchurches and susceptible to the shr~wd and subtle racial appealsof the Nazi propaganda, lived along the vast Volga waterway.The German High Command expected to utilize these assumedlyfriendly and helpful communities when the proper time came.Here was a pretty problem for the Soviet authorities to handle.in some ways not dissimilar to that which faced our Armyauthorities on our O'Wn West Coast immediately after PearlHarbor when a Japanese invasion of limited character wasfeared. The Kremlin acted equally decisively. It interned theVolga Germans and re-settled them in camps somewhere eastof the Urals. As these people were Lutheran or Evangelicaland had many ties with their co-religionists in northern Europe,a wave of accusations shot through the religious world at theirincarceration. The myth of religious persecution was onceagain that much the more strengthened.

Curiously and tragically, one of the finest acts of Soviethumanitarianism led to the same result. The Soviets knewwhat Nazism meant for the Jewish people. Although no govern­ment could possibly have foreseen the Maidanek, Tremblyankaand Oswiecim death camps, the human soap factories and ex­perimental biological laboratories, the Kremlin was concerned

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immediately over what the invasion of the Ukraine and Byelo­Russia would necessarily mean for the Jews, great numbers ofwhom lived in these two Republics. The authorities decided toevacuate as many of the women and children as possible beforethe movement of other residents. To lessen the feeling <Yfdiscrimination among those who were compelled to wait theirturn at the risk of their lives, a brief but intensive educationalprogram was developed, fully explaining the racial theoriesand practices of the Nazis. Then the vast movement of Jewishand other refugees began until they were safely re-settled intemporary camps in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

That this could be done in the Ukraine and Byelo-Russia­scenes of anti-Jewish pogroms engineered in Tsarist days-is amagnificent tribute to the firm policies of the Soviet Uniondesigned to eradicate religious and racial antagonism. Yetin the United States ugly questions circulated in Jewish areasas to what had become of the Jews in Russia, and to this daycertain anti-Soviet propagandists will renew the charge thatin the Ukraine and Byelo-Russia the Soviet government indulgedin deliberate anti-Semitism! In such ways the truth has beenmaliciously distorted and then the distortions retailed as thetruth by ignorant people, because such slanders conformed towhat their prejudices had prepared them to expect.

I I IThe Orthodox Church

World religious opinion was consequently more than bewilder­ed when the news was released that Marshal Stalin had invited acommittee of three Orthodox bishops to the Kremlin to sit downwith him and with Foreign Commissar Molotov to discuss therelationship between the Orthodox Church and the government.Out of this conference, which one of the attending bishops saidwas extraordinarily friendly and revealed an unexpected know­ledge of church affairs on Stalin's part, came the official an­nouncement that approval was being given to the OrthodoxChurch to hold a Congress of Bishops for the establishment ofa Holy Synod, the election of a Patriach, and the acceptance bythe church of a plan to open a state bureau on church affairs.In addition, it was stated that permission was being given forthe opening of theological institutes and pastors' schools, andfor the publication of a monthly magazine, The Journal of theMoscow Patriarchate.

The Congress of Bishops met in Moscow in September, 1943,and elected the Patriarchal Incumbent, Metropolitan Sergei, asthe Patriach of Moscow and All Russia. He was immediatelyenthroned in the Moscow Cathedral amid crowds of pleased andexcited Muscovites and the chanted "He is worthy!" of the

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Orthodox ritual. Among his first official acts was to receivea delegation from the Ch~rch of England, headed by the Arch­bishop of York, Dr. CyrIl Forster Garbett, who returned toEngland to declare that "the Rusian Church is enjoying afreedom such as it has not possessed for centuries." Dr. Garbettshortly thereafter visited the United States and Canada andlectured on his impressions of the Russian Church before manyaudiences and spoke over a nationwide radio hook-up. In spiteof such assurances from eye-witnEsses of indubitable veracityand personal disinterestedness, the election of the Patriach andthe opening (if the state bureau in particular resulted in journal­istic comments once again of the most skeptical sort, rangingfrom insinuations that these move. were to placate public opinionand strengthen the Anglo-American-So\'iet coalition to the crud­est charge: of "Byzantinism"-by which was meant that theSm'iet Government had deliberately t:;ken the Orthodox Churchinto camp and that henceforth the church would be employedas an instrument of power politics. Even responsible journalistsfailed to sense the implications behind the restoration of theancient Patriarchate, and few correctly appraised the reasonswhy some clarification (if church-state relations had becomedesirable indeed, indispensable-to both parties.

The Revival of the Patriarchate

The leaders in the Kremlin are not religious men. They areMarxists and accept the principles of historical materialism, butas :\Iarxists they are respectful students of history. In recentyears they have been paying increasing attention to the rootsof Russian culture. The results of their studies have beenevidenced in the more recent text-books introduced into thepublic schools, the revival of important dramas, the keen interestin all phases of national art and music, and the production ofhistorical moving pictures on great patriotic themes. In thecourse of this research the Russian Church has been studiedas a creative source and vehicle of developing Russian culture.Consideration nas been given to its art, architecture, musicand cultural influence.

In the earlier period of its life, in theory if not always inpractice, the Orthodox Church was an independent institutionwith a purely religious function existing within and alongsideof the state whose secular authority was vested in the Princeand later the Tsar. This co-existence of a church headed by aPatriach and a government headed by a Tsar made for a certainhealthy and creative tension between the two in what is some­times called a "symphonic relationship". This was destroyedwhen in 1721 Tsar Peter the Great abolished the independentPatriarchate and created in its place a Holy Synod whose mem·bel'S were appointed by himself and subject to removal by theCrown. Modeling the church organization on the pattern of theState Lutheran Churches in Sweden and Prussia, Peter the

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Great made the Orthodox Church yirtualy a department of thech'il service.

As a result, the church was secularized, its bishops andhigher clergy were salaried on the civil lists, its monasterieshandled by a State Department of Religious Affairs, and theChief Procurator of the Holy Synod held the rank of a cabinetminister in the Tsar's government. It was this absorption ofthe ancient independent patriarchal church into the Tsariststate that paved the way for the tragedy which" we have WIt­nessed within our lifetime. When the Tsar's government wentdown, the Church went down with it.

What the Soviet government and the Orthodox authoritieswere doing in September, 1943, was to turn the clock back tothe period prior to 1721 and revive in a modernized fashion that"symphonic relationship" of the historic patriarchate and thecivil government on the basis of an absolute separation of chur~hand state.

Why, then, we may well ask, did they revive a Bureau ofChurch Affairs? A brief examination of the situation in theSoviet Union will show at once that the new government officebears no relationship whatsoever to that of Peter's day"

IVReligion Under Socialism

The Soviet Union is a socialist slate. Existence in a socialisteconomy presents a problem of maintenance that is utterly newin the experience of Christian church, Jewish synagogue andMoslem mosque alike. History provides no previous pattern forit. That is undoubtedly one reason why religious leadershipgenerally feared the socialist revolution in Russia, and certainlya major reason why the Russian hierachy almost to a man foughtthe Communists under the White Banner in the vicious CivilWar that followed. It looked to most churchmen as if theexpropriation of church property would destroy the financialbase of the churches' existence. History has now proven thatthis conviction was wrong. It has not done so. Religious insti­tutions are surviving and expanding today under socialism butit has taken a tragic decade and much painful experimentationto work out the new methods of church, synagogue and mosquesupport.

In the Soviet economy all capital investments, buildings,land, subsurface rights, etc., are owned by the state or by variouscollective enterprises in trust for the people. It is no longerpossible in the Soviet Union for an individual or for a privateinstitution such as a church or a synagogue to live off unearnedincome from property or investments or accumulated endow-

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ments. The indi\'idual must earn his own livelihood. The prh'ateinstitution such as the church, the synagogue, or mosque mustlive off current \'oluntary offerings, contributions, fees forservices, and income from the sale of candles or religious article~ ;and a congregation'~ prosperity will be in direct proportion to thesize and the prosperity of its membership and the generosity oftheir support. It owns no property in its own name but byregistering its existence in conformity with the religious Jawsis gh'en the right to lease premises from the government. Theseare now ta.· exempt but the parish council must contract tomain tam them in good condition.

Maintaining Churches under SocialismFurthcrmore. in the Sovict economy all production and dis­

tribution arc under the contwl of the state and are determinedin accordance \\'ith an over-all plan. ~1aterial for church main­tenance and repair, equipment. mp.terial for vestments. ikons an'!art objects, jlrinting pre:Sb and paper stocks, electricit;'. \\'ater­all such things involve the state in some fashion, and, in viewof the many thousands of churches. some provi.'ion for religiousneeds must be included in the current ~tate budget or theycllnnut be met. Prior to 194:3 thert had existed no machineryfor the handling of such details. Procedures had varied indifferu1t cities and I'ro\'inces with a consequent confusion tila'\HI"< "s trouolesome to the churche,; as it \\'as to the g'o\'crnmentofdci,'; Some more efficient and uniform Jlrocedure wac long0\ erdue. _Iar,:hal Stalin's invitation to church leaders had ttob\ iou, purpose of clearing up this unsati.-factory chaos. Buthsicks were eager to introduce some elementary business ef­ficiency into an area in which things had been developingwithout direction. The result of this consultation in the Kremlin.after ',he appro\'al of the Congress of Bishops had been obtained.was the e tablishment in th' Council of People's Commissar"of a ne\\ Unreau on Affairs of the Greek Orthodox Churchheaded by _II'. Georgi Gregorievich Karpo\" The central ofiH'eis in Moscow but thcre are a numbEr of branch offices in oth?rparts of the country and thirty field repre~entatives, a numb,'rto be increased up to one hundred as the need of the Orthodoxchurches appears to require.

From this it will be seen that the new Bureau, instead 0:encompassing the church a.~ was the case in Peter's day, is simph­a clearing-house for matters peculiar to the Soviet economy. TheBure~u in all its operations is ha'ed on a clear-cut a"sumpti,.,­Gf tlle complete separation of chmch and state implied in thSo\'iet Constitution,

That the government was not especially favoring or promot­ing the Orthodox Church became apparent in the ensuing fewmonths. Similar negotiations were carried on with other rei!­gious boLlie". In each case the procedure was roughtly th'

II

same: a meeting with responsible authoritie~, thc establishmentof a recognized institutional structure, the election of a head.and the affiliation of the legal body with a Bureau on Affairsof Religious Cults under the direction of ~rr. Ivan VassilievlcilPoliansky, also with its branch offices and field representatives.Thus the Moslems met in Baku, ~et up the Central Board Gfthe Transcaucasus and named as their president Sheik AhundAga Alizade of Baku. One after another the various religiousgroups of the Soviet Union went through this organizationrrlprocess.

Today ~Ir. PG'liansky's bureau handles affairs for tile follow­ing bodies: the Armenian-Gregorian Church, the Old Belie\'er-;(a schismatic sect of Orthodox), Roman Catholics, Greek Ca­tholics, Lutherans, Bapti ts, Se\·eni.h Day Ad\'entists, Jews,~Ioslems, Buddhists. Shamanists and others. It is the law ('fthe land that religious grG'Llps Sh.lll be gh'en equal tre3tment.The Orthodox Church has its own bureau simply because thenumber of its adherents is considerably greater than the totalof all adherents of the other religious groups. The openingof these two bureaus has caused great satisfaction amonglhesebodies; it puts an end to what must have been endIes hagglingbetween loea1 congregations 3nd local officials ov'.'r th(,3implcstmatters.

Religious Education and Propaganda

The existence of bureaus which c~n pPblish oUicial policvhas led to a number of interviews in which ne\"smcn han' 11utimpG'.·tant questions to 1\11'. Karpov and ~Ir. Poliansky. Amon,!these questions of supreme interest to the outside world is thematter of the religious education of chil·jren and the circuhtionof educational, nl! propal!al'd,·tic ma,eri~l, <:f ? reli<rious 'eha,'­neter. A representntive of Rcli ...ious News S<:'rv;cc rec 'iv 'd tlli"answer from ~Ir. Karpov:

• -I he onh- mil.: the Suricr qfwcrnmcnt lO"ilsts upon ,that n!igiou:>instruction must pot \101at~ th. h:l ic principle of scparatillll of churchand st:ltc. C-mkr our b\\s e:lch pcr",on mal' or ma,- not tcae:1 I,;schildren rclitritlrl T10\\ c"::-r. rcli!!ion mol· rhlt he t:l\l!:!ht in the schaoh.Parents mal· educJte children in the pri\-a:::\' of their homc~ or 1113\- 'icndthelf ('hildrcn to the homes of pric"'ts for such education. Childrenof any number of IXlrcnts may :lisa gather or be g":J.thercd in group.~ toreceiYe religious jnstruction."

He said that no ban exists against the printing and distribu­tion of religious literature and the Ortho:lox Church may printwhate\'er it wishes.

t',,"c haye gi"cn explicit pcrmi"''lio!1 for the church to order ar"Y(lWlntity (If T(;~talllents. pran:r hoo!,:c; and litufl:rical book!' and arc read,"to facilitate this stcp in c,'cn" way, cycn to the extcnt of making rcp­rc!-.cntations to the paper rationing authorities. As to distribution ofsuch m:lterials. t1H.:rc i!-. no objection and no rC!'Itrictions."

12

In a later inten'iew he stated that Orthodox priests are il'e"to carryon proselytizing work both in churches and outside:

"Priests mar go to their parishioncr~ and rna,- cn~gc in pro::;clnlz­ing work without any restriction except those placed upon cvcrr orderlycItizen of the U.S.S.R. They nlJY g'O about church businc~s whcrc\"cr the'"wish. They mar officiate in private homes if they so desire, l11a\ per­form baptismal, marriage and funeral services in or outside churches:'

:III'. Karpo\' was speaking for the Orthodox Church which hisbureau serves but when the same questions were also put to :III'.Poliansky substantially the ,arne answers were giYen, witl1in,istence upon the equality of treatment of all groups, Orthodoxand non-Orthodox alike, It is e 'pecially interesting, in Yiew vithe common opinion in the United States as to religious restril'­tions in the Sm'iet Union, to find :llargaret Bourke-White in herbook, Shooting The Russian War, stating that she personallywitnessed street-corner preaching by Evangelicals during nertour of Russia. A Russian yersion of the Bible is now availablefor distribution. Ikons, which recent travelers state are increas­ingly in evidence in priYate homes and e\'en in some publicoflices, haye been manufactured in State Art Workshops since1939, and it is reported that the O"thodax Church now operat"..,a small cooperath'e factory for the manufacture of the candle.;used in its worship, Also, last year the first group of Moham­medans was enabled to make the pilgrimage from their Soyiethomes to Mecca to yisit the Ka'aba, These facts indicate thatreligious bodies do possess freedom of education, mo\'cment andutterance, and are able to obtain the basic materials for thecunduct of their worship, religious :.rt objects for the adornmentof their people's homes, and essential literature for missionar~'

endeayor,

Training of the ClergyAs to the education of the clergy, there is the recent re[;ort

of • Ietropolitan Benjamin, the Patriarchal Exarch to the UnitcdStt,tes, who dsited )Ioscow in January, 1945, that he !raye threelectures in the new Theological Institute recently opened in:lIoscow's "To\'odeyichi Com'ent, He found the old cells conyert­ed into student'~ cubicles and the larger apartments made intoa refectory, class rooms and a library, Twenty students weI','in residence, ranging from twenty to fifty years of age, themajority being younger men between twenty and twenty-fh'e,These students spend three years in theological study and maythen, if they so desire. be ordained to the priesthood. The la\"pro\'ides that young- men drafted into the Red Army who wishto stu']\' for Holy Orders may apply for a release, and a numb~"

of the ~'ounger men in residcnce had done so, These candidatesfor the priesthood came from varioll' parts uf the Soyiet "C"l1lonand wcre supporte 1 by scholarships prodded by the 1I10scoll'Patl'ilrchate, There was a current waiting list of 108 candidates,

The government had ofered the Patriarchate a second build­ing, a historic mor:astery in ]\[o~coII"s outcr environs, but th"

13

need for extensive remodeling and the current shortage cfa\'ailable teachers had caused the Patriarchate to postpone ,mcnexpansion until after the war, in spite of the grave need foradditional clergy. The Theological Institute in the No\,ode\'ichiCon\'ent is intended for candidates with ad\'anced educationalbackground and many of its graduates will undoubtedly be usedas future teachers, theologians and church administrators. Thelatest issue of The Journal of the ;\Ioscow Patriarchate state~

that by January, 1946, the Institute \vill be equipped and staffedto accommodate two hundred students in residence.

For the training of rank and file clergy, there is in processof establishment a series of Pastor's Schools. The first is inoperation with thirty students and the plan calls for the openingof many such schools in different parts of the So\'iet Union.The Patriarchate is compelled to mo\'e slowly because of theshortage of teachers and the limited library facilities. Promisesof assistance in ubtaining books have come to the Patriarchatefrom various Anglican groups in England and America. Sincethese will be in English, it is intere~ting to note that the Theo­logical Institute is including an English Language Course inits cUlTiculum.

• '0 similar descriptions are as yet a\'ailable of schools es­tablished by other religious groups for the training of theirleadership, It is definitely known, however, that the Armenian­Gregorian Church has opened a seminary at Erh'an in Armcllla,and that the :\lohammedans have opened a school in Uzbekista'lfor the training of mullahs. It is reported that the Baptist .mdE\'angelical l'nions ha\'e an educational centre. as well as tlll'T.:nion of Orthodox Rabbis.

New Churches OpeningThe end of the war has seen the opening of many new

cl1llrches and the go\'ernment has included all war-damaged l'e­Jigious buildings in the category of state properties being item­ized by n,e ,tate Commision on War Damage, one member of\\'hieh is :\Ietropolitan Nikobi of Kie\'. The Archbishop of Yorkduring his \'isit in :\Ioscow disclbsed some possible aid froll!Briti:h churches for the rlevastated area ~,nd the go\'ernment_tated that it fully appro\'pd of any such gifts.

:\Ietropolitan Benjamin reported that the Soviet governmentv:as encouraging the opening of churches where the local in.­habitants wanted them and was demonstrating great generosit.:in the matter of pro\'iding materials for repairs and easing thecontract terms of maintenance where the congregations wer"financially hard-pressed. While, in line with the policy of theseparation of church and state, there is no financial aid or sup­port given, many small things are done to help, "The go\'crn­ment", he said, "has gone much more than half-way to meetthe people's requests."

14

VThe Great Moscow Sobor

On ;\Iay 15, 1944 the Orthodox Church was saddened by thedeath of the aged Patriarch Sergei after less than a year inoffice. There was goo'd reason to pay him high tribute-hewas buried under the floor of the Moscow Cathedral-becauseit was in large measure his patience and clear insight into thenature of the problem of the church's survival that broughtit safely through the years of distinct hardship. He it was whoanalyzed the task as three-fold: first, the church had to learnto Ih'e in the new socialist society; second, the bishops andclergy had live down their old association with the counter-re­Yolution and demonstrate their loyalty to the nation; and third.the church had to identify its interests with those of thecommon people and win back the allegiance of industrial andfarm workers who had been alienated from it when it opposedthe revolution that so many of them supported.

The assimilation of the church into the new society took somepamful experimentation and laid Sergei open to charges fromabroad that he was a time-server and a trimmer. He and his bro­ther bishops paid no attention to such criticism; they ,aw thetask that had to be accomplished and they patiently and re"olute­Iy carried it out on all three counts. There was an element ofdiYine justice in his liying long enough to be elected Patriarchfor. though his term of office was brief. he had rendered suf­ficient seryice to his church to deserve its highest honors.

His death made vacant the Patriarchate and required a newelection. In Russia things were now much better. The RedArmy was on its great offensive and the territo~'y of the SovietLnion ,vas almost entirely liberated. Rehabilitation had beenbegun, and transport facilities were somewhat eased for ci"ilianuse. The executh'e Council of Bishops felt the time had cometo hold a more representatiYe gathering of the church than thatwhich had elected Sergei, this time with clerical and lay delegatesparticipating. The bishops also felt that the time was ripe forthe Orthodox Church, which had always been in communion"'ith the rest of the Orthodox world, to begin restoring itsexternal relationships. On the initiative of the bishops, thegovernment was requested to provide travel facilities not onlyfar official delegates to the projected "Sobol''' but also for Rus­sian Orthodox groups marooned abroad by the war and for anumber of guests from the great eastern patriarchal churches.

The gO"ernment replied that it was ready to grant thesetra\'el facilities and invitations wele sent by the Patriarchateto its bishops abroad and to the heads of the autocephalouschurches of the East. The initiative, it must be stressed, rested

15

\·,th th~ Patriarchate. The goyernment had promised this kind01 complete freetlom of action and in standing by its word wouldbe ob\'ious]y strengthening the OrthaJox Church. There wasa compensation in this for the gO\'ernment, as such a gatherIng­\\ ould undoubtedly strengthen the cultural bonds between theRussian people and their Orthodox neighbors at a time whellthe Red Army was expelling the Germans from their territolYand was faced with the restoration of order and the eP.lergenceof stable goyernmenb that should be friendly to the SOYieLCmon.

An Historic Gathering

It was an historic gathering that met on January 31 andFebruary 2, 1945 in Moscow in the five-domed Church of theR~sUlTection at Sokolniki. People had stood since six in themOl ning to get in as spcctators, though the opening session wasscheduled fvr two in the afternoon. Four Metropolitans andforty-one Archbishops and Bishops filed 111 and sat in the firstthree rows in the Cathedral; behind them one hundred andtwenty-six clerical and lay delegates from all the eparchies ofthe Russian Church in the Sodct Union, and with :\IetropolitanBenjamin from the United States and C~nada. In front wasthe famous chorus of the Patriarchate with its regent, Dr. K~­nl(lro\·.

On a raised platform stood a large table with thirty seatsfor the distinguished guests from abroad: the Patriarch ofAlexandria, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the Orient. theCatholicos and Patriarch of Georgia, the representative of thePatriarch of Constantinople, the representative of the Patriarchof Jerusalem, the representatiYe of the Ser'bian Orthodox Church,lhe representative of the Rumanian Orthodox Church, and thosewho attended them.

After an opening- sen'ice. the address of welcome was m:deby thc chairman of the a,sembly, :\Ietropolitan Alexius of Lenin­grad and. 'oYgorod; then :\11'. Karpo\' rose and brought a greet­ing from the I!o\·crnment. 'md th, distinguished guests Weregivcn the p'iyilege of Lrief a< (lresses. with :\Ietropolitan Ben­jamin bringing a message from the. 'orth American Eparchy.}Ir. K"rpoy then withdrew a'HI th' business uf the first se.,sio'1was deYoted to the discussion and formal adoption of a Sl·t vfA']minitratiye Statutes for the Rw,sian Church.

The second and final session was held on February 2 whcnthe accredited delegates nv'll1inated and unanimously electedas the new Patriarch of l\Ioscow and All Rus~ia, MetropolitanAlexius of Leningrad and .'oYgorod, a hero of the siege ofLeningrad and holder of the Leningrad Defense Medal. ~\f'days later in the Cathedral of the Epiphany his enthronementtook place, followed by a ~olemn Liturgy and a ~en'ic(' of thwlk,,-

]6

giving. Later in the day a formal banquet concluded the festI­vities. The Moscow newspapers carried a full account of theentire proceedings.

A Confederation of Eastern Orthodox Churches?In addition to the main business of the formal adoption of

the new Administrative Statutes and the Patriarchal ElectIOn,the Sobol' considered two matters that have a potential bearingon the future. At the suggestion of the assembly, a briefstatement calling for the stern and relentless punishment ofwar criminals and warning against European influences favori!l.~

a soft peace, naming the Vatican among them, was drawn upand issued over the joint signatures of the new Patriarch-elect,the three visiting Patriarchs and the four patriarchal repre­sentatives.

This statement is the first utterance of the heads of a vas~

section of Christendom that many Christians in the West hadalmost forgotten existed. Coming out of the Moscow Sob)r,it raises the interesting speculation that the Moscow Patriarchat~

rrright become a rallying point for the rejuvenation of the ea3'.­ern churches. These trace their lineage back in an unbn/(€nline to the primitive Christian Church and, as their name impliEs(Orthodox-Le., the true way), consider themselves the mainline of the Christian Tradition and the Roman C~.tholic Churcha de\'iation of schismatic branch. The Great Schism betweenRome and Constantinople occured in 1054 A. D. Any unitedaction within this section of historic Christianity would haveprofound repelcussions and considerable significance especiailyin Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Such developmentsare certain to be closely watche(! by Roman Catholicism andProtestantism alike.

An important address was made before the Sobol' by :'1e'ro­politan Benjamin, the Patriarchal Exarch to North America,in which he propo,;ed a plan that had been advanced by thelate Patriarch Sergei for the creation of a Confederation of~utonomous Orthodox Church,,, with a permanent exccutivecommissian composed of representatives of the several nationalchurches meetinf[ together for regular consultation and mutualaction. The Patriarch of Alexandria informed the delegatesthat a meeting of church representatn'es had taken place at:\Iount Athos in 1936 for the consideration of a similar projectand had \'iewed it with favor. Metropolitan Benjamin's addresswas listened to with the greate.t attention. Although therewas no formal discussion of the pwjeet, it was later thoroughlyreviewed in a number of informal gat:terings and the opinionwas widely expressed that consultations hetween the churcheswere highly desirable and should be held from time to time.After the Sobol' Mr. Karpov made an afficial request for a cODYof Metropolitan Benjamin's speech that the government might

17

know "'I~at "'a" un In col'"itleration. This was gladly gi\"l"tlto him.

The presenC2 of the Serbian awl Rumanian churchmen 'Ybof pu-ticular interl. t at thi, time when the Red Army Wi'"dri\'ing thrc,lgh the Balkan:,. Any strengthening of cultural andreF~ious ties between Orthodox peoples in YugoslaYia, BulgariaaJh. R.inLnla \\"(:,lId ou\"iously facilitate the progress of the Redc\' m;, ..nd the eml'rgencp of friendly administrations in theIi) lat d territori€". I-G' o.er a \"e r the .loscow radio had hel'nb{ ~l ..~~illt' broadcasl~ tu the oS: \"..;" in thiq area to l'ecognize theirk;n' 1ip "ith the S'al s of R""ia ,~nd through the undergroUlhlmm l'menb to prep""e the "'ay for the Red Army. A two·'I,;·COl . re,~ of Slm's had teen held in :\Ioscow 'Yith speeche~ not01 l~ uy uniformed repr . ",ratn'e" of the \"arious Sla\"ic armk.'hut al:,u uy chaplains wit'1 thl' Polish and Yugosla\' units thatWl e being arm. e' an 1'0\ "ioned b," the So\·iets. • 'ow thi,

('ati n "elY\'( n ch rch en ••cl,lpei another. trG11g hond I, .t,,· r tie ,'lm"ic people,.

Slm" unity introduce'" u"et"ul c~ment and a ~"east into East"r'1Emo, Po The SO\ iot !rO\" . nment ha" pledged its word to per::J1tthe l,er. ted area, to "or, cut their own political destinie"au. to e' oly~ their indindual ecollomic systems. This plee';'"has I een kept by the :"0\ ieb, Th 'y ha\"e not sought commu!'b j

g'lernm' nts in the lib l"ateu Balkan nations nor han" the\"intn:, 'uce; a "0' ietiz '. "con ]'y. They haye contented the"'·sl'!n, ,dth the (xlil"1 ation of fa-ci,m. The Soyiet need fo,"

em·it.\" require, friendly !rOY' 'rnment" to the west. Slay unnyi, a cultural means to thi" end. At this juncture it is of as gre"tmt, re"t to the SoYiet !,o"ernment a~ it is to the Orthodox Church.TI> . i no n oed to l'C'ad political pre,sure by the state uponlhl' ehu'·ch. Here is an ohyiolls concurrence of normal historical1'01;, ·cal and ecclesia,(ic~l interests,

VIRoman Catholics in the U.S.S.R.

Belieyer" in religious freedom "'ill be interested in wh..,precisely the status of Roman Catholics is in th~ S?yiet Union.The religious estimate hefure World War II mdlCated someRoman Catholics in the L.S.S.R., but well under one per eel',of the total population. The joining' of LatYia, Lithuania andEstonia materially increased this number, and the recent decisi'lnto make the Curzem Line the border hetween Poland and theSoyiet Union brings eight Roman Catholic dioceses under So.i(tjurisdiction. The Yatican insists there are now 8.000,000 Ca·tr.oljc Faith in the U.S.S.R. and naturally all believers in religiollsliberty desire to see them accorded the right of free conscienceand worship.

18

First of all. the Soviet go\'ernl1lent is conducting at the me­ment a careful religious SUl'\'ey of these territories to determineprecisely what the loyalties of the population actually are.Secondly, Mr, Poliansky, the chairman of the Bureau on Affairsof Religious Cults, states categorically that Roman Catholicsand Byzantine Rite Catholics - Units affiliated with Rome ­"ill enjoy precisely the same rights and privileges as all otherreligious bodies and that no objection will be raised to normalintercourse between local church officials and the Vatican for,,(:ministrath'e and J1Ul'ely religiClUs purposes,

Bec:!use of the strong emotional loyalties of Roman Catholicsand the intern'ttional renrecu",ion which discrimination would11"vC'ke, it is pr0bable that the So,'iets will be exeeedingly me­ticulous in these local relationships, This has already been thecase in Moscow where for \I'ell o\'er a decade the Roman CatholicChurch of St. Louis under the direction af Father Leopold Braunhas been serYing the foreign corr:munity and Soviet citizensof Romal: Catholic persuasion, In n recent interview grantedto an American newsman. Father Braun, although his own at­titude has never been marked by sympathy far the Soviets,acknowledged that they had been cooperative in meeting all his!'equests. that he had been holding s€l"\"iceo without interferenceof any kind. that :oIoscaw hospital authorities had granted himaeet's, to the wards for sacramental ministrations, and that anarea (;f consecrated ground in a :l\Ioscow cemetery had beenplaced at his disposal for Catholic burial.

Soviet policy is based on equal treatment for Roman Catho­lic.~. This. it must be pointed out, is net satisfactory ta RomanCatholics who fret particularly against the illegality of parochialschools. The authorities are adamant on this point, standing onthe letter of the Soviet Constitution which calls for the completeseparation of the church and the schuol. This issue of parochblochoo1:- is by no means confined to tllP Soviet (;nion; it is equally• sourc" of heated debate in many othtr countries. Canada as-,rell.

VII'f01.mrds A Free Society

In the Sal'iet Constitution Article 124 reads:

"[n order to ensure to citizen ... ~·r dnm of co "Clenee. the chu chill the V.S.s.R. i~ separated from hI.: qarc. Jml the !'>c1wol fror tlCchurch. rrl'cdom of rcligious \\OrshlP III rc:..\io,11 Of .mtl-rl ') 1Sprop.:rz..w.l.l IS recognized for all citi Tn~:' If he,> mme

We have already seen considerable evidence that the sepm':l­ti(ll1 of church and state, the separation of church and school,.-ld fi'et'dom of religious worship arL principles which are being

19

j ak~n v"'os seriously today in the So\'iet Union. But what ofthe final clause--freedom of 2.nti-religious propaganda? Thisphrase rarely appears in American life and needs clarification.We have a few "free-thinking" sects and bcfore the war hadan Association for the Advancement of Atheism but the rightof such to exist has been an inferencf' from the general principleof freedom of conscience and fl'~"dom of sl't'ech and has neverheen specifically written into our laws. Here we must reviewvery briefly a few f1:cts of Russian history.

The men who led the Russian Revolution were men of highintelligence and moral principle. To them organized religionin Russia was a wholly negative thing. They saw an officialchurch as a part of a reactionary and outmoded Tsarist stateand concluded that both must go. Their attitude towards organ­ized religion scemed to be fully confirmed, for as soon as theycame into power, they found the hierachy of the church flockillgto the co.mter-revolutionary and intervention movements. Civilwar broke out with excesses indulged in by both sides. For fourbitter years the scales of the struggle ro,e and fell before theRed armies emerged the victors and the Whites capitulated orfled abroad. Some forty bishops lost their lives in the fightingor in the trials that followed their capture. ~early a thous..ndClf the clergy were killed. It was war. War cost lives andleans a legacy of hardness of heart and great bitterness.

\Vhen the Patriarch Tikhon on June 16, 1923 capitulatedto the Soviet regime and sought the terms of the church'"sUl"\'i\'~1 uncier the new government, the Communi·t leadersadopted a definite r:olicy which explaills much that has happer.cdsince. Knowing that great numbcrs Gf the l>eo;)lc, especially inthe rural areas, still felt an allcgianc~ to the churla, tre govern­ment reaffirmed the chu,'ch'" leg:1l exi.;ten, : ~m I the right offnedom of wor3hip in accordance with the (' JnsLitu,io'lal guaran­1<'e. This aspect of the government's polL" has Leen ~o;jsistentJy

maintained ever since and has not reqmred allY basic modifica­tion in the years that have passed.

At the sr:me time, the government also reaffirmed the separa­tion of the schools from the church In the schools they estab­lished a program based on the sciences for the education of thecoming generations. The ~Iarxists firmly believed that the oldfolk had best have their customs; with time they would passfrom the scene and the new citizenry would be freed of the oldsuperstitions. But the elaborate blueprints for the new societywith the plans for the collectivization of the land and the intro­duction of scientific methods of agriculture and health andchildcare, not to mention social equality, could not wait uponFather Time; these things had to be introduced in the face ofthe conservatism of the peasantry with their religious taboosabout the 'social status of women, their antiquated and ignorant

20

concepts of health, their fear of machinery and skepticismto\\'ards scientific agricultural methods,

Freedom of Anti-Religious Propaganda

Thus, whether rightly or wrongly, the Communists felt thatthey had to break "the dead hand of the past" which theyidentified with the non-scientific or superstitious approach tolife, The Communist Party I'oted to finance anti-religious pro­paganda and the Union of :\Iilitant Godless was brought intoexistence, It went <:bout its business wholesale, making nudiscrimination between the legitimate manifestatiuns of healthyreligion and those conservative attitudes and superstitious prac­tices that most intelligent men of faith would be quick to con­demn, such as the determination of the time for spring sowingby the date of a religious festival rather than by conditions ofweather and soil. The Union of :lIilitant Godless enrolled manymillions of members in the early 1930's, It is fully describedand documented in Paul B. Anderson's: People, Church and Statein :\Iodern Russia, published by Macmillan, The crude ruffianismof this movement among the agricultural workers shocked theoutside world, Howel'er, the outside world was not aware thhtthe rural clergy tied their fortunes in with the sUl'\'i\'al of kulaks,the last propertied class, and ended up sharing defeat with them.

All Russia was in a gigantic convulsion of collectivization;things were not happening in an orderly or rational fashivnand it is impossible to apply any n:>rmal standards of judgmentto the events that occurred. But this much is clear. As col­Jecti\'ization became a fact, the work of the Godless movement,though it had been used as a sp~cial weapon in substitutingscience for superstition, was seen to be detrimental rather thanconstructive, Communist Party support was withdrawn from il,in a single year its membership collapsed, and it proceeded todie a swift and unlamented death. Its journals and newspaperscontinued to appear until the outbreak of the war when thepaper supply allotted to it was quietly requisitioned to somemore useful purpose. An odd thing-. which fureign opinion n~1 erquite understood, was the way in ',,'hich the churches nel'er lostthe right to appeal to the courts against the excesses of Part:'members or adherents of the Cnion of )Iilitant Godle,s, In eyears 1!J:l6-:17 the courts heard 157 such complaints and 78 percent of these cases resulted in verdicts granting damage to thecumplaining churches.

Anti-religious propaganda was 11e\'er conducted by the State,but handled through a special agency. Thus the movement couldbe ended without involving or requiring any change in officialgovernment policy towards the chtlrches. This has been con­sistent and uniform. That is one rea~on that the church auth0l'i­ties are correct when they insist there has been no persecl'" iO>l

21

of the church by the government. The church had its deepwaters to cross but its relations with the government werealways correct. For over six years there has been no furtherattack of this character on religion, nor is there likely to beagain. The reasons are two-fold: the Godless movement was afailure as an educational technique, and the churches today areassimilated economically and psycllOlogically into Soviet societyso that fear of them as centres of reaction requiring suppressionby violence is a thing of the past. But just to make certain, theConstitution reserves the right of anti-religious propaganda.

The control of the educational system provided a much moresubtle and successful tool, and in the early years direct anti­religious teaching was gh'en all children. The purpose was totrain them in a scientific approach to the modern world. Themotins behind this program were not objectionable; what wasopen to condemnation was the dOcimatic rejection of all aspectsof religion. But even here it is wise for the foreigner to exercisesome caution in passing final judgment. The conflict betweenmodern science and fundamentalist religion was not whollyabsent e\'en in the United States where we still remember theembalT~ssing Scopes Trial at Dayton, Tennessee, when the lateWilliam Jennings Bryan, many times candidate for the presi­dency of the United States, earnestly pled in his shirt-sleevesfor the conviction of a school-teacher \I'hose only crime was thathe taught children the Darwinian theory of evolution in a scienceclass. If this could happen among' us, we can dimly sense howin the Russian Re\'olutiun a vast and illiterate country tried toaccept and apply a modern scientific approach to life in a singledecade, It had a bad case of colic in the process more than once,but it sur\'ived the attacks, and gl'Udualliy learned to recognizeone or two things that should not be eaten again. As SirBernard Pares has written in Foreign Affairs. the attack onreligion was the weakest link in the whole re\'olutionary program.It is probable that the banner of atheism will long be heldofficially aloft, he declares. but:

".'Iarxi~m itself, though acknQ\...lcdging- no foundation but sheermaterialism, in Russia inc\"itablv, like. an\" Olhcr form or belief, hasbecome an idealism. . .. 'I he .\Iar.'\ist ohjective is the happiness of all ­the poor, the maimed, the oppres~cd. the weak. the YcrY old. the '"en"voung, the weaker sex-in other words, \\ hn \'"C should dc~cribe as theKingdom of God on canh. and the reali,' great things that ha\'c beenachieved in these directions are the finest p:lrt of the SO\-ict rccord. " " .Communism no longer mcans to Russians an~ thing connected with thefir:s[ blood-stained years of thc Rc\'olution; it is the ideal. to be rcali/cdfuli)' in rhc future, of complete and absolute do"orion to the comI11unit,·."

New Respect lor Religion

Today the pendulum has swung considerably. The publiceducation system is still firmly ba~ed on the Marxist scientificapproach but anti-religious statements have been expunged from

22

he textbooks and histories. Children cannot be taught religionin the schools but they are inculcated with a respect for Russianinstitutions of the creath'e periods of the pa~t, they are givenan accurate picture of the place of religion in the historic develop­ment of Russian culture, and emphasis is freely place on theart, the architecture and the music which have their roots inthe church. There is little direct conflict today between theeducation of the schools and the religious education of the homeand the church, provided the latter is intelligent and adjustedto young minds trained in scientific thinking. This puts a heavierburden on religiou leadership, of course, but it has ne\'er donereligion harm to make it present its case intelligently and atits best.

In past years it is true that young people wcre undcr acertain preswre to abjure religion because it eliminated themfrom certain jobs and from membership in the Communist Partywhich was the sole road to a political career. This is no longcr.rue. Applications for employment and for advancement n0Womit all questions as to religious belief; this is now considereda purely prh'ate matter for the indi\'idual's own consciencc.Believers are probably in a slight m::\jority in the Red Army and,ome of them hold commissions and a few have reached highplaces. ;\Iore and more of them are entering administrath'er ost~ of prominence, and e\'en p:'cferment in the Party is nolongel' barred for religions belief as it once was.

:\Ietropolitan Benjamin observed that during his recent tra\'­ds by train in the Soviet Union hc ~aw no signs of antagonbmtv religion anywhere: in fact, he was the target of innumerablequestions a~ to why he-obviouRly an educated and traveledman-',\as religions. After one such conversation, a professor• f physics ~aia to him. "1 res:)ect ) our position. Do others inhl' Church reason the \I'ay you do '!" The theocratic mind will

, at be ~atbfied with the situation 111 the Soviet l'nion becauseit is lwt a\'o\\'edly u a Christian ,.;tatc·'. But believers in a f!"(:e,ociety han, Ion;: recc;gnized that religion cannot be legislated.COl1\'iction is born only of spiritual, moral and intellectual per­, uas;on. It is to that form of free SO'ciety that both churchand stHic are committed in the Sodet Union.

Soviet Morality

:\Iorals are not religion but a religion without morals is notr~ligion either, and the morals of the Soviet Union are good...Htel' an early and brief perioj of experimentaton with conven­tions, Soviet society has taken a very conservative view ofpersonal responsibility. The family reigns supreme. Marriageis encouraged early and made economically feasible for youth..-\. stern puritanism prevails, with the members of the CommunistParty and the Young Communists' League expected to set a

23

high example. Even the Vatican, for all its distaste for everyaspect of communist philosophy and economics, has paid a tributethrough its press to the present state of Soviet morals, familystandards, the attitude towards divorce, the c1eanne" of SO\-ietjournalism and the quality of SOVIet films.

The elimination of anti-semitbm and racial prejudice is oneof the happiest and finest chapters in Soviet achievement. Forthose who place integrity in business rel?tions high on the listof social virtues, our C. S. Department of Commerce reports thatthe SO\'iet Union is the best credit risk with the highest ratingof any nation with which American businessmen ha\-e dealing-s.The war has certainly revealed the selflessness of an entirepeople in a time of national catastrophe. It is impossible fOl'anyone who really knows the Russians to consider them inanything but the highest way. Soviet morality is in no sensea departure from fundamental moral standards; if anything,it is the heightening of group loyalty beyond anything theolder western nations know-in the words of Sir Bernard Paresagain: "the ideal of a complete and basolute devotion to thecommunity."

The Quality of Religion

In the Soviet Union today religion can sun-hoe and perpetul'.teitself only on the strength of its own inner moral and spiritul'.1quality. It has no hand-me-down of accumulated endowmentson which to li\'e. It has no vast institutional structure withcountless schools and hospitals and orphanages that penetratethe whole of society so that, as in America, many support thechurches because of their good works rather than any personaldevotion to a religious faith. In the Soviet Cnion the churchperforms a spiritual function-nothing else.

On the first acquaintance, it seems to many Americans thatreligion has been robbed of its rightful sphere of operations. Itis severed from the educational system and from the administra­tion of public philanthropies. But let us frankly face thi"question: Why did the church ill our society feel drawn to pior-eerin education except because there was so little of it'! To buildhospitals except because there were so fe\\? To care for theorphans and the aged except that no one else would bother7The church entered the:e fdds in western society because therewer" human needs crying to be met! But suppo~e that therehad been an adequate provision within our society to take ca~e

for educating- all its members. healinl\' the sick. providing forthe orphans and aged, assuring work for the unemployed? ..Thechurch would not have felt constrained to enter these areas. Itwoul,l have sought to serve another function. In such a societyit would have undertaken to stimulate the knowledge and wor­ship of God so that character would be built, life be infused with

24

healthy purpose, and the sacial structure constantly leavened bythe creative faith in the church's sons.

In the Soviet Union the community undertakes to perform

these many social functions. For a new country whose construc­tive plans were less than fifteen years old when Hitler strucka:1d set back the clock, it was making tremendous strides toward(he fulfilment of its program. Had this "'ar not occurred, weshould have "een far greater results in the past four years. TheSoviets are net downhearted, although they are sad at thethought of the fruits of their labor that the. azi locusts have<:uten. They are determined to build again, and they will.

Religion in Russia is simpler, more elemental, more spiritual.The church is freed of innumerable responsibilities and philan­thropic chores, the infinite raising of money for this and forthat. Here is one re~son why Russian churchmen feel theyare freer than foreign churchmen. It is the ancient superiorityof .:\Iary who sits at the. laster's feet O\'er :lIartha who does thedrudgery in the kitchen. They think American churchmen iooconcerned with ouiward things and nat enough with the SpintoWhich is right, time 210ne can tell, but this much is clear. TheSo\'iet Union is not "Godless" nor is the United States God's solechor.en people. Both ar-e His. They are meant to live each withthe other.

Religion and the Church in the U.S.S.R.by F. OLECHTCHOUK

L • 'ants 10 understa'1d and appreciate the attitude of the"on' ~"ate to r ,li~ ;011 ie is be t to aproaeh t1ds question fromhe om of I ie llf hi tory.

I . ", .. t r.. t~~:;i4" knc\ lie'tLer ii" ...dom of COl science nar free­(C-'1 I \"C 1·,}llp.

The Cr,urrh had as its head the Czar. The Church was thusan int(·g-r.1] ]Jart of the State struc~ure. The priests and theLishop. \I'ere raid from pubEc fund,,; th~y were the senan1 sof the Cza and ttev carried Ol.t his orders. The Church thusf(,und itS(·lf ill a I.O·sition of senile 01> diencp to the Czar. Itsen'cd as a support to Czarist despotism.

Under 1he Czar, the Christian faith was regarded as theonly right and true one. All the others were considered as falsI'and harmful and were persecuted.

The Russian Church, in conni\"ance with the Czarist police,repressed mercilessly those who were classified as "dissenters',that is those who did not adhere to the orthodox faIth. Theypersecuted the follo\\ ers of the Evangelists, the Baptists, '~heMolokanes the Jews, because they worshipped God in their ownmanner al;d uncovered the defects in the official Church.

25

·The Czarist penal c~de declares (Article 196): "Those peopleguIlty of the. propagatIOn of the heresies and ~chi~m existingamo~g the dIssenters of the orthodox church, or of the intro­ductIon of ~e\\' sects, however harmful to the faith, are for thesecrimes subject to the removal of ail their rights and possessionsand to deportation." Article 253 stipulated: "The membersof sects termed pneumatomic (enemies of the spirit). Iconoclasts.Molokanes, Judaists and all \\'ho cling to these heresies andcm1\'icted of these crimes, al'e to be deprived of all their Ci\'j[rights and of their belongings and deported." -

As a result of the application of these barbaric laws. hundred:'of thousands of innocent people \\'err oblived to abandon theirhomes "nel take refu~c in Siberia. or to le'ne the COll1try.

On the 2;lrd {·f January l!l1S, apeared a ~O\ iet Governmentdecree on thc' se aration of the Church from tle • tate. Thisdecree, \ hich renwins up to the rJresent tim as the IJa 'j, fSovic' legislat 'on on religion says:

"1 rile ('hurd1 IS st:par .1- d LO'Jl the "r rc."'Jth;n the [('Triton" of th,_ Itl pub!'c I' j b.ttle.: t-

.1I1\ Ja" or local dircctl\'cS ,~hieh mi~hr re'trlln or hi.!ll.!e hee­dOni of co cicn...:e Of ".hich would rabti!lh t \\IUfOi ) pr ilegf;'b h d on rhe faith to \\ hie'l ('cf[;lin c.:itll' lunc d.

01. I'.ach citizen 111:1'" pr,)f~s 10\' religion \dut Ol \ er or non\,; ~~:1 I..\il [onner rcstrictio!l~ (IT rig-Ius 3trcn.d:.nr UP(l!1 hdcm,TlnjI r t. SIIf that rcli!!ion or to h~1\-ing no rdig-lon at 111. He 'lboiJ. hCll!.

.'+ I rom .111 'lfficial docu:11ents arc C\Cll'dcd am' 11 (,;"1 n 0

citizen's adhl'rcnce or ilOIl-.ldhlTencc to J ldi/·'on· .'j. fhl: ~chool is ~eparatl:d from the OlUrch. Thl.: tC:lehing- of rcli~loi.h

subjl:l.,t:; is prohibiteJ i'l all State ~(:ho()b, public and pri\,:tte.In these arc raught subi~cts of gcncral ('dI1C;I~iol1. (itizcn<; IlUVgive Jlld recci\·c rcligiolh cducltioll pri\"t1:h.

The decree separating the Church from the State put anend tu the arbitrary czarist laws and rules 011 religion. TheChurch became a pri\"a~e and voluntary a,;sociatlOll or lJeue\-ers.It no longer carried out any functions of the State. The clergywas no long-er subsidized by the State, they wpre paid by volun­tary contributiuns of its followers and this assured the independ­ence of the Church. For the first t;me in Russia's history, onecould be an atheist without danger or on" could believe in Godin a mamwr other than that prescribed by the Orthodox Church.

The true ort hodox followers warmly j!reeted this decree \\'hichseparated the Church from the State. They gladly accepted thi~

Soviet policy on religion. The priest S~r!!e Lano\', curate ofthe Church of Tikhvine, in the to\Yll of DoukhollO\'O, Leningr~d

region, wrote:"The ~O\ let fl'onrnmCllt has c .tabbhcd 1[<; POSition towards tl~c

Church by SpCCi;l! r-1cgi'lation, Thi~ Icg-~,Iari?n ha' pl~c.ed the Chur~l~ 111

'll po~iti()n \\ hich ". ill he~~ it to tUllL·.1I0~ Jll the .... pmr ~lf. the on:.l.!11.11Chnnanity and \\ lllch Will thu:-. permit It t~ att"Jn Chrt<;tl.1n sal~·at1on.In [he onhotlox churches 'we \\ orship God trnl\". \\ C (;Ike part In the:.KrJlllcnt"i and satish- our hig-llCst rcli~;ou,.; J.1d spiritual a",plr.Hions:'

26

·The Sovi~t Gove~'nment !ater published several laws, regu­latIOns and instructIOns which explained and stated preciselythe decree on the separation of the Church and the State. Theseaets defined exactly the rights which religious associations andtheir members enjoyed in the U.S.S.R.

On April 8th. 1929, this law was passed.

_ _-\rticlc 10. Par:a.graph 1: To satisfy their reli£rious aspiration,>, theIoJIoWel' of a religious asv)~i,trion may obecin In contract the free:J:-.C of the neCCSS3n- building" Irom rhe C-,t'culin committee of thecanton, district or from the urban soyict."

~~nicle N. The initiJti,"c for calling' and ('Irganizin~ cOlllZres5es,meeo.nt?S and conferences of .1 rclig'iOl~S character belongs to the religiousasSOCiatIons and to g'fOUpS of hcli~\·cr.':i. to their cx(cuti,"c agencies as wellas to the exccuriyc agencies of religious congresses.

. Article 57. Parr 1. Belie,"crs, 'mired in g'TOUpS or associations may,wJth~ut norifving the authorities or requesting aUlhQrization, meet forre.li~lOus sen'icc~ in church buildings or in suitable places, complyin~WIth architectural, technical and sanitary requirements."

_ Article 67. \Yith reference to parades, which form an inte~ral partor the reli£ious sen'ice and which take place around the church building.in the cities as welJ as in rural localities, it i~ not liecessarv to infonngm-ernment authorities or to get their permission prodded that thesepar2des do not hinder the regular rraffic of the thoroughfare."

In direcrion Xo. 328 from the Commissariat of the People of the!nrerior of the R.S.F.S.R. under date October 1, J929, concerning- thequestion of the rights and obligation~ of religious associations, we findthe following rules:

1. "In order to take part together in their Idigious services citizensprofessinq the same religion, the same beliefs, or who belong to the sameleaning or sect and who are 18 years of age, Olav form a religious associa­cion or group of believers." ,

2. The members, belon~ing to a religious society or group. may:a. hold religious services.b. or~anize religious and ~enentl meetings of their followers.c. administer church funds.d. carry out transactions of a private leR31 narure, covering the

administration of church funds and the holding of religiousceremonies.

e. participate in congresses of religious a5~ociations.

f. choose officers to carry out the ceremonies of that religion.

29. Provincial religious conferences and congresses of the R.S.F.S.R. and of the U.S.S.R. may take place with authorization.

2. from the administrative section of the state or autonomous regioD.if the con~ress is in the territory of the state or the autonomous re,;on.

b. from the territorial or re~ional section if the conRress is in theterritory, rewoD or the territory of two or more states or autonomousre~ions.

60. The association of the religious group can be dissolved bydecision of the general assembly of the members of the societyor group. This decision may be reached within a period ofseven days from notification by the spokesman who registereathe religious society or group of believers.

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We find proofs of the absolute freedom of conscience in theU.S.S.R. not only in the legislation, but in the activities ofreligious organizations. Following are the divers current religionswhich exist in the U.S.S.R.: Orthodoxy, the traditional churchand the reformed church; the Ukrainian orthodax church, theGeorgian curch; the Dissenters; the Oli! Belie\'ers; the Annen­ian-Gregorians; Catholics; Lutherans; the Non-baptist-anabap­tists; the Hill Dwellers; the Fedosseev Sect; .the Philippov Sect;the Baptists; the Evangelists; the Mennonites; the Ad\'entists:the Presbyterians; the ~lethodists; the Pneumatomics; the:L\lolokanes; the Iegovistes; the Khlysty (a sect which has neithei'priests, mysteries, nor established church) ; the New Israelites;the Temperants; the Tolstoyans; the Malevane sect; the Fedorm'sect: the Mohammedans; the Sunnites; the Schiites; the Be­haistes; the Ismaelites; the Jews; the Buddhists; the Lamaites;the Chamanists, etc.

The followers of all these current religions have freedom andoportunity to confess their faith openly and to practise theirreligion.

There are in the U.S.S.R. religious movements which havea centralised structure with corresponding central agencies. Wename: The patriarchy (synod) of Moscow, and at its head is themetropolitan Serge, who carries out the functions of the patri­arch.

The synod of the reformed orthodox church, having at itshead the patriarch of Moscow and of all Russia, Alexis.

The Panunion Council of Evangelical Christians.

The Central Religious Directorship of the Musselmen atOufa.

The Religious Directorship of the Mussulmen of the Trans­caucasians.

The Religious Directorship of the Mussulmen of Central Asiaand of the Kazakhstan.

The Catholikos of the Armenian Church of the Gregorianand Etchmiadzine rite.

The Directorship of the Georgian Church with the Catholicosat its head, etc.

Besides these religious centres there are groups which arcgoverned locally by their bishops and preachers and who do notcome under any central head.

Nearly all the churches operate permanent organizationsknown as "the twenties", composed of 20 members or more,chosen from among the laymen and the clergy to direct theecclesiastic affairs of each church.

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In September. 1943, the bishops gathered in :\loscow at acouncil to elect the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and toform the Holy S~'nod about the Patriarch.

This council elected unanimously the Metropolitan Serge asPatriarch of :\lo~cow and all Russia.

:\loreo\"er. the Council adopted unanimously an addres~ tothe GO\'ernment of the U.S.S.R. in which it expre~sed its ap­preciation for the consideration shown by the Government .f01'the need, of the orthodox Church. Archbishop Gregory ofSarato\" read an appeal to Christians throughout the world.This document. urging unity of all effort in the struggle againstHitlerism. was also adopted by the Council.

The following were elected members of the Holy Synod:Alexis. :.\letropolitan of Leningrad, Nicholas, Exarc of the Uk­raine and :.\Ietropolitan of Kiev and of Galitch; and the Arch­bishops of Yarsolav, of Krasnoiarsk of Kuibishev and of Gorki.

The SO\'iet Union has a considerable number of churchesand other houses of worship. In the city and district of Moscowalone there are more than one hundred and fifty. In addition,there are in :\Ioscow houses of worship far other cults such asthe Old Belie\'ers, the nlussulrnen, the Jews, E\'angelists, etc.

In se\'eral places churches ha\'e been opened at the request offollowers. notably in the districts of Kirov, Gorki and otherdistricts and territories of the U.S.S.R. The Soviet Governmentdoes not in any way hinder worshippers in this cannection.Churches may be closed or continue to function, according tothe wishes of their members.

Under the Soviet Government many religious organizationsissue their own publications. Among the reviews which appear­ed regularly are: "The Baptist", "The Good Word", 'The Wordof Christians of the Spirit" (Molokan), "The Voice of Truth",etc.

The Old Believers also have their own review, "The Messengerof Christians of the U.S.S.R. of the alliance of Pomorie" and"The Voice of the Church".

The Orthodox Church publishes "Review of the Patriarchof Moscow", "The Good News", "Messenger of the Very HolySynod of the Russian Orthodox Church" "The Living Church","Religious Renewal", "The Friend of the Orthodox Peoples".

Among the religious writings which have appeared duringthe national war are the great collection, splendidly presented,published by the Patriarch of Moscow, entitled "The Truthabout Religion in Russia" (460 pages with 50,000 copies printed)as well as the book of the Metropolitan Nicholas, in German.

The "Collection of Religi<Jlls Documents" dedicated to the

29

period of the national war, appeared in the same artistic form.The "Review of the Patriarchy of Moscow" appeared each month.

In addition, during the war, the ecclesiastics published se\'eraltract-manifestos to mark certain anniversaries, as for exampl~.

the brutal attack of the fascists against the U.S.S.R. on t'le22nd of June, 1941, Christmas 1941. Easter 1942, the anni\'er­sary of the national war, etc.

There are many other facts which provide eyidence of thefull freedom of conscience in the U.S.S.R.

State commercial enterpri~es supply the religiou; "raul'Swith their various cakes for Easter, the matzos (Jewish ur.­leavened bread) the necesary building materials for the restora­tion of churches, electric power, etc. Quarters for delegate3during- religious congresses, Iiying expense~ and transportati9!lfacilities for delegates are also put at their disposal by Stmeorganizations and the co-operati\'es, The State furnishes paperfor publications to anti-religious organization. as well as toreligious organizations. State presses print not only the reyiew"The Infidel" but also religious hymns for the variaus sects.religious mUSIC, the bible as well as religious periodicals. Underwartime conditions in Moscow, eyen when the capital \\'as unde~'

a state of siege, the faithful were able to carry out each yeartheir religious ceremonies without any hindrance and to paradethroughout the city on Easter night.

All these facts illustrate clearly enough that the SovietGovernment has in action put into effect the promised freedomof conscience. The basic principles contained in the decree 1])1

the separation of the Church and the State are systematicallyapplied by departments of the Soviet Government.

The decree issued on the 23rd of January, 1918 was confirmedby the Constitution af the U.S.S.R. adopted in 1936. Article124 of the Constitution reads as follows: "In order to assurecitizens of freedom of conscience, the Church in the U.S.S.R. isseparated from the State and the school from the Church.Freedom to practice religious beliefs and freedom to spreadreligious teachings are granted to all citizens",

In the Summer of 1942, there appeared in Moscow a largebook prepared by the Patriarch of Moscow, entitled "The Truthabout Religion in Russia". In it the clergy expressed its attitudetoward the Soviet Government's policy on religion in theseterms:

"The decree on freedom of conscience, promulgated in Janu­ary, 1918, assures to each religious organization, including ourorthodox church, the right to live according to their religion andthe opportunity to practice it according to the requirements oftheir faith, so lang as it does not disturb the peace or the rightsof other citizens. This decree was of immense importanee in

30

clarifying the inner life of the church. The So'"iet Govern­ment's decree on freedom of conscience and freedom to professany religion lifted the oppression which had weighed on thechurch for many years and freed the church from all outsideinterference. This was a great advantage to the inner life ofthe church. The decree in question granted not only liberty,it ?lso guaranteed the inviolability of liberty for all religiousassociations. No, the church could nGt complain against theGowrnment." Such is the point of view of the great majorityof the clergy and believers. On December 24, 1941, the corres­pondent of the Associated Press intervie''"ed one of the bishopsof thp U.S.S.R., the Archbishop Andre and put this questionto him' "In what measure is the practice of religion presenHylimited in the U.S.S.R.?

The Archbishop replied: "The Sodet GO"ernment neverlimite'l the freedom of practising religion. The SO\'iet GO\'ern­m~nt upheld stronglv the principle of toler?nce for all religionsand this tolerance 'was legalized by a special article in theConstitution. The Soviet GO\'ernment applied repressivemeasures against some of the clel"i\"y and belie,'ers. but not fo::their religious com·ictions. It was for their acth'ities againstthe 80\'iet regime.

It must not be forgotten that the church before the revolutionwas in the sen'ice of the Czarist regime and that it thereforeenjoyed many privileges and advantages-especiaIly the hig-hclergy. It \\'as difficult therefore for the clergy to give uptheir a(l\'antages, Certain ones lived in the hope that the Sovietpo\\'er would be overthrown and they themselves were activeagainst it. Th Soviet Government could not, naturally, letsuch people off without punishment."

The fact of complete freedom of conscience in the U.S.S.R.and of unlimited tolerance toward the church was also confirmedby foreign correspondents who visited the Sodet Union.

::'IIargaret Bourke-White wrote about it in her buok "ThroughRussia in war-time with a Camera". She mingled with theworshipers and with the ecclesiastics, and e,'erywhere she heardthe same statements:

"'Ve are free, no one prevents us serving God." From thebishop down to the parishioner, all extended their help to herin taking pictures of churches, pointing out that "it is veryimportant that religious believers in America have photographsand see for themselves that in RUJsia the faithful worship Godin church." (Shooting the Russian War", pp. 143, 147).

The American journalist, Well~s Carroll, said in his book"We Are In It With Russia", that fram his conversation withthe worshipers and the clergy in the U.S.S.R. he came to theconclusion that religious people in the U.S.S.R. had no complaint

31

against the Soviet Government. Carroll had an interview withthe Metropolitan Sergei, head of the Orthodox Church. Thelatter declared, "In the U.S.S.R. no one restricts worshipersand the church enjoys sufficient material resources."

* * * • •There are in Russia anti-religious bodies, to whom freedom

is also guaranted by the Constitution.

But the anti-religious propaganda in the U.S.S.R. does nothinder or limit or re:,trict in any way the right and practiceof believer~.

The Sodet GO\'ernment has applied and is applying carefull~'

the principle of tolerance. It has always punished se\'erely thosewho hindered wor"hipper~ from enjoying the rights extended tothem by law.

The Criminal Code of the U.S.S.R. contains a special articlefor the defence of believers: "Prevention of the practice of areligious faith as long a~ it does not disturb the peace and doesnot bring harm to the rights of other citizens, is punishable byforced labour for a period up to six months."

The treacherous attack of the Hitlerites against the SovietUnion and the resulting danger to freedom of conscience andto the freedom of the Russian church, drew believers and theclergy ever more closely to the Soviet Government.

Hitlerism showed itself to be the most cruel oppressor offreedom of conscience, the persecutor of religion, the torture~'

of believers and of the clergy, the enemy of the church.

In Soviet districts temporarily occupied by the Nazis, free­dom of conscience, which was guaranteed to the citizens ofthe U.S.S.R. by the Constitution was trampled on with horriblecynicism and insolence. The fascist brutes trampled on thereligious sentiments of believers and descrated the sanctuarips.Of this there are many cruel examples.

In the city of Plavsk, the Germans turned the church intoa prison, destroyed all religious objects, and broke into piecesthe ikons and other religious articles. This they did in manyvillages.

In Semenovskoe and Ivanovskoe, in the Region of Mosco\\'.the churches were used as concentration camps. In the villageof Andreevskoe (district of Dmitrov, Region of Moscow), aboutthree hundered prisoners were found in the concentration campsituated in the local church.

Scoffing at the sentiments of the religious population, thebarbaric German fascists made stables out of churches, pulledup the floors, broke religious objects and destroyed the ikons,and altars.

32

The People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R.,Y. :\Iolotm', reported the pillage committed e\'erywhere andthe monstrous cruelties committed by the Germans in the Sovietterritory invaded by them. "On the 6th of January, 1942, thishappened: "In the city af Lvov, thirtY-b"o girls who workedin a garment factory were violated and then killed by the soldiersof German invasion troops. The Germans, in a state of drunken­ness, dragged the young girls and the young women of Lvov tothe park of Kostiouchko and then brutually massacred them.An old priest, V. Pomaznev, who tried, cross in hand, to preventthe acts of violence, was badly beaten by the Nazis, who toreoff his soutane, burned his beard and killed him finally withblows of their bayonets."

The Hitlerites destroyed and annihilated the historic andartistic treasures of the Soviet people.

The monastery of the New Jerusalem, in the city of Istrawas one of the most precious historic and religious monumentsof the Russian people. Founded in 1654 it had been restoredin the 18th century by the great architects Rastrelli and Kazakov.The German troops established a munition depot in this oldmonastery. When they left the fascist brigands blew up theirmunition depot and reduced to ruins this very important monu­ment to Russian religious history which "'as of incomparablebeauty.

In the ancient Russian city af Staritsa, the Hitlerites burneda monastery which had been built in the sixteenth century. Whenthey arrived at this monastery, the Red Army troops foundin the out-buildings nude, piled up bodies of Red soldiers, martyr­ed prisoners.

The believers of the Soviet Union, together with all theworkers, the peasants and the intellectuals are all fired witha feeling of ardent patriotism. The sen'ants of religion hweproclaimed this themselves.

The Metropolitan, Nicholas of Kie\', who during the firstdays of the war was in Western Ukraine, has stated: " We haveobsen'ed personally an upsurge of great religious and patrioticspirit in many places in the western regions. The faithful haveprayed in the temples for victory, in clClSe co-operation withthe other citizens, they put a fierce resistance against theenemy, they joined the home guard and took a direct part inpartisan activities in the rear of the enemy.

The Metropolitan of Leningrad, Alexis, relates: "An old manwept bitterly before me because he cauld not join as a volunteerand he was thus deprived of the chance of doing his bit for thedefence of his country. A mother who learned that her son waskilled in battle subordinated her maternal feeling to her love forher country. After having poured out her grief in the house ofGod, she said, almost with joy: "God has permitted me tocontribute to the aid of my country."

33

Thel'e are many such examples. They all illustrate howHitler's cowardly attack against the Soviet country aroused inthe heart of the faithful a wave of ardent patriotism and arousedthem to daring 2cts in defence of their country.

The policy of the Soviet Government with regard to religion,the great wave of patrioti~m among the Soviet people, theirhatred of the .'azi inmders has determined the charactel' ofthe religious as,ociations in the Soviet Union.

The l('ader, of GTlhodox or }Iussulman faiths. Jewish andothers, urged the faithful from the first days of the war, todefend their country. Their messages were imbued with hatredagainst the aggressors, who treachErously invaded our country.

On the 22nd of June, 1941, the ;\Ietropolitan Sergei, carrying­out his religious functions of patriarch, said in his mandate tothe pastors of the Christian orthodox church:

"The Christian Church blesses all those orthodox follo\\·trswho go to defend the sacred frontiers of our country. :\IayGod grant us victory."

Conforming with this mandate of the Metropolitan Serll'ei,prayers were said in 211 the churches of the country to ask forvictory for the Russian army; sermons and addresses were gi\'enon this theme. The sermons stressed the point that it was im­possible for the orthodox church to consent to a compromise ofany kind with fascism, or to accept from the hands of the enem,'any favours or 2d\'antages whatsoever.

The directors of the religious organizations of our countryhave more than once during the war, admonished the faithfulto serve their country courageously. In his mandate to thepeople of the SO\'iet regions temporarily occupied, the Metro­politans Sergei and Nicholas wrote that "those who find them­selves in slavery must not forget that they are Russian and mustnot either knowingly or through thoughtlessness betray theinterests of their country."

One af the directors of the orthodox church, the Metropoli­tan Nicholas, was a member of the State Commission to list thecrimes of the Germans in occupied Soviet telTitories.

Large contributions were made by the clergy to funds forthe defence of the U.S.S.R. Besides these individual contri­butions, made for the construction of tanks and planes for theRed Army, the clergy, together with the councils of the churchesconducted campaigns among their followers for comforts forthe soldiers of the Red Army. During the war considerablesums were thus gathered throughout the Soviet Union.

Veniamine, Archbishop of Kirov, contributed 10,000 ruble3,the Church of Saint Seraphin (Kirov), 50,000 rubles, Rassoulev,mufti of the central Mussulman directorate, 50,000 rubles; theChurch of Rougne-Nikitskoe (Regian of Moscow), 7,800 rubles,the Catholic Georgian Kalistrate, 85,000 rubles; Tchobroutski,President of the Jewish Community of Moscow, 50,000 rubles;

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the diocese of Leningrad 3,700,000 rubles; the catholikossat ofEtchmidzine 850,000 rubles, $15,000 and 1,000 English pounds;the faithful of Moscow 2,000,000 rubles; the faithful of Kouiby­shev, 650,000 rubles, etc. In sending these defence funds, thefaithful usually addressed their messages to Marshal JosephStalin, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of theU.S.S.R. Their messages expressed thanks to the Soviet govern­ment for the organization of resistance against the enemy, aswell as their hopes for the defeat of the enemy and promisingthe fullest support from believers in this work.

Here is one of these messages:"Moscow, Kremlin, Joseph Vissarionovitch Stalin. The Rus­

sian orthodox church, together with peoples of the Great SovietUnion are filled with the same desire-to help in every way pos­sible the Red Army leading the offensive. The diocese of Lenin­grad, the clergy and the members, :illed with the same patrioticsentiment that all the Soviet people have had from the firstdays of the great national war of our country against a cursedenemy, the German fascist invaders. The Diocese of Leningrad,placed under my leadership, finding itself in a state of siege,has contributed to the funds for defence up to the present,3,182,143 rubles in cash, as well as precious objects. Replyingto the apeal of the Metropolitan of Moscow, Sergei, acting inthe capacity of Patriarch, the Diocese contributed enough toconstruct a column of tanks bearing the name Dmitri Donskai,500,000 rubles. The collection of funds continues. Filled withan unshakable faith in the coming victory of our just causeagainst the bloodthirsty folly of fascism, we pray ferventlyto God to aid you in your great historic mission-the defenceof honour, liberty and the glory of cur native land.

In the regions and districts of the Soviet Union temporarilyoccupied by the Nazi army, the clergy together with all theworkers maintained an active resistance against the invaders.Many priests marched with the partisans as active fightersagainst the Nazi brigands. In the city of Koursk, the agedpriest Govorov Pavel, rendered great service to the partisansand helped them in their struggle against the invaders. Manypriests organized in their dwellings meeting places for the par­tisans, collected arms for them and hid those who were pursuedby the fascists.

The priests refused to pray for the Germans in their churches.On the contrary they prayed for the victory of the Red Armyand for the crushing of the invaders.

The priests in the Soviet Union refused to serve Hitlerism.When the Hitlerites wished to install in the Ukraine their headof the orthodox church, no one could be found among the repre­sentatives of the clergy who could occupy this place. The Hitler­ites had to place in this position Polikarp Sikorski, a suspiciousperson, unknown in ecclesiastic circles.

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The stubborn resistance put up by the clergy to the occupa­tion authorities often led to conflicts which ended in arrestsand in murder of rebel servants of religion. In the city ofKalou~a an old priest was killed for having conducted a servicefor the civilians wham the Nazi beasts had killed.

One of the most striking illustrations of the patriotic, anti­fascist position of the Church was the Council of the RussianOrthodox Church, which took place in January and February,1945, as well as the appeals which the Council sent out.

In the appeal addressed to Christians throughout the world,it said: "The Orthodox Church C811S to Christians througoutthe world to pray to God, 'with a single voice and a single heart',to grant a speedy victory over the enemy, a complete and absolutevictory, in order that every last trace of the inhuman fascist doc­trine may disappear .... That fascism and its founders maydisperse like smoke, be consumed entirely as wax melts in tl'eflame. May God grant his blessing on all of us, brothers in hisname, for a relentless struggle for the triumph throughout theworld of freedom, truth and goodness for all time! May we allbe united and steadfast to this end!"

G. Karpov, President of the Council of the Russian OrthodoxChurch is now attached to the Council of the People's Commis­sars of the U.S.S.R. He emphasized in his address the patrioticposition of the Church: "The Russian Orthodox Church," hesaid, "has from the beginning of the war, taken a very active partin the defence of the country by every means and every tool ather command. The patriotic activity of the Church has foundexpression not only in appeals through sermons, but also in thecollection of funds for the building of tanks, planes, help for thesick, the wounded, the maimed and for war orphans. The Gov­ernment of the Soviet Union appl'e~iates what the Church hasdone and is doing to bring Victory over the enemy."

This is the position taken by the Soviet clergy in the waragainst Hitlerism. There is nothing unexpected or unusual aboutthis attitude. It was brought about by the previous policy ofthe Soviet Government towards religion.

The success of the Soviet regime has brought about relationsbetween the Church and the State in the Soviet Union. Therevolution freed the Church from the chains which bound itunder Czarism. The Council created to guard the interestsof the Russian Orthodox Church, which is at fached to the Councilof the People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. was created by anact of the Government. The co-operative relations which havebeen established between th Church and the Soviet Governmentguarantee freedom of religious teaching and removal of allobstacles which might arise in the path of the Soviet citizens'freedom of conscience. The decree on the separation of theChurch and the State and the Stalin Constitution make freedomof religion a fact in the Soviet Union.

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President R. H. DAVISTreasurer PAUL N. NATHANSON

National Director M. CHIC

365 YONGE ST., TORONTO ADELAIDE 2985