Religion: Churches in Russia

Religion, I saw for myself, is not dead in Russia, but all indications were that it is in an extremely unhealthy condition.

Thus reports Walter Graebner, TIME, & LIFE correspondent, and author of the new book Round Trip to Russia (see p. 100), in one of the best current accounts of the state of religion in the Soviet Union.

When Graebner called on Ambassador William H. Standley in Kuibyshev, the Ambassador suggested that Graebner visit the nearby Greek Orthodox church: “It’s one of the things you can do in Kuibyshev.” The Intourist guide to whom Graebner applied for information about hours of services said she had not the faintest idea.

But she found out and took him to the church, talking about her atheism on the way. In the run-down structure Graebner saw that its worshipers were “mostly elderly women with pale, deeply lined faces partly covered with grey shawls. . . . Every few seconds they gave the sign of the cross or touched their foreheads to the floor. Most of them seemed much happier afterwards. . . .”

In Moscow Graebner found a cathedral, which holds about 3,000 “so tightly packed that we could hardly get inside the door, and more people were coming every minute.” Again the congregation had many past middle age, “but there were more young people, children and Red Army men than I expected to see.”

Other observations:

> The Government, although allowing some churches to be open, uses various means to discourage them: 1) imposes “exorbitant” taxes (Moscow’s St. Elias’ Church has to pay $19,000 annually, “just for the privilege of keeping its doors open,” in addition to other “regular” taxes); 2) forces priests to pay a 40% income tax; 3) sends agents to take down sermons verbatim; 4) forbids the training of priests so there will be no new clergy to replace those who die (“soon . . . there may be no priests to function even in the few churches that are still open”).

> Before the revolution Moscow had 454 Greek Orthodox churches; today 26.

> Since the revolution 1,500 Roman Catholic churches in Russia have been closed. Three are now open in Moscow. One of them, St. Louis de Francois, is pastored by 40-year-old, Massachusetts-born Leopold A. A. Braun. His congregation numbers between 25,000-30,000. Daily Mass draws almost 200; Sunday Mass about 600. Short, baldish Father Braun, who went to Russia in 1934, lives in the old French Embassy with his police dog, has had a hard time getting food and fuel, “but his sources of cigarettes were holding up fairly well, and occasionally someone gave him a bottle of rum. . . .”

Graebner’s verdict: “It may be that, as the Soviet Union grows older, it is taking a less stern attitude toward religion. This is certainly what the Government would like the world to think. Many, however, feel that the changed attitude is more a wartime expediency than the real thing. . . . Most foreign observers . . . believe that the Kremlin is basically just as anti-religious as it ever was. But no one knows for sure.”