• U.S.

Religion: Russia’s Church

2 minute read
TIME

In Manhattan. Lately, one John S. Kedrovsky, appointed by the Living Church (official national church of Soviet Russia), has sought to pose as Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America and the Aleutian Islands, a position long held by Archbishop Platon , Rojtesvensky. Kedrovsky sued the Archbishop, challenging his authority.

Last week, this suit was heard by Justice Ford of the Supreme Court of New York, and the opinion that Justice Ford handed down to John S. Kedrovsky and his Soviet sponsors was to this effect:

WHEREAS, the Soviet Government enjoins all prelates of the Living Church to embrace the purposes of Communism, and

WHEREAS, the purposes of Communism are known to be the overthrow of all other governments on earth by bloody revolution, and

WHEREAS, it is incumbent upon the judiciary as upon other branches of the, U. S. Government to repel all such purposes directed at the U. S.,

THEREFORE, not in defense of Archbishop Rojtesvensky, but in fealty to his oath as a member of the U. S. judiciary, he, Justice Ford, denied John S. Kedrovsky’s pretension as Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America and the Aleutian Islands, and moreover enjoined John S. Kedrovsky from further interference with the duties of the Archbishop.

In Moscow. Chairman Grigori Zinoviev of the Executive Committee of the Third Internationale made a Yuletide pronouncement in Moscow: “In a peasant country like ours, where the majority of the population is illiterate, and where the peasantry pays so high for articles of necessity, we cannot allow ourselves such a luxury as a vigorous and inflexible religious campaign. We shall pursue our attacks on Almighty God in due time and in an appropriate manner. We are confident we shall subdue Him in His empyrean. We shall fight Him wherever He hides Himself; but we must go about such a question as anti-religious propaganda more carefully in the future.

“I have been informed by old workmen that not only the young Communists, ists, but boy scouts are mocking people who are religious. I have also been told that groups of boy scouts have even imprisoned whole congregations in church while they were worshiping. This is a mistake. Our campaign against God and religion must be carried out only in a pedagogic way, not by violence or force.”

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