"Russia More Christian than ever ff Front a Staff Reporter " Russia is more Christian than ever."
The person who made this statement is not the Dean of Canterbury ; on the contrary, she is somebody who knows what she is talking about—a Thissia.n exile sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment for being an enemy of the State," but expelled because she was married to an alien.
" Can you seriously believe that God will permit Himself to be usurped by man? Is the Church of Christ only an edifice? Never before has Russia known such a fellowship between those who believe," she told me. This exile also gave a description of the Communist technique for the corruption of children: " At school, children are taught to disobey their parents. In many cases parents have been arrested because they have been denounced by their own children.
The young often leave the home, go and hide themselves somewhere, and live in Complete "To subject a priest to arrest it is only necessary to accuse him of having baptised a child against its parents' will. But this consent is useless unle. it is accompanied by a declaration from the business in which the parents are employed. Parents who ask for such a declaration automatically lose their jobs and all their means of subsistence.
Authorisation Needed for a Blessing
" For a nuptial blessing or a ceremonial burial an official authorisation is necessary. Our Bishop was arrested for blessing his own brother's corpse.
" Before my arrest there were in our town four churches, During religious ceremonies they were always chock-full. On Sunday mornings most of the inhabitants of the town came to receive Holy Communion.
" The fruit of persecution is a deepenirig of religious life. Numbers of young priests joyously accept persecution and exile.
"The ecclesiastics as well as the laity try as much as possible to save ikons, Communists light their fires with them when they get hold of them. Most people keep them hidden and only bring them out for prayers." The Russian woman ended movingly: "Although I myself nowadays lead a peaceable and agreeable life I feel myself drawn always towards the martyrs of Russia, and when I think of them I am ashamed to be so comfortable."