The Rebirth of Religion in Russia

View of the Holy of Holies of Russia, showing the high wall and lofty watch-towers which enclose it. Originally a fort, the Kremlin is now a museum, mausoleum, and treasure-house of things precious in Russian life and Russian religion. In no other equal area in the world ANNALS OF HISTORY is there crowded such an array of historic cathedrals THE REBIrtH OF RELIGION IN RUSSIA and monaster- ies, sacred relics, trophies of war, The Church Reorganized While Bolshevik Cannons sacerdotal robes, gold and silver Spread Destruction in the Nation’s vessels, precious Holy of Holies stones, pearls, and jewels to the value of millions of Y HOMAS HITTEMORE dollars, etc. B T W Note: The text, he Holy Kremlin of Moscow has During the bombardment a Chinese photographs, and Tbecome a Bolshevik fortress. From workman, looking on, was heard to captions of this ar- the 9th to the 16th of November, 1917, say, “The Russian is not good; bad ticle were originally published in National for more than seven days under a man; he shoots on his God.” Geographic 34:5 hurricane of fire, the city was stormed (November 1918): and finally carried by the Bolsheviks Outraged and despoiled, the Kremlin 378–401. in terrible fratricidal war. Since then is in bonds today, guarded by foreign the sacred citadel has been playing a mercenaries. The forty times forty new and ignominious role in the his- churches of the white stone city seem tory of Russia. to draw a little closer in answer to the trumpet calls of the Kremlin domes. From the time of the building of the The battered towers and shredded Church of the Beheading of St. John gates, from which red flags are defi- Baptist and of the little Church of our antly flung in the face of Russia, still Savior in the Forest, bespeaking the stand bravely to protect the sacred site. days when the acropolis was still a wooded hill, a multitude of churches Deputations from the Sobor, or Rus- and palaces, witnesses of Russia’s sian Council, now sitting in Moscow, glory, have written here a national have abjectly to ask the Bolshevik document in stone. The history of committees’ permission to hold ser- Russia is the history of the monu- vices in the churches of the Kremlin. ments of the Kremlin. If the Bolsheviks dared, they would 6 long since have declared the churches ing a curse, so it seems, as they enter of the Kremlin to be museums, and so upon all-hated Christian Russia. extinguished their light of faith. The farther one walks about and sees The representatives of the Church the outraged fabric on all sides, the have acted in fearless determination stronger becomes the feeling of grief. that the churches should continue to With indescribable emotion, one en- function, and have continued their ters the resounding stone inclosure sessions amid the violence and de- near the Cathedral of the Falling struction raging on all sides of them. Asleep of the Mother of God. Here Entrance to the once always open are still to be traced the stains of enor- Kremlin is not only by permit, mous pools of blood in which floated * through the Troitsa gate. All day long human fragments, tracked about by Many notes of per- * sonal experience and a moving line of people on various daring feet. all the photographs missions, showing their passports at of the Kremlin which the window of a little wooden kiosk, The Cathedral itself has been badly illustrate this article beg to be allowed to enter. treated. A shell struck its central dome were graciously and, bursting among the five domes given me in Moscow by my friend, Bishop A Scene of Sacrilege of smouldering gold, viciously smote Nestor, the distin- Within the Kremlin a second. The hole in the chief dome guished missionary between the ghostly frescoes of the bishop of Kam- Once within the walls of the Kremlin, saints measures 7 feet in length and chatka, who took one faces piles of ammunition, barbed nearly 6 feet in width. In the drum of them himself in the Kremlin by permis- wire, and ugly miscellaneous heaps the dome is an ominous crack. sion of the Bolshevik of rubbish. Austrian, German, and government. Lettish soliders, some frankly in their Devastation Inside the Cathedral enemy uniforms, are lounging about or standing guard. Army motor-lor- The damage has not even yet been ex- ries and cars carrying dark, sallow, amined in detail by architects, and it un -Russian-faced government offi- is not known, therefore, whether such cials tear up through the gates, shriek- wanton devastation can be repaired. Procession of the faithful in Moscow in the Red Square, showing the walls of the Kremlin and the Church of the Blessed Basil in the distance. The revolution has brought intellectual Russians a long way from the cold indif- ference, the empty churches, and the forgotten traditions of their faith. The Wheel 8 | Winter 2017 7 seems to float through space, are bent as by storm; the Altar and the Sanctu- ary are strewn with broken glass, brick, and dirt; the Shrine of the Holy Martyr, Patriarch Hermogen, is covered with fragments of stone and rubbish. This is the church built by Fioraventi of Bologna, in which the Tsars were crowned and in which the earlier Patriarchs were laid to rest. It is the precious reliquary of Russia’s rich in- heritance of the treasure of the ancient Eastern Church. The Marvelous Easter Service In the days before the suppression of the Patriarchate by Peter the Great, on Good Friday—or, as the Russians say, Great Friday—the Patriarch, in humble imitation of our Lord’s entry into Jeru- Exterior of the Uspen- The window glass is everywhere salem, rode on an ass from the Church ski Cathedral, showing smashed and shot through. Within of Blessed Basil, across the mosaic of the shell hole in the central dome. In this the Cathedral there are strewn about fluttering doves, through the Gate of church the Tsars were splinters of a 6-inch shell, which ex- the Savior, up to the Kremlin, but this crowned. ploded there, and fragments of white year the new Patriarch, Tikhon, was stone, brick, and rubble. The gold and forbidden entrance in the ancient way. silver candelabra, those constellations Indeed, it was late on Easter Eve before among which all within the church His Holiness knew with certainty that Interior of the Uspen- ski Sobor, or the Ca- thedral of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God, showing on the pavement the shattered fragment of the shell-struck dome. This great edifice, formerly the burial place of the Patriarchs, was built by Fioraventi, of Bologna, in 1475–79. Though repeatedly devastated by plun- derers or fire, it has always been restored in its original form. Among its many relics were “the shroud of Christ, the robe of the Virgin, and a nail of the true cross.” 8 he should be allowed to celebrate in his deacon, Rosov, the Chaliapine of the own Cathedral on the morrow. Russian Church.1 In spite of the desecration, amid the A Holy Monastery Outraged ikon-clouds of steadfast witnesses to the faith, the Patriarch officiated at It is all a vision of the forms and color Easter. of the Imperial Byzantine Court, in which the Church on earth pays her There, on Easter Eve, for two hours most splendid homage to Heaven. before midnight, one hears the Acts of the Holy Apostles read. Meanwhile A dreadful impression is produced by the lamps and candles, lighted one by the present appearance of the Chudov 1 one, swim like planets into our ken. Feodor Ivanovich Monastery, the “Wonder-Working Chaliapin or Chaliap- The church swings in the shadows Monastery.” The façade of the south ine was a turn-of-the- like a huge censer. side has been pierced by six heavy century Russian op- shells. In the rose-red walls are deep era singer, renowned Then the gates of the sanctuary open breaks and cracks and holes from 5 to 7 worldwide for his and, in the vestments of royal purple, deep bass voice. feet in diameter. – The Wheel Patriarch, bishops, and priests, with silver and crystal crosses, like a torrent, Two shells broke through the wall flood the church with song: “Christ is of the Metropolitan’s apartments, in risen!” they exclaim. “He is risen, in- which a member of the Council, Ben- deed!” the people make answer. jamin, Metropolitan of Petrograd, was staying. Inside the rooms there is com- The jeweled Gospels are thundered in plete destruction. Fragments of furni- different languages from the four cor- ture are mingled with heaps of stone ners of the church to all the earth. In and rubbish. the orchestra of voices the festival bell of the tower of John the Great com- In one room a shell pierced the im- panions the mighty voice of the arch- mense, thick wall near a window Shattered exterior of the Chudov Monas- tery, commemorating a miracle of the Arch- angel Michael. This is one of the most celebrated monas- teries in all Russia. It occupies the land which was given to the Metropolitan Alexis in 1358 by a grateful Tatar Khan. Inside there is complete destruction. Fragments of furniture are mingled everywhere with heaps of stone and rubbish. The Wheel 8 | Winter 2017 9 and destroyed it as far as an ikon of of the Sanctuary. The large, magnifi- the Mother of God which stood near, cent old Book of the Gospels, which but the ikon and the glass over it and was placed against the ruined wall, the lamp hanging before it were un- was thrown to the floor near the Altar.

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