THE visit of the Orthodox Patriarchs to England has naturally increased interest in the troubles of the Church in Russia. The Russian correspondent of the Times reports that the so-called Holy Synod has summoned an all-Russian Convocation to meet on October 18. This Synod consists almost entirely of nominees of the atheist Bolshevists, and two years ago it recommended the unfrocking of the sainted Patriarch Tikhon. No priest is to be allowed to attend the forthcoming Convocation who has been tried in the lay courts, which means that no priest, faithful to his vows, and who has therefore earned the hatred of the Jewish tyrants in Moscow, may take part in the deliberations of this pseudo-Christian assembly. The business of the Convocation is to create a governing body of the Church in Russia. The office of the Patriarch is apparently to be abolished, and supreme power is to be given to a Bolshevist Synod. This is a matter of international interest. The avowed ambition of the Soviet Government is the destruction of the Church in Russia, and its new Synod is created with the object first of completing the work of destruction, and secondly in order that Bolshevist delegates may attend the world council of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which may meet some time next year.
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