y R.
Courtier Foster, a British Chaplain at Odessa and Russian ports of
the Black Sea, describing the religious persecution practised by
the Bolsheviki following upon their former capture of Odessa. He
says:

"'Committees were held on board the ships of the Black Sea Fleet,
among the dockers in the port, in the towns and villages on every
hand, which passed resolutions reading:

"'"We abolish God." In Odessa Cathedral, when the Archbishop of
Kherson was celebrating the Holy Mysteries, an uproar occurred with
cries of "Down with the priests!" "Down with the Church!" At a fete
in the town gardens one saw a soldier of the Red Army, amid the
guffaws of his fellows, spit on the Russian holy picture of the
face of Christ, then tear it into fragments and stamp it into the
dust.

"'The Bolshevist conception of religious toleration is considerably
more elastic and far-reaching than the ideas of any mediaeval
inquisition. In this matter the Bolsheviki pride themselves on
being far in advance of our effete western thought. They have
murdered Vladimir, the Metropolitan of Kiev, twenty bishops, and
many hundreds of priests. Before killing them they cut off the
limbs of their victims, some of whom they buried alive in the
Kremlin. The Cathedrals in Moscow and those in the towns of
Yaroslav and Simferopol have been sacked. Many nuns were violated
and churches defiled.

"'The ancient and historical sacristies and famous libraries of
Moscow and Petrograd were pillaged and countless sanctuaries
profaned. In Cronstadt Cathedral the great figure of the Crucified
Christ was torn down and removed, and a monstrous and appalling
pagan form placed in its stead, symbolizing "Freedom of Mind."

"'It is not against any one particular form of religion that the
terrors of the new Freedom are hurled. Orthodox, Roman Catholics
and Lutherans alike have been tortured, mutilated, and done to
death under the aegis of the Holy Revolution which appeals to the
proletariat of the whole world to join its forces.

"'The Revolutionary Government is subjecting the Christian religion
to persecutions as great and brutal as anything the world saw
during the first three centuries of the Christian era. Moral
disintegration and ruin spread their tentacles on every side. Any