Following the Pope’s disapproval of Russian Bolshevism, as expressed in his recent Allocution, Mr. Stephen Graham gives a detailed account of the organised persecution of Christianity in that unfortunate country (The Times, January 21). He speaks with commendable restraint, but his long experience in Russia and evident love of the people give to his words an authority that adds a further emphasis to the serious nature of the persecution to which Russian Christianity is now being subjected.

One of the foremost aims of the Russian Revolution is ‘the complete destruction of Christianity and its moral code/ To force this policy on the people the practical means is adopted of closing the churches and meeting any opposition on the part of the clergy with imprisonment, exile, or even death. No religious instruction may be given to the children either in school or in private. Rigorous penalties are enforced for the infringement of this law.’ The churches in many of the towns have been converted into music-halls and cinemas, and the Red Flag appears where the Cross has been. The altar vessels and ikons have been confiscated and are now being sold as religious curios in Paris and America/ Religious persecution on a drastic scale is at present the main programme of the Soviet regime.

Another feature of the campaign is the ban put on all who offer themselves as candidates for the priesthood, with the idea that if the seminaries are closed down the Church will automatically come to an end when the old priests die out or are removed from office.