OCR Text |
Show GREAT CHURCH TREASURE GONE Reds Gather $300,000,000 Loot in Monastery of St. Sergins SERGIYEVO. RUSSIA. Feb. 18. The $300,000,000 treasury of tho Ca- I thedral of tho Trinity n.onastery of St Serglus has disappeared. Red soldiers 'now use as a barracks the buildings of what once was regarded as the rich Mt land most famous convent of all the Russlaa, save possibly that at Kiev. There are but five monks left In the monastery. Fifteen others have re- Irnoved a mil and a half distant to the church of Oethsemane. at Chernlgo-vakaya Chernlgo-vakaya Mother of God), where they 1 have founded an humOle commune (and till the soil I 1 ho other monks who lived at this asi religious morca, to which yearly came 100 000 pilgrims, have been scattered. scat-tered. There are but few pilgrims now to pray before the ikon of St. Serglus. the miraculous powers of which was sup-posod sup-posod b Russians to have sa ed the monastery from destruction by the French array of invasion in 1S12. The very jewels of the open silver sarcophagus of St Serglus have been removed or replaced with false ones, lt I La claimed. Many of the vast treus- KB Ures of church vessels, mitres and cro- Blj aiars, made of solid gold and inlaid WuV with precious stones of Immense val- SSii ue, are missing. It is claimed that th" Stiff loot from the monaatery equalled in IW'I lvalue the treasures of gold and silver - W rj M land stones of St. Peter's in Rome. Mar i The monks remaining at the nionas- HtT ten, show the churches to the few vis- Sir jitore Tho monastwr Is rlassed as a (11 national soviet museum. No service Is ml-' ,held within the celebrated churches. 15! This city, which In pre-war days. Um permitted neither Jews nor soldiers to Tb camp or dwell here. Is now full of h both. Many of the big merchan' KM. stores were burned in July. 1920. as in wW other cities of Russia, as part of a BlM ; counter revolutionary movement t MJm (tlio OLim time, portions of the lofty Hrl pouter wall", built in the Middle- i I 'to dcfenl the nionaterj-, were d m - f aged. A oo m |