Awake!, April 8, 1948
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Modern Crimes of Greek Orthodox Church
Greece now the cradle of fiendish religious persecution
Death in the Arena
Cruelties of bullfighting vividly portrayed
Business Junks Integrity
The lowdown on die slowdown in home construction
Moonlight Dance of the Grunions
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CONTENTS
Modern Crimes of Greek Orthodox Church
Murdering Modern Martyrs
Charges of Judaism and Communism Who Is Responsible?
Greek Orthodoxy’s Long Career in Crime Freedom of Press and Worship Killed Early Orthodox Inquisition
Death in the Arena
The Picador and His Horse
The Banderiilero Takes Up the Fight
The Execution by the Matador
Public Enemy Ko* 1
Business Junks Integrity
Prohteers from Buiidijig Paralysis Building Code Racket
“Thy Word Is Truth”
The Well-founded City Science and Invention Moonlight Dance of the G run ions Do You Mean What You Say? Monster “Lifter-Uppers’-The Vatican and French Racism Anti-Semitism Rekindled in France Watching the World
24 2£
C^Now it is high time to awake.— Romans 13:119j
Volume XXIX
Brooklyn, N.Y*, April 8, 1948
Number 7
Modern Crimes of Greek Orthodox Church
FIENDISH persecution of Christians is now raging in Greece. Christian men and women and their children are being beaten, robbed, tortured and murdered. Not since the persecution days of early Christianity has there been such violence in Greece, but this time the persecution is not coming from the hands of devil-worshiping pagans or atheistic communists. Instead, it is prosecuted by the hierarchy of the Orthodox church. Priests are causing the police to break in and destroy the homes of innocent Christians known as Jehovah’s witnesses. Priests are having the occupants arrested, are giving them a mock trial, and then sentencing them to months and years at hard labor. Priests are personally leading mobs that beat and torture helpless women and children, mobs that break the bone£ and bodies of women, mobs that shoot down unarmed men without mercy!
How can this be? At a distance the Greek Orthodox church appears to have a glistening front of whiteness and purity. But look behind her! Look at her horrible trail of crime and violence that extends all the way back to her beginning. At her hands excommunications, anathemas and banishments have been handed out to all who opposed her. "Heretics” she has called them. Censorship, intolerance and persecution have been her handy tools of oppression. Beneath her totalitarian and dictatorial weight she has trampled under foot all minority groups, as well as all freedoms of speech, press and worship. Like a ravaging wolf she has flayed the flesh, robbed, kidnaped and murdered the innocent. For more details on Orthodoxy’s past record, which includes practically every vile deed on the criminal calendar, read the following article in this issue of Awake! Such historical record shows she has acted like a wild beast, like a leopard, and her present conduct proves that, as a leopard, she has not changed her spots.—Jeremiah 13: 23.
Beyond reform, this Orthodox gang of hardened criminals have not repented of their past deeds. And now in modern times they commit more crimes, and carry on a campaign of hate and persecution with very little official protest or opposition. Shortly before the recent war the zeal of Jehovah’s witnesses in teaching the Greek people the Bible came to the notice of the Orthodox church and immediately she brought into play her ancient weapons of intolerance. In 1939 she moved in and closed the Branch office of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, imprisoned its personnel and prepared to exile them to some barren island in the Aegean sea. Only at the last minute was her plan canceled, and the release of the representatives of the Bible society secured. Then came the war, and the Orthodox church was busy wooing and collaborating with her new Nazilover.
The world in general was deluded into thinking that with the end of the war freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of worship would be exalted in every government, and would never again be trampled under foot, especially in countries like Greece, which boasted of being democratic. Greece, however, was one of the first places where this hope was dashed to the ground, for there, in the spring of 1946, the Orthodox church rekindled its old fires of hate against Jehovah God’s Christian witnesses. Since then thousands of these witnesses have been brutally treated and hundreds of them have been imprisoned and unmercifully beaten,- simply because they were found studying the Bible together in private homes.
Bible Study a Crime
On many occasions sincere students of the Bible are treated like hardened criminals. For example, on May 3, 1947, at the home of Vasilios Avgerinos, some 35 or 40 of Jehovah’s witnesses had finished their weekly Bible-study class and were returning to their several homes. Mr. Avgerinos, being ill, soon retired for the evening. Shortly the police came to his home, seized him and his son, and took them to the police station. There they saw three more of the Witnesses who had been arrested as they left the Bible meeting. These five were then charged with “heresy” and ‘’‘proselyting”, which are called crimes in that “democratic” land. During the long night that followed sixteen clergy-worshiping policemen beat and pounded the harmless prisoners with clubs until they were blaclr-and-biue. The following day they were to appear in court, as the law requires, but they were held in prison to allow their maimed bodies to heal somewhat. Three days later when brought to court and released their faces were still black and their eyes swollen, and on their backs they still bore the evidence of the ugly gashes they had received.
When it is said that these honest, up-rignt ana clean cnristians are treated worse than degenerate prostitutes it is because of cases like that of Mrs. Kyria-koula Mikromastora, who lives in Piraeus, Greece. While calling on her neighbors in her ministerial capacity as a follower of Christ Jesus she was insulted, slapped and finally taken to the local prison by the priest of the town. In court the following day, this priest declared: “It would be better for you to be a prostitute than one of Jehovah’s witnesses doing that work.” The judge agreed with the priest and sentenced the poor woman to pay a fine and serve four months in prison! Everyone will agree that in a strife-torn country like Greece, rent from end to end by atheistic philosophies, there surely is a need for individuals like Mrs. Mikromastora to increase the waning faith of the people in the precious promises of God’s Word. Yet the clergy charge such bearers of good news as being worse than sin-laden harlots and the so-called court “justices” treat them as if they were worse than wanton prostitutes.
The Crimes of Crete
Wherever the Greek Orthodox church rules there is a reign of terror. On the island of Crete conditions are as terrible as on the mainland. In the district of Sctoia the police of three towns have conspired with rightist guerrilla forces, and, together with the priests, have tortured all of Jehovah’s witnesses in that district. On one occasion eleven of*these faithful Christians were mauled, beaten and stamped upon for many hours. Clubs were broken over them in an attempt to have them make the sign of the cross and return to Orthodoxy. One was threatened with a large, sharp knife at his throat to renounce Jehovah God, and this after he had had three of his rihs broken. Three others were bedfast for sixteen days.
Then as a climax to this inquisitional outrage the police and the priest said that the children of Jehovah's witnesses in Seteia would have to be baptized into the Greek church. If the parents refused to bring the children that evening for the ordeal, they were told, they would be shot. The parents held fast to their integrity; so the police gathered up eleven of the children, ages two to ten, and took them to. church, where the priests performed their .dirty work. Afterwards, the police tried to justify their action by saying that they were under orders from the priests.
Similarly, at the towns of Stavromeno and Apidia the priest-directed reign of terror rides up and down the countryside. The village priest of Stavromeno, one Emanuel Kontoyiakis, held a banquet for the police and rightist guerrillas, at which time he inflamed them by saying that Jehovah’s witnesses were “depriving him of his bread” by their Bible ministry among the people. Thereupon the drunken mob (the priest saw to it that they had plenty to drink) fell upon Jehovah’s witnesses and gave them a severe beating, to the point where they were forcibly made to sign two “confessions” to the effect that they would revoke their beliefs. They were then told that the police would keep a record of their attendance at church from then on.
In the other town, Apidia, Jehovah’s witnesses were gathered together into the center of town, where both men and women were given a terrible beating with clubs. Their Bibles and Bible literature were gathered together and burned in the square, and as a warning they were told that if they failed to attend the Orthodox church in the future they would be executed. During this whole outrage the village priest, John Markis, was present to encourage the persecutors in their wickedness.
Murdering Modern Martyrs
N^ar the ancient city of Sparta the flamts of this modern Inquisition have roared through several towns, taking with them the lives of faithful Christians, In the town of Vrontama a body of gendarmes under the -comniand of Captain Skarantavos found Mr. Panagiotis Tsembelis dhd a neighbor lady studying the Bible. After first beating the two unmercifully they dragged them outside, where they prepared to hang the woman. Only the protests of the villagers, who acclaimed her high Christian ideals, saved the life of this woman, but the man was less fortunate. After torturing him in a most fiendish manner, in an effort to force him to kiss their idols and make the sign of the cross, they dragged him a mile opt of town and began their torture of him all over again. Finally, they shot him in cold blood with the feeling that they had triumphed over this noble soul. There in the spreading pool of his own blood they left him. Murdered because he would not embrace the unholy Greek Orthodox church! Executed because he was caught studying the Bible with his neighbor I
Gloating in their supposed “victory” the gendarme gangsters returned to town and proceeded to maltreat all of the Witnesses they could round up. One woman’s arm they broke in their rage, and the homes they invaded were ransacked and robbed of all money and goods.
The following week these mobsters went to a near-by town named Gortsia, where they divided their forces into two groups and began a systematic search for all of Jehovah’s witnesses. Bi'eaking into the home of Mrs. Athina Kyria-koulia, age 45, four of the bullies stripped her naked, beat her, and then hung her upside down. In this position they poured cold water over her at the same time they were whipping her. Tiring of their “fun” the sadists finally dragged this unfortunate woman, in her semiunconscious condition, over to a cellar of one of the villagers. Here, in this improvised Dark Age dungeon, a total of nine women and two men were further subjected to the inhuman tortures of this modern Inquisition. Everything was complete, including the satanic presence of the village priest I
Starting back to their permanent station the gendarmes took with them the eleven captive witnesses of Jehovah. On the road, Captain Skarantavos ordered that one of the Witnesses, George Kon-stantakis, who by this time was more nearly dead than alive, be shot on the spot Two rifles cracked out in response to the order and the end of life came to another Christian martyr, another victim of the modern Greek Orthodox Church Inquisition!
Sometimes strange things happen during gruesome ordeals like this; After the bloody business was finished one of the women was given the opportunity to explain who Jehovah’s witnesses really are. Upon hearing this and realizing his guilt for the two murders, the one in charge of the gendarmes, while hanging his head, spoke as a certain Pontius Pilate and said: "I am not to blame. You have many enemies in the town of Gort-sia, especially the priest who induced me to act against you" He then went on to say that the priest makes the decisions and he only carries them out. Of a truth, this persecution in Greece is cut according to the same pattern as the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, for in both instances religion used the secular arm of the state to extort confessions, enforce baptisms and inflict torture and murder upon all who maintained their faith and integrity to Jehovah God. By such tactics religion thinks that it keeps her hands clean of any blood-guilt. Maybe her hands seem clean, but not her filthy, blood-bespattered skirts and petticoats that have dragged through the muddy mire of persecution down through the centuries. Concerning such, Jehovah in His judgment wrath declares: “In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.”
-Jeremiah 2:34.
There are hundreds of other cases of similar abuses and murderous beatings and tortures that could be related, for in the past two years the incomplete reports show that 1,154 of Jehovah’s witnesses have been arrested, and hundreds of them have been convicted on the false charges of “proselyting” and “heresy”. These figures do not include the unnumbered multitudes that have been victimized by both mobs and police and then turned loose with no charges leveled against them.
Charges of Judaism and Communism
In her campaign of hate against God’s faithful witnesses the Greek Orthodox church seeks public support by falsely charging that these witnesses are spreading Jewish and Communist propaganda. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as every informed person knows. The leaders of both Judaism and Communism hate Jehovah God as much as the Orthodox leaders. Hence when pamphlets were circulated last summer that openly charged Jehovah’s witnesses with spreadingthepropaganda of these political organizations a howl of protest went up from them. On July 18,1947, the Jewish newspaper, Hebrew Estia, reported that the Jewish leaders had filed a formal protest against this false charge with Archbishop Damaskinos.
Likewise the Communists object to having their “ism” associated with the proclamation by Jehovah’s witnesses that the kingdom of God and His Christ is the only hope for the world. Hence the Communist press in Athens often blasts out against these witnesses. For example, the Free Greece, June 19, 1947, tried to embitter the people by saying that Jehovah’s witnesses are being used by the American government to further its imperial policies in Greece. Later, another newspaper of the extreme right, The. Acropolis, July 24, 1947, stated: “The curious thing about Jehovah’s witnesses is that the Nationalists consider them
‘Communists’ and the Communists consider them as ‘Black Opposers’. But the fact is they are a people who do not take part in polities, but are exclusively devoted to the study of the Bible.” And it is this devotion to a study of the Bible, and then a keeping of the righteous commandments therein contained, and also the helping of others to likewise learn how to worship God in spirit and in truth, that has brought the fire of persecution upon them from the hands of the Orthodox priests of Baal.
Who Is Responsible?
Though the local priest of the Orthodox church figures prominently in all these crimes, if should not be overlooked that they are acting on the orders of their superiors. The prime movers in this Inquisition are the official governing body of the Greek Orthodox Church, as evidenced by their official instructions. One of these encyclicals that was issued last summer from the office of the archbishop of Athens, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, said that every church in Greece would be taxed 50,000 drachmas, which amount would be used in the persecution campaign of Jehovah’s witnesses. Continuing, the encyclical said: “On this occasion we do not omit to stress the sacred obligation and the imperative duty of the priesrs to systematically follow up the Millennialists [a name improperly applied to Jehovah’s witnesses].”
In Greece the Orthodox hierarchy control practically every department of the government. The bond between church and state is stronger there than in Italy or Spain. The clergy have police power of arrest. The word of the priest is often law. The Constitution, Article I, says that “the prevailing religion in Greece is the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ”. Therefore, al] decisions by the civil courts, and all orders of government not only are favorable to the Church, but in many instances are dictated and sent forth by the clergy themselves. A report in the Athens newspaper, The News, gives a sample of how this civil-church partnership is pushing with all its might the modern Inquisition in Greece. In its issue of November 2, 1947, The News says:
We are informed that a large committee has been made up from the representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Education and Religion and the Archbishop; which committee will examine in detail the matter of foreign religions and their propaganda in our land, their relations with the Greek Church and the steps to be undertaken in the case of excesses [ transgressions] by the Millennialists [Jehovah’s witnesses] or other heresies.
Crime, crime, and more crime! All old-fashioned freedoms have been killed. Freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of worship are dead. In their place stands an astonishing and altogether different freedom, viz., freedom for criminals! Freedom for the mobsters, thieves and murderers, but not for the righteous, just and true. Freedom for crooked gangsters, but not for gentle Christians! This is “orthodox” freedom, freedom to persecute Christians. And it is the kind of freedom that is being sponsored by the Truman doctrine.
A billion dollars worth of UNRRA aid has been poured into Greece; fifty shiploads of military, supplies worth more than $100,000,000 have been sent by the United States; and British and American personnel are now training and instructing the armies of Greece. All of which will further strengthen the wicked persecuting hand of that church-state rule. What a sad outlook, were it not for the knowledge that shortly this bad criminal account will be fully settled, when the Greek Orthodox Church pays for all her crimes at the battle of Armageddon, “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”—Revelation 16:14,16.
Greek Orthodoxy’s Long Career in Crime
H ARDENED criminals are hated by persons who love righteousness. Especially is this true when such criminals put on a pious, religious mask and hide behind an outward robe of sanctimoniousness. It is therefore shocking to lovers of truth and justice to see such type of criminals fully organized and operating today with perfect immunity. How can that totalitarian and dictatorial organization known as the Greek Orthodox Church, that ancient and fraudulent institution of pious hypocrites,. that institution whose criminal record is one of the blackest in history, continue to deceive the simple and at the same time spill innocent blood? Can it be that these crooks completely cover their tracks? Or is it that this present generation is totally blind? In either event, for the benefit of the hottest and innocent, it is well to briefly sketch the long criminal career of these hierarchical pharisees that operate under the worshipful title of “The Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church”.
After the pagan politician Constantine, A.D. 325, mixed the demonic pellets of paganism with the slime of apostate Christianity the religious pudding of the Roman Empire began to swell from the fermenting gases of internal rivalry and jealousy between both the bishops and the patriarchs. Mosheim, the eminent historian, says that the rivalry and ambition of the patriarchs t h e m-selves “gave birth to abominable crimes and the most destructive wars”.
During the fourth and fifth centuries the patriarchs of Orthodoxy conspired with the civil rulers in order to increase their own power and at the same time supipress those like Arius and Nestorius that opposed them. Arius of Alexandria, as a victim of religious intolerance, was finally poisoned to death. Nestorius, the presbyter of Antioch, without being given a hearing was deposed from his office and was banished to Arabia Petraea, and finally died in Egypt. Thereafter the followers of these men were pursued and persecuted with vindictive hatred by the “holy” Orthodox church.
The golden opportunity for the Orthodox patriarch came in the latter part of the fifth century when Romulus Augus-tulus resigned as the imperial ruler and the seat of the empire was moved to Constantinople. This added great precedence to the see of that city and the Orthodox hierarchy made the most of it. Justinian became emperor in the year 527 and the illicit union between Orthodoxy and the Roman state reached the zenith of its power. No emperor so completely assumed the position of a temporal pope as did Justinian, while at the same time the title of Ecumenical Bishop, that is, ‘he who rules the whole world,’ was bestowed upon the patriarch of Constantinople. Boasting over this wicked union of church and state, as an underworld gangster does when beholding his domain, Justinian declared:
Among the greatest gifts of God bestowed by the kindness of heaven are the priesthood and the imperial dignity. Of these, the former serves things divine; the latter rules human affairs and cares for them. Both are derived from the one and the same source, and order human life. And, therefore, nothing is so much a care to the Emperors as the dignity of the priesthood; so that they may always pray to
God for them.—Justinian’s Novel 6, March 16, 535.
Blessed abomination.! To insure that such wicked religio-political dictatorship might continue to ride securely in the saddle, magistrates were compelled when taking office, and soldiers also when enlisting, not only to swear allegiance but also to take an oath before three witnesses that they were Orthodox Catholics. All gang-rulers since then have adopted a similar procedure for their protection.
Murder? They thought nothing of it If someone stood in the way of their ambitions he was removed. How mattered not. And so it was in the carrying out of the Orthodox scheme of uniting the East and the West. Theodora, the wife of Justinian, had Pope Silverius (A.D. 536-38) disposed of by death in order that Vigilius, an ally of Orthodoxy, might be set upon the papal throne of Rome.
Freedom of Press and Worship Killed
When civil powers have illicit relationship with ecclesiastical authorities it is ' not long before a hideous brood of censorship, intolerance and persecution is brought forth. The case in hand was no exception. When the man Nestorius fell under condemnation the Orthodox church had his writings put under ban. Later the writings of his teacher Theodore were anathematized, and woe to the person who, believing in freedom of the press, was caught reading such “indecent” lit-erature1
“Heretics!” That is what Orthodoxy loves to label all who hold opinions different from her own. But she does not stop at calling names. Violent persecution is launched against all opposed to her tyrannical rule. As mentioned, the followers of Arius and Nestorius oanic under fire. Likewise believers of Eu-tyehes received similar treatment. The Monophysites, or Jacobites as they were called in later years, were the objects of terrible persecution. The Maronites of
Lebanon were another sect, concerning whom H, L. Hastings says that when persecuted “they retired to the fastnesses of Lebanon, where they bade defiance to their foes, and have continued to this day a brave, industrious and devout people”.-Introduction to Murdock’s Syriac New Testament, page vii.
Freedom of worship was trampled under foot and with it all minority groups that did not bow down to the idolized state religion. Samaritans were thrown out of their synagogues. Jews were forbidden to hold any professional jobs or to be heard in court. Gnostics were forbidden to meet together; their churches were closed; and they were allowed three months in which to join up with the “beloved mother church”. When a disputation over certain beliefs about the “trinity” arose Justinian had an edict issued on March 15, 533, condemning anyone that disagreed with the Orthodox teaching. Ten years later when another discussion came up over the teachings of Origen a set of anathemas were issued against such. Then when the authority of the church-state combine was extended out to include North Africa the Vandals of that area, who were Arians, came in for their share of religious persecution at the blood-stained hand of Orthodoxy. The goods of the Vandals were confiscated for the church; they were forbidden to baptize their children; they 'were deprived of all public exercise of their form of worship; and they were disqualified for all civil offices.
During that black period of civilization the state church pursued every avenue of social activity with the zeal that is so characteristic of totalitarian regimes. Educational opportunities were denied to everyone that would not join the Orthodox church. Think of it, to be a citizen and to enjoy the rights and privileges of citizenship a person had to be baptized into the Orthodox religion! And don’t think that baptism in that sixth century was a voluntary matter. One of
the favorite tricks oi uiose conscienceless priests of Baal was to round up nonconformists and forcibly baptise them and their families at the point of the civil sword. History records that on one such occasion, after a community of the Montanist sect in Phrygia had been baptized against their will, many of them went out and killed themselves. Such crimes have upon them the indelible. fingerprints of Orthodoxy,
Following along this trail of blood one comes upon the scene of another crime that is far more horrible than any so far related. The Manichseans were another group that were the victims of much persecution, In fact, they were considered as outlaws and if caught they were subject to the penalty of death, B, J. Kidd, of Oxford's Keble College, in telling of the persecution of the Manichscans says: “On one occasion at Constantinople several of that persuasion were placed aboard old hulks and, when these had been towed out to sea, were burnt alive,” (The Churches of Eastern Christendom, 1927, page 56) Only the Devil could inspire those that serve him to commit such a fiendish crime as that!
Early Orthodox Inquisition
At the same time the Orthodox dicta torship carried on its open persecution of other sects it set up a secret internal spy system. A,D. 546 Justinian armed a certain John of Ephesus with authority to carry out this Inquisition among those in the government who were suspected of believing something besides Orthodoxy, Among those found ^guilty” were many high-ranking patricians as well as scholastics, physicians, sophists and grammarians. The prefect of Constantinople, Phocas by name, being among the victims and having no way of escape, poisoned himself. Others more fortunate (or were they?) were condemned to Assemble in a church, there to listen to the noble John of Ephesus bray*
No, this information is not found in the standard works, for the Orthodox nierarcny aia; a goon ]od or covering their criminal tracks. But about the middle of the last century a very ancient Syriac manuscript was found, called The Third Part of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus, that contained a few vivid details of that ancient inquisition as it progressed from and after 571, Even John himself, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, fell victim and suffered "'imprisonment, banishment, and all sorts of vexations at the hands of the orthodox patriarchs”. The following is from an English translation of his Ecclesiastical History made by R, Payne Smith in 1860, pages 6 to 8.
The patriarch’s chief attack, however, was directed against moiiasteries, of which there existed many both in Constantinople itself, and its neighborhood, and of these several had a very large number of inmates, especially the convents, in which the late queen Theodora [wife of Justinian] had placed the nuns who in a previous persecution had been driven out of Antioch, Isauria, Cilicia* Cappadocia, and the Roman provinces in the east. So powerful, in fact, were some of those establishments that they numbered more than three hundred members* Upon these then also descended the storm and tempest of persecution, and a murky cloud and terrifying darkness covered them; for there came clergy and laics with the prison-keepers* and sergeants, and along with them the body-guard of the prefect of the city; who being let loose upon them with barbarous violence surrounded the convents, and like a troop of wolves breaking into and falling upon a fold of sheep, so they rushed in, and Mid their destructive hands upon the in-mates, who were Christ's own lambs; and the clergy, who had brought with them consecrated bread, dragged and pulled them by main force to make them receive the communion at their hands*
And what was the result of this vicious ^conversion” at the very hand of the clergy? The account continues.
Some of them then they thus reduced to obedience; but others who still resisted, and would not yield, they separated nom the resu, and expelled them from their convents, and delivered them into the hands of the Roman sergeants, by whom they were hurriedly torn away, and taken to the city, and dispersed there among various houses and prisons; and, as was said, they there met at the hands of some with treatment too wanton and abominable ^or us to mention. But there is One, Who seeth their cause and avengeth their quarrel. And thus then, and in this savage and barbarous manner, were the convents treated.
Indeed a Long Career in Crime
These Orthodox criminals, being too hard to reform, continued their career right on down from that “golden age” of Orthodoxy in the sixth century to the present time. True, they suffered setbacks from time to time when their civil “swords of the church” were broken by invading hordes of Kurds and Ottomans. But somehow they have always managed to forge new ones with which to defend and prosecute their racket. An instance of this was in 1850 when France on behalf of the Vatican made certain demands that Turkey turn over the protectorate or guardianship of certain “holy places” to Boinan Catholicism instead of giving it to the Greek Orthodox church. Immediately the Orthodox clergy got the czar of Russia to intercede in their behalf. England too, as is well known, has safeguarded and protected the interests of the Orthodox criminals and permitted them to oppress the populace as they please.
The clergy of Greece have always backed the dictatorial ruling power, or royalist power in the country, ever since the days of Justinian, regardless of who they are. It is an accepted fact that during the occupation -of Greece by the Germans and Italians during the recent war most of the metropolitans collaborated wim the conquerors. The Athens metropolitan, Damaskinos, in his letter of June 10, 1941, felicitated the quislings who had co-operated with the enemy, since it was by their support that he assumed his office. Metropolitan James of Mytilene, a partisan of the Nazis, not only advised his flock to work with the Nazis, but also went so far as to exhort them to assassinate fellow citizens who resisted the invaders. This was too much, and the public prosecutor was obliged to intervene. Other notorious metropolitans, including Spiridion of Zante, Amu-rassios of Fthiotis, lerotheos of Akarna-nia, and Yennadios of Salonica, joined up and worked with the invading gangsters.—See the newspapers: Embros, April 20, 1947; Eleftheri Lesvos, January 15, 1947; Ethnikos Kirix, February 25, 1947, and April 21, 1946; also document of M. Tsimbris, governor-general, dated December 12, 1943.
Nor did this terrible record of crime come to an end when the Axis hordes were driven back to whence they came. One would have thought that the conquering Allied forces, that boasted how they would execute justice and take vengeance on humanity’s criminals, would bring to an end this long career of Orthodox crime. But, as the preceding article in this issue has pointed out, the Allied forces condone these criminals and encourage them indirectly by material aid and support. The powers of this wicked world wink at this long career of crime. But praise be to God, there is One in the heavens who sees all, knows all and remembers all of this blood-soaked history! Let all lovers of righteousness and justice rejoice in the knowledge that Jehovah of hosts will not sleep until He has avenged the blood of His saints and forever put an end to all criminal careers.
'•(I 0**
The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, . . . but ye are departed out of the . . . ye have corrupted the covenant . ... Therefore have 1 also made you contemptible and base before all the people,—Malachi 2:7-9.
nouneeinent on August 29, 1947, brought mourning and sorrow to an unnumbered multitude of Spanish-speaking peoples. Since that time many masses have been said for the rest of a supposed soul of “the best”, one Manuel Rodriguez Manolete. Perhaps only the death of President Roosevelt in recent years has caused such grief to so many persons. However, to the millions of North Americans the death of Manolete meant little or nothing, for, had they eypr heard of this personage,* they had soon forgotten him. But to the Spanish peoples he was perhaps as popular or well known as is Joe Louis or Babe Ruth to the American public.
Manuel Rodriguez Manolete was a bullfighter considered by some the greatest of all time and by others the best in the modern epoch of bullfighting. Evidently the virgin to whom he probably prayed for protection and guidance was not on the job that August day when Manolete was gored to death by the needle-sharp horns of a Muira bull, as vicious as an enraged lion and every whit as dangerous. If Manolete had a special virgin saint to which to pray, as most bullfighters have, she forsook him or had little influence over the bull. Or, if his favorite saint was not around, where was the virgin of Soledad, the patron saint of all bullfighters, whose picture or image hangs in the large Madrid bull arena and in many others? All such prayers for aid in killing and fighting the bull, of course, are of no avail, because these many saints are nonexistent.
The hull ring or arena is called the "plaza de toros”, and hundreds of these exist in Spain, plus many others in Latin-American countries, including Mexico,. Peru, Panama, Venezuela and Colombia. Each of these arenas has a special chapel where the bullfighters can address their prayers to their beloved saints before each encounter with the wild beasts- Or, if dying from being gored, here they are administered the last rites. However, bullfighting is illegal or unpopular in most of the Latin-Anier-ican countries as well as in other parts of the world.
We will say at the outset that bullfighting is certainly not a Christian sport, which a brief history of its pagan origin and a description of a bullfight will clearly show. In fact, it is really not a sport at all. By some bullfighting enthusiasts it is termed a drama, but in reality it is nothing but a tragedy of blood, since in each affair six bulls die and usually two or three horses are badly gored and killed. The bullfighters themselves, if not killed, are often severely injured by the bulks horns. Living matadors are usually covered with scare from feet to neck, where they have been caught by the horns sometime during their careers.
When did bullfighting begin? Its history is almost as old as that of the Catholic Church. Some say the ancient Greeks carried on a form of bullfighting; also that bulls were fought by the early pagan Romans. But it is quite probable that it began with the Moors of North Africa and was introduced by them to Andalucia, Southern Spain, about A.D. 800. When the Moors were finally driven from Spain the Spaniards had adopted bullfighting, and the Encyclopedia Britannica tells us that the time when the first Spaniard killed a bull in the ring was A.D. 1040. Bullfighting has undergone many changes from that time until today. Now we have a somewhat revised form of this tragedy.
In Bogota, Colombia, for instance, it is a common occurrence to see posters with these words: Toros - Domingo -Seis Toros a la Mtjerte - Plaza de Toros (Bullfight - Sunday - Six Bulls to the Death - in the Bull Ring).
At the Bullfight
That we may get an on-the-scene account we have tickets and soon after find ourselves in the circular arena, which is packed out In front of the first row of seats is a passageway about five feet wide all around the arena. This is for the use and protection of the bullfighters' assistants. At one side we notice the chutes where the bulls are kept, and at the other side is located a hospital for the wounded. We cannot help but note also the chapel. We have taken in our surroundings none too soon, for now it is starting time* There appears the president who is to take charge of the afternoon's performance. A bugle sounds and the fight is out First comes the parade of the bullfighters, of whom there are three classes, all of whom engage in the same fight. First come the three matadors, the main fighters, those who actually kill the bulls. They are arrayed in gaudy gold-and-silver-embroidered tight-fitting costumes. Each one is followed by his assistants, two or three banderilleros and two picadors on horseback* Soon afterward the president gives a key to a bull ring attendant, who unlocks the chute where the bull is' kept, and the bull charges .into the ring as an exciting start of the bullfight tragedy. What is that small peg in the back of the bull, about four inches long, with short pieces of colored cloth? A neighbor informs us that this denotes the rancher that bred the bull.
As we see the belligerent and ferocious animal rushing into the ring we are glad that we are in our seats and not in the arena. We have learned that such bulla used for fighting are not just ordinary ones but are of a special breed and are bred only for fighting purposes. There is as much difference between the looks and actions of these bulls and of a domestic bull as there is between a shepherd dog and an African lion. This particular bull this afternoon is coal-black, with his glossy coat shining in the sun; he has a huge lump of muscle on his neck, giving him somewhat of a buffalo appearance.
As this big, vicious bull rushes into the ring his every attempt seems to be to sweep the ring clear of everything movable. Suddenly from the side of the arena one of the banderilleros runs toward the bull and cuts across its path, dragging in his hand a large crimson-colored cape, crimson on one side and seemingly yellow on the other* This cape is almost as large as a bedspread. The bull, of course, charges at the cape, hooking at the dragging end with his eighteen-inch dagger-sharp horns. From observing these actions the matador will know how to fight the bull and what must be done to regulate bad hooking. Also the running of the bull by the banderillero is to bring the bull to the section of the arena for the next act. We are reminded that from the time the bull left his pen to enter the ring, the matador has only fifteen minutes to prepare anti kill the animal. Therefore, after the brief testing of the bull, every action on the part of the fighters must be toward the preparing of the bull for the slaughter, called the "moment of truth”.
The Matador Performs
In the next act of the fight the matador faces the bull with a loose flowing cape, and as the bull charges he skillfully passes the animal five times in the same manner. These passes are called “veronicas”, in honor of the Catholic “saint” Veronica, who supposedly wiped Jesus’ face on His way to Golgotha. Now the bull is passed once more with a halfveronica in which the bull is turned sharply in its charge, and before the bull can collect himself the matador calmly walks away, ending, this part of the drama. There are other types of passes Used in place of or along with the veronicas, many of which are also called after religious “saints”. Is it not strange that bullfighting, which is purely a pagan drama, should have attached to it titles or names of “saints” of the Catholic Church, which organization claims to be Christian 1
When the passing of the bull with the cape has been well performed, meaning that the fighter has passed the long, ugly horns very close to his body, the crowd goes wild, showering the arena with bottles, cushions, etc. On the other hand, if, he has shown any signs of cowardice, ’ the crowd boo and jeer him, and some fighters have been mobbed from the ring by a demonized crowd who figured they were not getting their money's worth. These bullfights usually accompany religious feasts and celebrations with much drinking and hilarity.
JTAe Picador and His Horse
Back to the fight I At the sound of another trumpet from the president’s box, the next act begins. By this time it is 'clear that the bull is fast on his feet and seems bent on destroying his enemies. Therefore, the next acts are to slow him down and th provoke him to charge more viciously. Unless the bull is cut down in his speed, it will be impossible to perform beautiful passes with the muleta (a kind of cloth different from the cape used at the beginning of the fight). Now the picador, mounted on horseback, does his part. He carries a long pole at one end of which is attached a sharp four-inch blade. As the bull charges the horse, the picador endeavors to cut some of the muscles in the hull’s neck. This weakens the bull, slows him, and causes him to lower his head.
Of course, the bull reaches and gores the horses in these charges, many times disemboweling the poor creatures, which are usually blindfolded so they cannot run from the bull. Many times these horses that are ripped open by the horns of the bull are taken from the ring, sewed up, and used again that same afternoon in the second or third fight. Horses that are badly wounded are supposed to be killed, but the money-hungry horse contractor who furnishes the horses for these fights, in order to save money, sometimes goes as far as packing a ripped-open horse with sawdust, sewing him up and sending him back into the ring. The horses do carry a small amount of padding over their stomachs and chests, but even at that 6,000 horses are killed annually in Spain alone in the manner described above. Bullfights are indeed a tragedy for the poor horses.
Many times the bull lifts both horse and picador and throws them into the air. If the picador falls to the side opposite from the bull, all is well unless the horse falls on him. If the picador falls on the side where the bull is, he is usually badly gored before the bull can be attracted away from him by the matador with a cape. Many 'a picador is killed in this manner annually, the bull catching him on one horn, pitching him into the air and, as he falls, goring him with the other horn. This act of the fight has lasted only a few minutes, but it has served its purpose of inciting the bud to great anger. It has slowed and tired him, and his being allowed to gore and kill the horses, we are told, is to give the bull confidence that he can also destroy his other enemies, the men on foot.
The Banderillero Takes Up the Fight
Right from the start, then, we can see bullfighting means mutilated bodies of both horses and men, yes, and very often violent death. So, if you like death, blood, and plenty of action, the place to go to see it is a bullfight. But wait, someone says, you have not seen anything yet, as a bugle sounds for the next division of the fight. Suddenly out from the side of the ring runs a man straight for the bull, having in his hands only two colored wooden shafts about three feet long with harpoon-like points. These shafts are called “banderillas”, and the man who has them, the “banderillero”. As he comes in contact with the bull he rises on his toes, feet together, extends his hands with the shafts above his head and plunges the two harpoon shafts into the bull’s neck high up near the shoulders, at the same time seeming to vault or pivot on the shafts around the tips of the bull’s horns as the bull charges by. His timing and footwork must be perfect to perform this. A moment too slow means death. He places three or four pairs of these shafts in the neck of the bull. There are also different ways of placing these shafts.
But what purpose do these serve, you might ask? To provoke the bull more, and, if those do not serve this purpose, then loaded shafts are placed in his neck. As they explode, they drive the bull mad with rage. Also, these shafts are supposed to correct any default in the hooking of the bull: that is, if the bull has a tendency to hook with his right horn, then these shafts or bande-rillas are placed on the left side to correct this. This is perhaps one of the most dangerous parts of the whole fight, as the man with the banderillas has no protection other than his quick footwork.
The Execution by the Matador
The placing of the shafts completed, the bugle sounds for the final or third part of the fight, the “moment of truth” or execution. If the other bullfighters have done their parts well, the bull reaches this stage slowed down but more dangerous than ever, more determined to kill, and charges with his hea’d held low, which is an important part in order that the bull may be killed quickly and according to the rules. Again the matador takes over the bull, this time armed with a scarlet cloth much smaller than thy cape. This cloth is the muleta, and with it a good matador can completely dominate a bull and drive the spectators into a frenzy by his daring maneuvers. All the famous matadors have invented different spectacular movements in the passing of the bull. Some pass the bull so close to their bodies that the horns rip loose the gold embroidery from their costumes. The closer to their bodies they can pass the bull, the better the enthusiasts like it. The events in the Coliseum of pagan Rome could hardly have caused more demonic hilarity on the part of the audience than these narrow escapes from death.
As the final moment of the fight draws near, the moment of the slaying, the work of the picadors, the cape bande-rillas and muleta have so tired the poor bull that he can hardly move and stands panting with his tongue lolling in the dust and usually he charges only when provoked. The matador now dedicates the bull to some friend or noted personage in the audience. He then receives a long razor-sharp sword from his sword handler, and, with the sword in the right hand and muleta in the left, he approaches the bull. The bull is standing quite still watching him. As the matador approaches he endeavors with the muleta to get the bull to stand with his forefeet together, in order that the shoulder blades may be wide apart for the sword to enter and strike a vital nerve center, blood vessel, or the heart, which will usually kill the hull instantly as though he were struck by lightning. This act is not easy, but requires all the skill and knowledge of bulls that the matadors can muster. The fifteen minutes from the time the bull entered the ring are about up; so no time must be lost. The muleta in his left hand he holds low to bring down the bull’s head. He sights with the sword for the vital spot between the bull’s shoulders. When he is right upon the bull, the bull probably will make his final charge at the muleta. About this moment the sword hits him. As the matador is directly in front of the bull, he thrusts the muleta in his left hand to the right and the bull swings with it, allowing the horns to clear the man’s body. As the sword drives home, the bull dies almost immediately. Sometimes the thrust of the sword causes the beast to throw his head in agony, and it is in these cases that many matadors are caught by the horns and killed. Manolete was killed in somewhat this manner.
The moment the bull is killed the frenzy of the bullfighting enthusiasts is at its height and we see hats, bottles, cushions, rain down from the bleachers. Many times, after a superb performance the crowd swarm into the ring and carry the matador out on their shoulders. The matador is also awarded the ears or tail if his performance has been good.
This ends the first fight of the afternoon and the first such experience for us. Most Anglo-Amer leans have seen enough by this time. But remember that each afternoon six bulls are killed in the same manner by three sets of bullfighters, each group killing two bulls; so the whole affair lasts about two hours. Incidentally, the horses killed at the beginning of the fight are left lying in the arena until the bull is killed ; then a team of horses rushes in and drags out all the dead. How can anyone, pagan or so-called “Christian”, get any enjoyment from such an affair is more than we can say. However, most bullfighting enthusiasts are members of the largest religious organization in the world.
There are a few other outstanding points about bullfighting that will hglp us to see its demonic, origin and why it is called by many “the tragedy of the bullfight”. For example, if the matador fails to kill the bull in the allotted time, the bull goes free from the ring; but because he is usually badly butchered up he is killed. If not damaged the bull is used on a bull ranch as a seed bull, but the same bull is prevented by law from ever entering a bull ring again, the reason being that a hull once having fought could never be deceived by the cloth cape or muleta and would surely gore the matador in a succeeding encounter, A little more about these fighting bulls. A thoroughbred fighting bull can run faster than a horse for a distance of twenty-five yards, can turn faster than a polo pony, and has strength enough to pitch both horse and rider over his back.
True, Manolete is dead, but bullfighting in some countries is very much alive. It will be good news to Christians when it can be said that this practice of barbaric cruelty upon dumb, brute beasts is also dead.—Awake! correspondent in Colombia.
Public Enemy No. I
» 11 <*•
“At the opening of the century what is loosely called ‘heart disease’ accounted for 118.1 deaths per 100,000 population of this city. The rate has steadily increased ever since, until last year it reached 400.2 per 100,000. No age group has been spared. More children, for example, are killed by some impairment of the circulatory system than by poliomyelitis, measles, whooping
cough, scarlet fever and diphtheria combined.”—New York Times, January 13, 1948,
JSTpOR we brought nothing into
I? this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And hav-ing food and raiment let us be therewith content.” Thus spoke an inspired Bible-writer, Paul the TK apostle, concerning the basic needs of all men. He added that seeking < after riches imperiled the Chris-tian, “for the love of money is the root of all evil.”—1 Timothy 6:7, 8,10.
Just what a multitude of evils has been wrought by commerce’s mad quest for money is too wide a field for discussion here. The slimy pages of history would have to pass in review. But the manner in which business is failing and injuring man in his imperative quest for food, shelter and clothing in this most critical day, in this most opulent of all countries, will sound amazing to some.
Profiteers from Building Paralysis
At least one-third of the men who fought for the better way of life are at present frustrated from getting even decent living quarters. Despite government financing aids, several million veterans cannot get homes of their own. If you should happen to drive through an exclusive residential section and observe the well-kept lawns, the graceful architecture, the sun and shadows upon red and green and white landscape and stately walls, and perhaps soft laughter and tones of enjoyment faintly reach the ears, or silent grandeur delight the eye —you should not forget something. There arh 11,000,000 homes in the Unit-
BUSINESS JUNKS
cd States that do not have running water; 14,000,000 without toilets that flush.
Then, if this fact is not too surprising, reflect that among the various commercially guilty who have thwarted the construction of new homes is none other than the old trumpeter of its civic virtues, the American Legion. Some of the young veterans who accepted the Legion’s seductive claims for itself, and joined up, are now its foremost critics. In a recent meeting “there were open charges that the American Legion had become the errand boy of the real estate lobby” ( American. maguvAne, Heemnber 1S4T>-
But why are the manufacturers of building material, the landlords and proprietors, and the real estate agents throughout the country interested in keeping home construction in low gear and the brakes dragging? It seems that love of money has something to do with it. As far as the material manufacturers are concerned, as long as few houses keep the demand exorbitant, they can get big prices for small production. As far as the landlords and proprietors are concerned, they are happier to keep their establishments full than to have to compete with modern construction.
As far as the realtors are concerned, new houses do not require their services to sell, but old houses may require their services to sell, several times with several commissions. What would be better suited to their common purpose than a Congressional lobby? (Note definition: “The persons who haunt lobbies for the purpose of soliciting legislators in order to influence the action of a legislative body.”—Funk & Wagnails New College Standard Dictionary) Just what a lobby is willing to pay an errand boy is a matter of Conjecture.
Now, with the manufacturers, the landlords, the realtors and the American Legion satisfied with interference in any and all Congressional action to remove building bottlenecks and ease the housing shortage by the simple process of helping their construction, who is dissatisfied? Nobody except the people who want homes.
Building Code Racket
Herein business has joined politics to junk all pretenses to a progressive character. It is a shackle to the feet of progress, and a foe to the comfort of millions. But even so it is not the only way in which business and circumstance have conspired to frustrate the crying need for homes. Besides the high cost of material and labor, "new home construction is expected to hurdle these obstacles while carrying a millstone of ancient and corrupt building regulations or codes. Here again we find business and politics cavorting together to spawn some unsavory productions misnamed building rules. Throughout the United States there are about 2,000 codes, the offspring of numerous huddles in the private office behind the local bar. Just imagine the confusion of 2,000 different sets of regulations, and then note how the different cities favor the local boys.
If you want a home in Denver you will find that a frame structure is outlawed and that brickmaking Denver requires a twelve-inch brick wall for residences. But the brick kilns of St. Louis have written into that city’s code that the walls must be sixteen inches thick. Despite this, “testing agencies have found that an eight-inch brick wall is sufficiently sturdy for residences, come fire, wind or homemade hoopla." It you live in Memphis, it is best to figure oa building your home of lumber, because the politicians have found that power and finance is represented in the lumber, men.
But. suppose you wish to journey to the Pittsburgh of the South, Birmingham, and build a home there. In advance you had better gpt accustomed to the idea of a big outlay for steel, because the building code is “the finest piece of propaganda the.steel industry ever wrote”. New York city, whose voluminous building regulations tome can hardly be lifted by a longshoreman, also favors structural steel, larger-than-necessary pipes, excessive vents. It took 150 men ten years to turn out New York’s code, and it is said that it is much more important to know the right people than to know what is in the book.. If you happen to take, a turn to the Middle West and locate in the great glass-manufacturing area, Toledo and Newark, Ohio, you will find provision in the code for the use of glass brick. Glass brick are nice, also expensive.
Even if you had the quaint habit of jumping up and down on your floors you would not need the floor strength requirements of some cities, 80 pounds per square foot. It is estimated that jitterbugging seldom puts a strain of more than half that amount. Construction has changed in the twenty years since most of these codes were written. Did you know that the uprights in the walls, 2/''x4-//, called studs, need no longer be spaced closer than 40 inches apart, due to the lighter construction materials? In many codes the regulations still call for 16-inch spacings. These ponderous and corrupt codes bind grievous burdens on the builder’s back, and drain precious dollars from the owner’s purse. Of course, where unnecessary amounts of brick, steel, lumber and glass are required by municipal regulations the manufacturers profit. Can you imagine why politicians would want to favor large, wealthy manufacturing firms ?
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