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Page:George Lansbury - What I saw in Russia.pdf/75

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LENIN, BOLSHEVISM AND RELIGION
49


rational means whereby such people may secure freedom from a tie which only degrades them both. The period of marriage which must elapse before a divorce can be applied for is six months. This sounds a very short time, but I am not convinced this is important. If people find themselves totally unfitted, unsuited to each other, the sooner it is realised and acted upon the better. In Russia and elsewhere the Church considers marriage a sacrament and binding for life ; so do I, but this cannot be imposed by a law or a Church ordinance or by a priest saying it is. Only by the conscious intelligent assent of men and women is such a decree binding, and the vast multitude of marriages are just marriages, sometimes for convenience, sometimes for love, very very seldom does the question of religion or sacraments enter in.

So far I have dealt only with the relations existing between the orthodox Church and the Government. Like everywhere else, there is within the Russian Church a revolutionary movement which bids fair to undermine the theories of Lenin and his friends, that religion plays no part in the life of a people. The following statement shows that with the coming of the Socialist republic the dry bones of theology have begun to stir and that once more the teachings of Jesus are going to have a chance. I have verified the truth of the