
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990                   TAG: 9004150082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BORODINO, U.S.S.R.                                LENGTH: Short

SOVIET EASTER SERVICE FIRST SINCE STALIN ERA

The Rev. Ignaty Krekshin stood outside the door to the church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God as today began and pronounced words not heard here since the reign of Stalin: "Christ is risen!"

The reopening of the onion-domed sanctuary five months ago is another sign of the more honored place now accorded religion and the Russian Orthodox Church in Soviet life after decades of indifference, hostility and even persecution.

Nikita Khrushchev, who waged a fierce anti-religion campaign, once reportedly said he would put the last priest on television so people would remember what one had looked like. But Soviet radio and TV on Saturday carried Russian Orthodox Easter services live, and the announcer on TV's main news program told viewers, "Easter reminds us that to survive today is possible only by loving each other." - Los Angeles Times

by CNB