In Detroit

In Detroit last week there occurred a sacrilegious catastrophe. Four men armed with axes and crowbars entered the Independent Hellenic Orthodox Church. They approached the sanctuary which surrounds the altar in such churches and into which none but priests and altar boys may venture. The wall of the sanctuary the four men tore down, cursing; they tipped over tables and carried them away, breaking icons as they did so. Pictures, lamps, books, chairs, platforms, the sanctuary wall--these they carted off also. When asked by what right they did this, the men exhibited a writ of replevin signed by one Justice L. Eugene Sharp, calling for the removal of just such articles as they had taken away. Three hundred members of the congregation, many of them old men with long beards, stood wailing outside their ruined altar, threatening the crew of wreckers who were protected by policemen. At last, their work finished, the four men drove away and the causes for the sacrilege were discovered. A year ago the Rev. Dionysius Demessianos had come to Detroit to be pastor of the Hellenic Orthodox Church, St. Sophia. When he failed to receive his salary, he resigned and organized his own congregation, the Independent Hellenic Orthodox Church. Theodore Gerasimos, president of the older congregation, sued him for the financial loss which he had sustained in this departure. Mr. Gerasimos was ordered to pay all the court costs of his action. Later, he secured the writ, claiming that Father Demessianos owed him obscure obligations. The damage done to the Independent Hellenic Orthodox Church was severe but not irreparable. The sad members of the congregation worshipped in tears and begged all Detroit Christians to help them.