Beasts in Cassocks: The Crimes of the Heads of the Russian Greek Catholic Orthodox Church in America/Chapter 13

by John Feoktist Dudikoff

CHAPTER XIII.

A Daylight Robbery

At the railroad station in Wilkes-Barre, Gilevitch in my presence borrowed money of Piatetsky promising to send it back to him by special delivery as soon as he returned to New York. I did not realize then that a daylight robbery was taking place before my very eyes. On our arrival in New York, Archbishop Platon thanked both Slunin and myself very heartily for having amicably settled so serious a matter. Having accepted of Slunin the money he brought from German, Pa., the Bishop told us to rest and then leave for an inquest at Quatasaqua, Pa. Once more Gilevitch and Father Piatetsky went to Wilkes-Barre on church matters escorting Bishop Alexander to the inquest to be held in the case of Anton Repelo, brother of Vassili. Anton had also raped a woman. We put up in the same hotel and were assigned the same suite as before. The next day Bishop Alexander and I went to the local bank where we drew $35,000. What money it was and where it came from I do not know. This sum, together with other money, was put into a portfolio which was usually kept in a valise I had in my care.

On returning to the hotel we found Archbishop Platon who had just arrived together with the wife of Priest Kokhannik and Father and Madam Snegirev. A sumptuous dinner with abundant drinks followed, and lasted until evening. I went to my room and do not know how our clergy spent the night. I do know, however, that, unknown to the others, the husband of Mrs. Kokhannik spent the night in the same hotel.

At eight o'clock the next morning the Bishops called me in and asked me for the portfolio in which, besides the money, there were also many important papers. I opened the bureau into which I had put the valise with the portfolio, and handed it Alexander who, on opening it, gasped. The money was not there. Bishop Alexander began to shout: "My lord! What's this?! Surely the work of Satan! There was $115,000 in the valise."

It was clear what had become of the money. Mother Kokhannik had access to all the papers and moneys. She was the Bishops' favorite, and spent the night with them in their apartment where the bureau stood. Later on it turned out that my surmise was correct. This I gathered from Mother Kokhannik's conversation with the Bishops

Archpresbyter Peter Kokhannik

and from the remarks Father Snegirev passed after having chanced upon Father Kokhannik in the hotel. When the Bishops told Mother Kokhannik about the loss, she answered: "Why do you want to torment me in vain?"

The police and detectives were summoned but when they began to probe into the affair, rather deeply, the Bishops found their curiosity too dangerous and tried hard to get rid of the "inquisitive" representatives of Law and Order so as to keep the thing secret. They must have been "out of luck." They had to pay the detectives $3,000 to hush up the matter. Where they got the money I do not know. They had great difficulty in calming the frenzied woman who kept screaming and shouting about her right to the money since old men were using her body. She threatened to disclose everything even

The Russian St. Nicholas Cathedral

though she herself might suffer. During this row she slapped Bishop Alexander on the face twice and yelled: "You think you can do anything you please with me and then give me nothing but your thanks? … No, you'll have to pay dearly!"

We got our belongings together and returned to New York from the "inquest" very much disheartned. It will be a propos to mention the extravagant purchase of the Metropolitans, Platon and Alexander. They spent $75,000 in a jewelry store on Broadway for a pearl necklace, a present for Mother Kokhannik. Alexander also presented Madam Kokhannik, the conqueror of the Bishops' hearts, who used to arrange all sorts of "baths" for the "princes of the Church," as well as "Athenian evenings," with a trifle—a $35,000 diamond necklace. Archbishop Alexander, having escaped from his Diocese to Paris on account of a warrant for his arrest, left unpaid debts to the

Interior of St. Nicholas Cathedral

amount of $200,000. I am in a position to prove where they obtained part of the money they spent, because I am familiar with their books as well as with their accounts in some of the banks. I have positive proofs of my assertions.

 

---