Editor of The Call: Unjustly offended and feeling the insult given to 35,000 members of the Orthodox Church, people and clergy, living under the protection of the Stars and Stripes, I publicly protest against the unfounded assertions publicly made by Mr. Curtis P. Coe, as published in the Examiner on last Tuesday morning in the review on clerical club proceedings under the caption, “Movement to Close Theaters on Sundays.”
First—Among many an American-born citizen, and as a canonically ordained minister, I worked in this field since 1888. Previous to this I was a missionary assistant in Alaska. Among many Americans, Governor Swineford is one who approved of our work in Alaska.
Second—To show the falsity of Mr. Coe’s assertion, with which he so bitterly attacks the Greek Church, I am compelled to set forth the fact that I have been connected for some years with the diocesan consistory, to which all priests must report, and I do not know of any case of the kind to which our accuser refers. I admit there have been instances in which our preachers declared that non-Christian unbelievers have sometimes fallen to the level of the brute.
Third—Mr. Coe declares that in the field, to which he has not been called, “most of the people belonged to the Greek church and knew nothing of morality.” I repeat that he is correct in regard to the population, for actually nine-tenths of all the people on the Island Kodiak and the surrounding places are members of the Orthodox Church. Now, naturally arises this question: Is this missionary of the Baptist slighted because the parish priests of the Orthodox Church in his neighborhood prove to be a barrier to the prosperity of his work by their zeal in their own holy mission?
Fourth—About the “morality in the Greek church”: for want of time and space I shall put forth but this one statement: Look into San Quentin, which contains over a thousand prisoners, and you will find that only five of the number were baptized in the Orthodox Church. And out of these five, there is but one Russian, one Circassian, etc. Yours truly,
Sebastian Dabovich
A priest of the Holy Orthodox Church, San Francisco, April 19, 1899.1
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Publisher’s Note: Originally published in The San Francisco Call, Tuesday, April 25, 1899, p. 6.