acquainted with Father Royster?

Mr. Raigorodsky. He knows me very well, but anyhow, here it is about the church here——

Mr. Jenner. The full name is Dimitri Robert Royster—go right ahead.

Mr. Raigorodsky. (Handed instrument to Counsel Jenner.) That gives us the history of the situation here, but then we had a split here between the Russians who came to this country escaping the Communists or Bolsheviks, at that time we called them—they called themselves the Guard.

Mr. Jenner. The original church that you helped organize, that is referred to as the Old Guard?

Mr. Raigorodsky. That's right, and St. Seraphim you see, because we both occupy the same premises and I was the head of both of them.

Mr. Jenner. You were the head of both churches?

Mr. Raigorodsky. Oh, yes; I belong to both churches. In fact I belong to three churches.

Mr. Jenner. They are different parishes in the same church, aren't they?

Mr. Raigorodsky. No, they are entirely different churches. I would like to explain to you—you see, in this country—I'm quite sure you know—I don't know whether you would be interested in what I am going to tell you about?

Mr. Jenner. I am primarily interested in this—from the depositions I have taken and inquiries I have made, my impression is that one of the immediate sources of obtaining acquaintanceship in the community by refugees who come here is through the church.

Mr. Raigorodsky. That's correct.

Mr. Jenner. St. Seraphim's is one parish and then there is another one—George Bouhe's folks.

Mr. Raigorodsky. That's right.

Mr. Jenner. Or the church he is most active in, and I forget the name of that one—what is that?

Mr. Raigorodsky. That's St. Nicholas.

Mr. Jenner. That's the St. Nicholas Church?

Mr. Raigorodsky. I'm head of that one.

Mr. Jenner. You are head of that one?

Mr. Raigorodsky. Yes.

Mr. Jenner. And you say it is a third one?

Mr. Raigorodsky. No, it is not a third one here—just the two. Now you see, this is the thing I have to tell you then, because that is, again, leads to the same Oswald situation, I believe.

Mr. Jenner. All right.

Mr. Raigorodsky. You see, the Father Royster Church is not just for Russians. It is for all the Greek Orthodox, whether they are Serbians, Sicilians, or Lebanese—and there are lots of people that came for the same religion even though their services in their own churches is in their own language, but here they are all in the English language because of Father Royster's.

Mr. Jenner. Father Royster preaches the sermons in English?

Mr. Raigorodsky. Oh, yes; there is no question he is an American, he was a teacher at S.M.U. until he resigned. Now, I am a member of this church because it is a Greek Orthodox and I want to help them—that means I pay my dues and I help them with everything they need, in fact, we have a monastery there—that's the one which Father Royster organized of which also I helped them. Now, the difference between Father Royster's Church and Bouhe's Church, as you know it——

Mr. Jenner. St. Nicholas?

Mr. Raigorodsky. St. Nicholas—so that Father Royster belongs to Metropolitan Leonty—Metropolitan Leonty is in New York, and if you may say so, he is a competitor of Metropolitan Anastasia. Metropolitan Leonty is the head of the American Russian Church. You see, before the revolution, we had a church in America, and he was the head of it. Metropolitan Anastasia is the head of the Russians outside of Russia, because he is—whether he escaped Russia like all of us—therefore, all of us who escaped with him or about the same time belonged to that church.

Mr. Jenner. I see.

Mr. Raigorodsky. It is very simple, and as far as I am concerned it is the better method, because we know each other, we know about each other, we know which fought, which one fought against the Bolsheviks—all of the so-called St. Nicholas Church is an old anti-Communist group—period.

Now, the St. Seraphim Church can be infiltrated by anybody because nobody checks, you see, the only thing and there is no tie-in there except for the church—not that there is a tie-in because we fought against communism and because of the church. The same thing in Houston, the tie-in was not only because of the church but because we fought against communism and even though we came through different grounds, some through New York, some through California, but we got there and so we have a church over there.

Now, I personally believe that a church is a church—as long as it is my religion. I will go to one or I will go to another one. It doesn't make any difference to me—I tried to get them together and I didn't succeed in that town. In Houston—I think that is because it is only one church—it is more successful.

Now, I don't know it for a fact, but except as I was told by Father Royster that the Oswalds came through Fort Worth originally. Now, this is hearsay—that I believe they got acquainted with the people by the name of Clark.

Mr. Jenner. Max Clark?

Mr. Raigorodsky. I mean, that's all hearsay—I do not know it for a fact. While she is a Russian, in fact she is a first cousin of a very close friend of mine, Prince Sherbatoff, who lives in New York and lives in Jamaica. That's where I see him occasionally. Now, it is my understanding that the Clarks told some of their friends—again, this is hearsay, that "Here is a Russian married to an American and they don't even have milk for the babies." Now, that is my understanding. And so, the Russians, I mean of both churches, because there are not many Russians in our church as against another, started to provide them groceries, buy milk for the baby, in fact I was told that they had her fix her teeth—her teeth were absolutely, oh, it is unspeakable.

Mr. Jenner. This would, from your observation, be a perfectly normal sort of thing that would occur in this community through the churches that you have mentioned. They are small churches, the people are well acquainted with all the parishioners, that is, acquainted with each other. They seek to help?

Mr. Raigorodsky. Absolutely.

Mr. Jenner. They seek to help those who come from Europe as refugees or otherwise?

Mr. Raigorodsky. That's right.

Mr. Jenner. Those of Russian or Serbian or Central European derivation?

Mr. Raigorodsky. That's right—that's correct.

Mr. Jenner. About when was the first you heard of hearsay or otherwise of——

Mr. Raigorodsky. That that happened that way?

Mr. Jenner. No, of the Oswalds at all? When did it first come to your attention that the Oswalds were here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area?

Mr. Raigorodsky. The assassination. I am absolutely ignorant of