| | Nate aenes | ee ee ee eee nner eee es Library of The Theological Seminary PRINCETON » NEW JERSEY REDD FROM THE LIBRARY OF ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER EN BRYTS oO. ONS ba 24 Langenskj old, Margareta, 1889- Baron Paul Nicolay fica ty pe C. Shar on Corot BY fd PLL LR Om | Kod 192 BARON PAUL NICOLAY A Biography Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/baronpaulnicolayOOlang BARON PAUL NICOLAY Vi BARON PAUL NICOLAY Christian Statesman and Student Leaderan vf PRINGEFS Northern and Slavic Europ? Wh RY A GRETA LANGENSKJOLD hurry Translated from the Swedish by RUTH EVELYN WILDER ILLUSTRATED GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY BARON PAUL NICOLAY — B — PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOREWORD By Miss RutH RovusE SECRETARY TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE WORLD’S STUDENT CHRISTIAN FEDERATION PIONEER work in connection with the World’s Student Christian Federation brought me into a close fellowship of work with Baron Nicolay during a period of twelve years, 1903-1915. The years that have passed since we last met have thrown details into the background. Only the more clearly do I see in the foreground the strong main features of Paul Nicolay’s work and character. As I meditate on these, two words spring to mind: “It is required in stewards that they be found faith- ful.” Above all things and in all things Paul Nicolay “kept the faith”: faith to God, faith to man, faith to his call. Once having seen a thing to be true, he lived by that sight unwaveringly; once having heard a call, he answered at all hazards; once having made a prom- ise, he kept it at all costs. As a study in the meaning of Vocation and Stewardship, Paul Nicolay’s life will help hundreds to find their own life-work, and to carry it through, come what may. “His works do follow him.” Paul Nicolay’s work did not end in 1919. He gave his life to and for the Russian Student Christian Movement, and in its life he lives to-day. Since his death that movement has Vv Vi Foreword passed through famine, dungeon, fire and sword. It is still under the harrow. But it is stronger than ever; like its founder, it cannot be discouraged, it cannot take its hand from the plough. It has heard a clear call and has no thought but to obey. He lives again in its leaders. Almost all the younger Russian leaders of the Movement, and of similar movements amongst the Russian Diaspora, are men and women whose spiritual life owes very much to their contact with Baron Nicolay and to his faithful shepherding of their souls. In Bulgaria, in Prague, in the Baltic States, they are passing on what he taught them by word and life. “Doesn’t he remind you of Baron Nicolay?’ we say to each other, as we see the way they work. But not Russians alone learnt to know God through him. Swedes, Finlanders, Norwegians, English, Americans—from all these I have heard the same testimony: “I shall never forget what Baron Nicolay said at Conference.” “TI shall never lose the impression Baron Nicolay made on me.” The strong- est evangelist in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to- day is one of his disciples, a Bulgarian, who did his theological studies in Russia, was a member of the Movement there and gratefully acknowledges his debt to its leader. The best one can wish for this book is that it should pass on to thousands more that Call to Faithfulness which Paul Nicolay gave to so many in his lifetime. Wimbledon, London, S. W. CHAPTER CONTENTS Ancestry | a Childhood and Youth . Years of Consecration . First Seeds Sown . Among Russia’s Students In Work for the World’s Student Christian Federation In Finland . At Home and Among Friends The Time of Departure Soli Deo Gloria PAGE 13 23 4A 61 Ol 158 178 204 219 248 hea A ILLUSTRATIONS BARON IPAUL NICOLA). lilies) susen lt wa Ee rontis piece M ONREPOS . . . . .| . e .| ° RATTEN IGOLA Vf AT THETAGE OF THREE. bi) vine PAUL NICOLAY AND HIS THREE SISTERS, 1870 . =. CEN COLA VA LOO A Wists! omelet ic tlhe e : Mi PeAMILY, COAT OFDARMS (hi sy a DUNE hie vats IRCA RE MOL ON Ko din ot bese beger MÄSS hs STUDENT CONFERENCE AT TAVASTEHUS, FINLAND, 1913 PRUE URL BSR Ave fa ROMA ha REN ps fa BIG eat iQ! I ON BOARD THE YACHT "LADY? . Å : 4 : BARONESS SOPHIE NICOLAY (THE MOTHER OF PAUL NICOLAY ) UE ALR Osta Ne gas Teena en LUDWIGSTEIN, BARON NICOLAY’S PLACE OF BURIAL . THE GRAVE . ° . ° ° ° ° ° ° PAGE 32 32 40 48 48 160 192 192 208 224 224 BARON PAUL NICOLAY A Biography BARON PAUL NICOLAY CHAPTER I Ancestry “‘QUSTINE et abstine”—these words formed the motto emblazoned on the coat of arms of the Nicolay family, and a silver cross on a blue field and surrounded by four golden stars was their sign. No better motto nor more inspiring device could the last of the Nicolays—he whose life we are about to de- pict—have chosen for himself, if the choice had been his to make. From his ancestors he inherited them as well as many of the characteristics which formed the nucleus of his being throughout his life: earnest- ness, faithfulness, and a tendency toward simple rig- orous habits. These characteristics became a useful antidote to the other half of his inheritance which was calculated to afford his character many a hard test: the inherited position of the cosmopolitan, the man of the world, the possessor of entail property of great value. The Nicolays originated in Sweden, but as early as the year 1500 one of the family moved to Liibeck, and one hundred and twenty-five years later we find his descendants in Alsace, in Strassburg. Here, in the year 1737, Ludwig Heinrich Nicolay was born, he 13 3 14 Baron Paul Nicolay who was to become the father of this line of nobility. He was the son of a stern and despotically minded magistrate, and according to the will of his father en- tered upon a legal course of studies. Throughout his whole life, however, he maintained his great literary and artistic interests. After finishing his university course he was sent to Paris, bringing with him letters of introduction to the French encyclopedists—d’ Alem- bert and Diderot—which helped to bring him into touch with a brilliant and gifted circle of acquaint- ances. The young man enjoyed it without letting it injure his character, for the strong religious princi- ples which were the basis of his upbringing now showed forth in their full strength. Says his German biographer: “Equipped with this shield he was able to resist Diderot himself; yes, he even succeeded at a dinner in a téte-a-téte with this man, the most cor- rupt of all the encyclopedists, through his simple and direct answers to religious questions, especially those concerning his own beliefs, in persuading him to aban- don the thought of winning him over to the new ideas without its affecting their friendly intercourse to- gether.” Several years later Ludwig Heinrich moved to Vienna, where he became the private secretary of the Russian Ambassador, Count Rasumovsky, whom he later accompanied to Italy.. In 1769 he was admitted by Count Parien into the service of the Russian court. In this way the Alsatian moved into the great Empire of the East, where he settled and where, thanks to his great ability and his strong character, he succeeded in creating for himself and his family an honourable Ancestry 15 and, considering the conditions of the time, an un- usually secure position. At the court he was at first tutor of Grand Duke Paul, then heir to the throne, and during the latter’s reign he became his private secretary. After the death of the Emperor Paul he remained the secretary to his widow, Empress Maria Feodorovna. In 1782 the honour of the name of Von Nicolay was conferred on Ludwig Heinrich by the Emperor Josef II of Austria. The title of Baron was conferred on him in Russia. He was also ap- pointed Privy Councillor and for some time held the position of President of the Academy of Science. As early as the year 1788 Ludwig Heinrich Nicolay had bought from the Duke of Wiirttemberg, governor of the province of Wiborg, the castle Monrepos, sit- uated in the parish of Wiborg in Finland, and for- merly known as Lill-Ladugard. He had acquired by purchase the possession of this crown property. Nev- ertheless, it was not until 1801 that Baron Nicolay secured the full right to possession of the estate through imperial rescript. Ludwig Heinrich, as well as many of his descendants, became greatly attached to the home at Monrepos, and in this way a bond— although at first merely of an outward nature—was gradually formed binding them to Finland. In beau- tifying Monrepos’ already beautiful parks through ingenious decorations bearing the impress of love and good taste, Ludwig Heinrich found an outlet for his intrinsic artistic inclinations. The first Baron Nico- lay was known as the author of several poems and fables in the spirit of the time, and he even sang to the praise of his beloved park in a poem entitled “Das 16 Baron Paul Nicolay Landgut Monrepos.” On the beautiful little island of Ludwigstein which belongs to the estate, and which with its high rocky walls and cypress-like firs reminds the modern visitor very strongly of the artist Bocklin’s picture "The Isle of Death,” can also be found engraved in a marble column two lines writ- ten by the poetic ancestor: “Auf kurze Zeit ist dieser Higel mein, Auf lange Zeit bin ich dann sein.” Ludwigstein was set aside as a real “isle of death” for the members of the Nicolay family, and a more beautiful or more peaceful burial ground could hardly be found in any spot throughout the world. The scenery of Monrepos, beautified by a loving hand, and the poetic writings of the first Baron Nicolay bear witness to his cultural interests. The extensive collection of books, which for long formed one of the treasures of the estate and which can now be found in the University Library of Helsingfors, was made by him in conjunction with a friend of his youth, the Frenchman Lafermiére, who was at one time tutor of the Emperor Paul, as well as librarian and theatre director. The collection of books, called “Bibliotheque des deux amis,” fell, according to mutual agreement, after his friend’s death to the lot of Baron Nicolay. Ludwig Heinrich was lovable, friendly and depend- able. The last years of his life were spent in retire- ment in the country at Monrepos with his wife, Johanna Poggenpohl, the daughter of a German Ancestry 17 banker. They had a very happy married life together and both died in the same year, 1820. Their only son, Paul, born in 1777, had at the age of eight been sent by his father to the famous author Joh. Heinr. Voss, rector at Eutin near Lubeck: Here he grew up with the learned man’s sons and imbibed in this atmosphere a love for the classics which was his throughout life. Later he studied at the University at Erlangen and did not return home until he was eighteen years of age. He then entered upon a diplo- matic career and traveled to London, where he served for several years under Count Vorontsov. After coming back to Russia he took part, among other things, in a commission whose purpose was to fix Finland’s boundary in the direction of Sweden and Norway. In 1811 he married Alexandrine Simplicie de Broglie, daughter of a French refugee, Prince de Broglie, who belonged to one branch of the famous ducal family of this name. The family de Broglie were known to be very pious Roman Catholics, and Princess Alexandrine brought with her as a gift to the family of which she now became a member something of this deep religious spirit. After her father’s death in Germany where the fugitives first went, her mother and her three: brothers sought with her a home in Russia. Alexan- drine received her education at the school in Smolna. Her brothers became pages at the court and later fought as officers of the guard against Napoleon. The eldest of them fell at Austerlitz and the youngest per- ished at Kulm in 1813, so that only one of the Princes de Broglie was able to return to the home country 18 Baron Paul Nicolay with his mother after the restoration. Among the many monuments of special interest in the park at Monrepos which speak of a peaceful, dreamy restful- ness, is found the so-called Broglie monument, a stately obelisk of Swedish marble erected on an emi- nence to the memory.of the two young Frenchmen who had lost their lives. In the solitude of this quiet spot it speaks of the boisterous life of the great world where so much is going on, yet without disturbing the surrounding harmony which it rather seems to enhance. Thus, even though the family at Monrepos has re- ceived influences and impressions from many different directions, it has always succeeded in assimilating them, so that the family chronicles without being col- ourless yet lack, to an unusual degree, the rebellious, dramatic element which is so often found in the his- tory of a race of nobles. According to the wish of his father, Ludwig Heinrich, it was decided that the sons of Paul and Alexandrine Nicolay should belong to the Lutheran Church. The daughters, on the contrary, were to be brought up in their mother’s religion, so that no cause for disagreement between the parents : might arise. Paul Nicolay was very fond of his wife, _and his sorrow was great when in the year 1829 death tore her away from him and their seven little children. Prior to her death she had not had the strength to speak to her husband about the future, but she wrote many farewell letters exhorting him bravely to bear his grief and to bring up his children in the Christian faith. “Sois plus qu’un homme, sois un chrétien ré- signé.” ‘Thus ended her last letter to him, and these words were later placed by the widower over his de- Ancestry 19 ceased wife’s portrait. The commission, which Paul Nicolay thus received from his “conjux amantissima, dulcissima, piissima, amica fidelissima,” as she is called in the Latin memorial on her grave, he carried out faithfully, and became a good father who implanted in his children the same dependability of character which was so marked in him. In order to give his daughters the advantages of a mother’s care and to fulfil his promise to his wife that they should grow up in a Roman Catholic atmosphere, he entrusted them for several years to the care of their grandmother in Nor- mandy. In 1822 Paul Nicolay became a Finnish Baron, and the family in the year 1828 was the thirtieth to enter the House of Nobles. Several years later he received the notification of the testamental statute whereby Monrepos estate became entail in nature to be handed down to his descendants. At the age of seventy he retired to his beloved estate where he lived until the year of his death, 1866, tenderly cared for by his un- married daughter Simplicie. After her father’s death Simplicie entered a convent in Normandy, which, however, never hindered her from thinking of her own people with deep affection. Her many letters as well as the joy she always showed when any of her relatives visited her bear witness to this. Simplicie was, however, not the only one of the family to leave the world for a convent life. Her brother Louis, the second in age, became in later life a Roman Catholic, thereby exposing himself to the disfavour of the Rus- sian Government. In 1868 he interrupted a brilliant military career—for at the age of forty-eight he had 20 Baron Paul Nicolay been advanced to the position of Adjutant-general be- sides having taken part with distinction in many cam- paigns—in order to enter the famous Carthusian Monastery near Grenoble, “La Grande Chartreuse.” Here he studied theology, and was later ordained. But he also kept on intimate terms with his family, the younger members of which, among whom was his nephew Paul, often visited him during their foreign travels. The youngest of the brothers, Alexander, who studied at the ‘Imperial Lyceum” at Tsarskoje Selo and prepared for the position of a government official, remained in Russia and held through a succession of years several high positions. He became Chamber- lain, head of the civil administration of Tiflis in the Caucasus, and was later a member of the Council of Empire, and finally Minister of Education. He only held this latter position for a year because he dared to oppose the Russianisation policy of the then omnip- otent Procurator of the Holy Synod, Pobjedo- nostsev, and of the other ministers with reference to foreigners in the Empire. He remained after that a member of the Council of Empire until the year 1889, when he resigned and retired to Tiflis, where resided his only daughter, who had married a Cauca- sian prince. He himself had married a princess, Tsjavtsjavadse by name, but had become a widower at an early age. He died in 1899 at his estate near Tiflis, leaving behind him the memory of a very re- served and exceptionally industrious and conscientious man. His punctuality, a trait of character which reappeared in his nephew, was said to be so great Ancestry VA that the inhabitants of Tiflis regulated their clocks when Baron Nicolay went across the market place on his way to his Civil Service Department. Nicholas, the eldest son of Paul and Alexandrine de Broglie, was born in 1818 in Copenhagen. He was educated at home by an excellent tutor until, at the age of 16, he became a student at the University of St. Petersburg. After completing his preparatory studies, he chose his father’s career and entered the service of the Russian Embassy in Berlin, where he continued to attend lectures at the University. Later, after visiting The Hague and London, he was offered a position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg, where he spent a couple of years. At this time he became acquainted with Sophie Meyendorff, the 18-year-old daughter of the Livonian Baron George Meyendorff and his wife, née Countess Stachelberg. He fell in love, as he himself expresses it, with the young girl’s charming simplicity—‘“sim- plicité charmante,’ by which he was delightfully 1m- pressed. During her childhood Sophie Meyendorff had received lasting religious impressions from an English governess who was an earnest believer, and these impressions had grown still deeper while prepar- ing for confirmation, in the quiet of the Livonian village. Nicholas Nicolay had also been brought up with a deep religious faith, so the marriage, entered into in 1853, became, despite the difference in age, a very happy one, founded as it was on common prin- ciples and life purposes. Baron Nicolay’s position soon brought him and his young wife abroad, first to Berlin, where their eldest little daughter died and ee Baron Paul Nicolay another was born, and then to London, Bern, and Copenhagen. At each of those places one of their children saw the light of day for the first time. In 1866 a great change took place in the formerly so happy life of the family, for in that year the father was attacked by a severe disease which necessitated his giving up his position in order to seek a cure in the warmer climate of Germany. Hope of his re- covery was, however, not realised, and after three years of great suffering he entered into the eternal rest. The young widow, still only thirty-four years of age, moved in the spring of 1870 with her children, Marie, Aline, Sophie, and Paul, to Monrepos, the ancestral estate of her husband. Here many years were spent in quiet seclusion. But later, solicitous for her children’s education, the mother moved to St. Petersburg where they could more easily receive the needed instruction and the friendly intercourse she desired. In this way the Russian capital became the place where the last male descendant of the family of Nicolay grew into manhood and found his life course and his appointed task. CHAPTER II Childhood and Youth pack NICOLAY was born in Bern July 14, 1860. He spent the first years of his life in Denmark and Germany, but later, as we have seen, his home was moved to St. Petersburg—the brilliant metropolis of the time, doubly brilliant to one who like him belonged to the circle of the wealthy and the highest social standing. It is hard to imagine an atmosphere less suited for deepening spiritual growth and for the normal development of a religious nature. St. Peters- burg before the Revolution always had countless in- tellectual and artistic pleasures to offer the prosperous portion of her inhabitants as lighter diversions, and the life of St. Petersburg with its mixture of the national and the cosmopolitan, of Russian unaffected- ness and foreign refinement, has held for many a special charm, an almost irresistible power of attrac- tion. But the nervous strain, which always character- ised this life, seldom permitted that quiet concentra- tion of mind which is alone favourable to the growth of the soul. Paul Nicolay was indeed fortunate to find in his home from the very beginning a wholesome antidote to the superficiality of the large city. Here, day by day, the boy was influenced by a spirit entirely opposed to the more or less brilliant immorality which he otherwise met in so many places. The centre and leading force of the home was the mother. 23 24 Baron Paul Nicolay Baroness Sophie Nicolay was in many respects a most exceptional personality. The hard trial inflicted on her by her husband’s serious illness and early death served to deepen within her the spiritual life already so rich in her youth. A genuine cordiality and sincere conscientiousness about even the smallest things dis- tinguished her character, giving a loving harmony to her whole life. Her great humility was combined in a unique way with an imposing dignity of bearing. The shyness, which never entirely left her—a charac- teristic inherited by her son—occasionally gave the appearance of coldness, but this impression soon dis- appeared before the sincere, simple spirit of kindliness with which she treated high and low alike, and which gradually won the hearts of all. She was the centre of her children’s affection. With a firm and loving hand, she knew how to develop in them an alert con- science and a vital faith in God. During her stay abroad, especially during the trying experience in Ger- many, she had come into close fellowship with be- lievers, and her religion had thus acquired a warmer and deeper hue than that which is typical of the usual Lutheranism. Even English influences could, as we know, be traced in her spiritual life, combining Ger- man depth of feeling with the active, characteristically practical nature of Anglo-Saxon religion. Her devotion to God penetrated all the daily duties of life in the Nicolay home. Not only was the family gathered together daily in morning worship, but the mother sought to accustom her children at an early age to set aside at least fifteen minutes each day for in- dividual Bible study and prayer. Childhood and Youth 25 The following words written by Paul Nicolay at the age of ten in a letter to his mother show how successful she had been in making this a very precious custom to her little son: “Auntie takes prayers for us in the morning, but I think it is easier to do it by myself. I will try to be good, but you must pray God to help me.” Without wishing to draw hasty conclusions from an isolated letter, it can be said that these words are very significant in showing how early Paul Nicolay came into a personal relationship with God. Typical of him in another respect is something he writes of in a letter a year later. He is telling how to his great joy he has just discovered his favourite pet of the summer, his precious turtle, which had disappeared and had now been found by the sons of the manager of the estate near the bath house at Monrepos. He writes: “How wonderful! I had just been praying to God this morning, ‘If it is Thy will please let me find my turtle.’”’ To the contemplative child so in- clined to introspection this little incident became a personal experience of faith, and the religious disci- pline of his prayer life is already plainly marked in the phrase “if it is Thy will.” The religious na- ture of his mother’s training helped greatly in strengthening in him that sense of loyalty to duty and that inclination to self-criticism which were in- herent in the boy. One of his tutors, his arithmetic teacher, once said of his pupil, who was then thirteen, that he could not rid himself of an idea until he had fully understood it. Paul Nicolay, writing about this later, says: “This seems to me to be the right and 26 Baron Paul Nicolay the only good side of my character.” The whole character of the boy develops wonderfully in the help- ful atmosphere of the home. But his childhood days are not entirely free from clouds. Physically he is far from strong, he has a nervous temperament, and the moral battle, which he never took lightly, must even now have caused him a great deal of anxiety. The chief faults of his childhood were a hot temper and a rather capricious irritability, tendencies which he says he had to fight throughout his whole life. Even now he has declared war on them. His mother and his eldest sister, Marie, stood by him faithfully in this battle, and he therefore feels toward them a very deep and unaffected love. ‘Tell Marie that I read my Bible every evening,’ he writes in March of the year 1876 in a letter to his mother, who with her daughters was then visiting Rome. “It is marvellous how God has helped me in school so far. You can not imagine how much I miss you all! Home seems empty, for there is no one there whom I love and who loves me as you do. Good-bye, my darling Mother, there is no danger of my forgetting you. I think of you and long for you very often.” The school, which the young boy mentions here, was the “Gymnasium” of the ‘“Historical-Philological Faculty” of St. Petersburg, an institution for training teachers, something like an American normal school. In September 1873 Paul entered this school, from which he was graduated seven years later. Prior to this he had received private instruction in various subjects. There is not much to be said about his school life. His Childhood and Youth Sa first impressions of school were such as might be expected of a boy who had lived rather an isolated life in the shelter of his home and who was suddenly transplanted into a circle of lively and boisterous boy companions. The first favourable judgment of the school concerns this spirit of fun, and not the instruc- tion. “School is great fun. We played a great many boyish tricks, laughed, pushed each other, and made the desks walk,” he writes in a letter. These pranks, which were certainly not foreign to young Nicolay’s nature, were soon however subordinated to the strong sense of duty which characterised him, and he later studied hard and distinguished himself by his excel- lent work at school. But this did not, however, give him any particular joy in his work—he was too nervous for that to be possible and maybe also too sensitively conscientious, and the system of examina- tions then prevalent in Russia must have been a ter- rible ordeal for him. Significant are the words of the letter quoted above: “It is marvellous how God has helped me in school so far.” Now, as later, Paul Nicolay takes every task seriously, is always striving for the best possible results which he often attains, but usually at the expense of his health, and the work rests upon his young shoulders as a great burden. But for the most part neither the teaching nor the companionships made any deep impression on his personal development. This may have been due to his keen and strongly individualistic makeup, or per- haps the atmosphere of his cosmopolitan and aristo- cratic home afforded, in spite of all its simplicity, too 28 Baron Paul Nicolay few points of contact with the motley group of a Russian school. At any rate, he must have felt himself a stranger among his teachers and companions. Of far greater significance to the youth than his school life could ever be was the training for con- firmation, which he-and his youngest sister received from the pastor of the German church in the winter of 1879. This was hardly due to the nature of the teaching itself, but rather to the claims which, in view of the approaching religious decision, became per- sonal and vital to the young candidate for confirma- tion. Paul Nicolay strives throughout this period with the wholehearted intensity of an honest nature to concentrate on the necessity of really coming one step nearer that God who had been a reality to him from childhood, but in relation to whom he still finds he has left so much undone and unsolved. But he finds it difficult to reach the necessary degree of con- centration, hard to lose himself in prayer, while at the same time he must prepare for the exacting exam- inations which have to be passed before he can be promoted to the highest class of the Gymnasium. Learning the catechism, as well as all the required memorisation, seems very irksome and increases the burden of his work. The notes in the diary which he now began to keep have therefore at times quite a gloomy hue. He reproaches himself bitterly for mistakes he has made, and is also tormented, when the Fifth Commandment is under discussion in the Communicants’ class, by the thought of how often he has neglected his beloved mother. The indifference which often overpowered him as a result of physical Childhood and Youth 29 or mental strain seemed to him to be a sin. Never- theless, he succeeded in fighting his way to a calmer outlook on life. The day before his confirmation he writes: “I believe that the essential thing is to recognise oneself to be a poor sinner, and with joy and thankfulness to receive the forgiveness of Jesus, and that from Him Himself.” Both brother and sister were confirmed in the Church of St. Anne in Petersburg. “Our hearts failed us,” the young boy writes of the great event. “I had to fight Satan who was trying to make me indifferent, but, thanks to God, my prayer helped me to feel free. What grace I felt in this first partaking of the Sacrament! I hope I shall never forget it! What a joy, what a privilege, to feel Jesus within oneself! One feels completely changed. What goodness and mercy of God that He should give Himself to a poor sinner like me. I must busy myself more with God’s word, so that He may busy Himself more with me. I must, with God’s help, change for the better lest I should change for the worse.” These expressions of joy and gratitude, so natural to a youth brought up in a Christian atmos- phere at the time of confirmation and the impressive moments of his first communion, were of far greater significance than usual to young Nicolay. “Jesus within himself” became for him not only the source of joy and peace for his whole life, but also an abso- lutely binding call to a life of holiness, and a pledge of coming victory—a promise which he had to remind himself of again and again when the battle he waged would otherwise have seemed hopelessly hard. For the inner life of Paul Nicolay in all its simple devo- 30 Baron Paul Nicolay tion was never an easy one. He set his goal far too high for that and took into too little account the out- side circumstances, which others are so apt to employ as excuses for spiritual laziness. There was no definite “decision for Christ” at the time of confirma- tion in the life of Baron Nicolay, but this event was just one step nearer that decision, which became finally complete and unreserved after many similar steps through the same battle. The last year at school, 1879-1880, proved to be especially taxing to the young man’s physical strength. Neuralgic headaches, constant insomnia which fol- lowed, attacks of malaria and influenza—all these, which were the great trial of his maturer years—he suffered from even during school life, making espe- cially hard for him the intensive study for examina- tions which formerly marked the end of each term in a Russian school as a time to be dreaded. With his resolute sense of duty, Nicolay now buried himself in his work, but his conscience often smote him when he realised that he could not free himself from that ambition, that desire to distinguish himself which plays a part in every competition. Like a sigh of relief sound, therefore, the words of his diary, dated June 15, 1880: “Finis! I can hardly believe it, it is like a dream. God be praised for having helped me through these seven years of school.” It must have seemed like freedom from an unendur- able restraint immediately afterwards to travel abroad with his mother and sister to France, Switzerland and Italy. In France they visited his father’s sister, the Abbess Simplicie, in the Convent of Normandy, and Childhood and Youth 31 also his father’s brother Louis at “La Grande Char- treuse,” whom Paul Nicolay never neglected to visit in his many subsequent travels in Western Europe. In Italy the family stayed at Lake Maggiore, at Verona, and finally at Venice. Here Paul Nicolay left his family in order to return to St. Petersburg where he was to enter the University. That winter he lived with his uncle and guardian, then Minister of Education, Alexander Nicolay. This stern govern- ment official, who considered it every man’s duty to serve his country, that is, the State, urged his nephew to study law. As Paul’s mother, who had unlimited confidence in the judgment of her brother-in-law, supported him in this, the young man felt obliged to comply with his guardian’s wish. His own interests would have led him in quite a different direction—he loved history, and also geog- raphy, astronomy, physics, and other natural and mechanical sciences, in which he later acquired con- siderable proficiency by his own efforts. Practical activity, and most especially the healthy life at sea, also appealed to him. But jurisprudence with its great demand for dry memory work was, on the con- trary, repulsive to him. The first years at the Uni- versity were therefore almost as hard for him as the last year at the Gymnasium. His health was not im- proved by his visit abroad, and he felt weaker than ever before. He never used his bad health as an excuse for neglect of study, but he often excused himself because of it from fulfilling the demands which society began to make on the young baron and Jandowner. During these years he was reserved and ay! Baron Paul Nicolay shy, and his physical depression brought on a mental despondency, a tendency always to look on the gloomy side, which often seemed to overcome the natural joyousness and good spirits of which, according to the opinion of his young companions, he had a rich supply. In order to strengthen and discipline his rebellious body he began at this time to take lessons in fencing, which exercise was as beneficial to him as the season spent at the health resort in Bavaria in the summer of 1881. During the summer-time he spent a great many hours out-of-doors, devoting him- self most enthusiastically to sailing, of which he had been fond from his childhood. In 1883 he purchased the yacht “Lady,’’ which became a faithful friend to him through many a long year. With the pilot Pajuri and one other man as crew, he undertook from Mon- repos, where he usually spent the summer, trips to Kotka, Pellinge, Helsingfors, and other places in Fin- land. In this way he familiarised himself further with the country which was to become still dearer to him, and which, in spite of his Russian upbringing and international connections, he always liked to recog- nise as his fatherland. The sailing trips were beneficial to Paul Nicolay both physically and morally. He rejoiced in the manli- ness instilled in him through the necessity of extri- cating himself from critical situations, as opposed to the apathetic influences of the life at St. Petersburg. His love for this healthy sport became almost a real passion with him. One of Baron Nicolay’s com- panions of this time says that his desire to acquire true sailor customs would lead him to quite comical MONREPOS PAUL NICOLAY AT THE AGE OF THREE Childhood and Youth 33 exaggerations. He attempted among other things to chew tobacco, and when at night he would turn out the friends who were accompanying him they were forced before going up on deck to swallow a glass of rum, for that was part of the game. The fare on board the “Lady” was of the simplest, coarse bread and dried reindeer steak, so that the guests with more delicate appetites joyfully hailed the first white bread which was offered them on coming ashore. The out-of-door life at sea certainly helped strengthen Baron Nicolay for the winter’s hard battle with jurisprudence. June 7, 1884, he passed his law examination with honours, which like former similar triumphs seemed a marvel to him. “What others attribute to their good luck, I know that I have to thank God for,” he writes in his diary. And it was with reliance on this strength that he now attacked his studies for the final examination for his degree. During this phase of his life Paul Nicolay, in spite of the shyness which had, however, somewhat dimin- ished, as his strength increased, was often drawn into those circles of society where amusements reign. This picture of him as a companion and man of the world which was given by a friend of his youth portrays the young Paul Nicolay in the middle of the eighties, and the circles in which he moved. “It was a moment rich in significance for me,” writes Baron Theodor Brunn, “when one evening at the home of the governor-general, Count F. Heyden, who was living in St. Petersburg at the time, I became acquainted with Paul Nicolay, who was later to be- come an intimate, well loved, and admired friend. It 34 Baron Paul Nicolay seems as if it were but yesterday. Miss Olga von Heyden, who became later Lady-in-waiting to the Dowager Empress, came towards me accompanied by a pale thin young man, saying, ‘Baron Nicolay, who is also from Finland, wishes to meet you.’ I cannot remember what he said at the time, but it was of Finland he spoke, and I had a feeling of gratitude to him for wishing to become acquainted with me. We were both a great deal in society at the time. Paul Nicolay was a good friend and comrade at the University of St. Petersburg, of Alexander Heyden, who later became Flag Officer and Adjutant to the Emperor Nicholas II, but was more intimate with his classmate Dmitri, the youngest of the brothers, who joined the artillery and on retiring became Mar- shal of the Nobility in Southern Russia. The young people used to gather at the home of the Heydens once a week and played charades. Dmitri Heyden entertained everybody with his jokes. Paul Nicolay was in high spirits, and even if he did not help to amuse the company on a large scale he was well versed in innocent pranks. I remember so well how, happy and boyish, when seated on a Turkish divan in the smoking room beside Dmitri Heyden he said, ‘We don’t have to say much in order to enjoy ourselves.’ And then, experienced as he was in fencing and sailing, he would hit his neighbour a sharp blow on the knee. The latter would try to retaliate, but Paul Nicolay was agile and strong, and with a laugh he was in the other corner of the room. His joy was contagious, for it was so pure and hearty. Alexander Maxim- ovsky, Boris Jakeentschikoff, and Theodor Oom were Childhood and Youth 35 among the young men of this group at the Heydens’. It was with Oom that Nicolay sailed to Summa and fetched me on board his yacht ‘Lady.’ They were on their way to visit the Heydens who had rented the artistic home of General von Etter’s wife in Haiko for the summer. And it was on this cruise that I received my first impression of Paul Nicolay’s very helpful influence on his companions. . . . Both mem- bers of the crew, P. & K., were pleasant, devout people who attended prayers, where Nicolay would play for them English hymns on his little organ. But Oom and I were complete heathens. I had lost my faith as a student at Dorpat, and Oom was a cynic and belonged to that class of young people who regarded the creed of the Greek Orthodox Church merely as essential to a position in the world and at court. One warm summer evening we were all three reclining in the cabin while ‘Lady’ rocked on the quiet sea as on a lake of oil. Oom came out with a shady story or vulgar expression. I seconded him in such lan- guage; but, barely had we spoken ere Paul Nicolay urged us in a friendly but decided way to give up such conversation. He was a conscientious and earnest young man in whom we caught a glimpse of the servant of God which was to be.... Yes, he could sail, fence, play games, and act, but not as we others did. There was something about the expres- sion of his face which told of a försruntd fight for the spiritual world.” Paul Nicolay could do everything that those around him did, and yet in doing it he was not like them— this must be the explanation of the deep influence felt 36 Baron Paul Nicolay even then by his companions. “This young Daniel in a worldly society,” as Baron Brunn calls him, never lost sight of the high ideals of Christian manhood. “How I wished that even in the deepest recesses of my soul I might be straightforward, sincere, an enemy of all deceit, industrious, energetic, steadfast but humble—that I might fight and conquer self and with- out fear of men always let my conscience be the victor!’ This we find in his diary of 1882. Even after this he often upbraids himself for idleness, for it seems to his sorrow that he is wasting time. The purity he is striving for is far greater than freedom from merely gross sins. Once when in a moment of weariness he sought diversion in a book which he found to be coarse, he is convinced that reading it was a sin. “What little strength of character I have, that I do not throw away a dirty book in time!’ When dur- ing the autumn of 1884 in the course of a long jour- ney he visits Paris, he can be seen again fighting against a variety of impressions in order to keep his inner life strong and free from stain. Now, as before, he seeks help in all these battles from the God of his youth, to whom he always bears the relationship of a trust- ing child. Especially in his sailing trips he accustomed himself to look to God for protection and guidance even in the smallest things, a faith which became a comforting, steadying certainty throughout his life. He was often, as we have seen, depressed by his own inability and worthlessness. These scruples must have been confided to his Uncle Louis when he visited La Grande Chartreuse in 1884, for he writes in his diary how his uncle urged him to trust in God’s com- Childhood and Youth SÅ passionate and searching love for all his need. The relation between the Carthusian uncle and his nephew, a man of the world, was one of the deepest under- standing; and when Paul Nicolay remarks how the conversation turned to the necessity of doing every- thing for God and not for the praise of men and how they rebuked the cowardice and weakness of the day, we understand that the views of the ascetic monk and the fighting young Daniel must have harmonised in a marvellous way. But Paul Nicolay writes of a cousin de Broglie, also a monk, whom he visited and who grew "less friendly” when he found his Lutheran relative evading the question of conversion to Ca- tholicism. The Roman Catholic doctrines had never appealed to Alexandrine de Broglie’s grandson. The worship of saints irritated him who was always acutely sensible of man’s nothingness in the sight of God, and once after attending mass he simply jots down laconically, "Glad to have it over.” ZEsthetic impressions had no attraction for him, but he could appreciate to the full the spiritual greatness of certain Catholics, and the lure of asceticism which one could not fail to notice in his own life must have made him sympathise with certain features of Catholic discipline. Although the young Paul Nicolay was a pro- nounced Protestant in his views of life, he could never be termed an Orthodox Lutheran. Lutheran church life of the time was hardly calculated to appeal to a mind as strongly attracted by the essential and prac- tical in religion and indifferent to its historical forms and dogmatic interpretations as was Paul Nicolay’s. “Feclesiasticism” seemed to him even then, as he later 38 Baron Paul Nicolay expressed it, to be “just as much a party-spirit as any other conceivable form of party-spirit.” Even in maturer years he spoke of himself as a “poor denomi- nationalist.” Neither did he receive his deepest reli- gious awakenings, except at the time of confirmation, through the church, but rather at home. Baroness Nicolay was devoted to the church of which she was a member, but, as we have seen, her religion worked along other lines than those customary to that church. We have seen how, even from childhood, Paul N icolay accustomed himself to independent striving towards a personal relationship with God, and when as a man he received a deep and lasting influence from a Chris- tian community, it was not from his native church, but from a society almost unique in its nature and not even recognised as a religious body by the temporal and spiritual authorities of the Czar’s Russia. For Paul Nicolay received in the society of the Pasch- kovites the most powerful impulse to his faith and his first training as a worker in the service of Christ. The Paschkovite movement can be regarded as one of the most remarkable religious occurrences in Russia. It takes its place among the many sects of that country which were built on an evangelical basis. The Rus- sian sects are almost entirely unknown to us. Because the spirit which is, or was, prevalent among so many of them greatly affected Baron Nicolay’s spiritual development in the time of his youth, it might be of interest in a work of this nature to describe them in a few words. But, as this would lead too far afield, we must needs confine ourselves to Paschkovism Childhood and Youth 39 which in many ways resembles the purely popular sects, although of a totally different origin. The Paschkovite movement originated in aristo- cratic circles in St. Petersburg. In 1874 Lord Rad- stock, a leading English evangelist who had spoken in many countries in Europe, came to Russia’s capital at the request of a Russian lady of high rank who had heard him speak abroad. Here he held “drawing- room meetings’ in many an aristocratic home. Of Lord Radstock Paul Nicolay wrote at his death many years later: “His life was one of wholehearted devo- tion to his God, and his message was a melody of but a few tones.” This man, through his simple talks on the fundamentals of evangelical Christianity, made a deep impression on many members of the Russian nobility. One of those who heard him and were gripped by his message was the Colonel of the Guard, Vasilij Alexandrovitsch Paschkov. In 1876 he filed a request for permission to found a society to encour- age the reading of religious and moral literature, and his request was granted. The aim of the society was, according to its statutes, to afford people the oppor- tunity of obtaining at a low price parts of the sacred Scriptures as well as other literature. As a result about 200 pamphlets were published and circulated through the country districts by those appointed for that purpose. Paschkov and those of the same faith ——whose only dogma was belief in salvation through the atoning death of Jesus Christ and that this salva- tion was open to all—gathered in each other’s homes for religious meetings. In these gatherings the 40 Baron Paul Nicolay numerous servants of the most aristocratic household and men and women of humble rank were encouraged to take part. These meetings were most often held in the magnificent Paschkovite palace at Nevan, or in the home of the sisters, Princesses Gagarina and Lieven, at Bolschaja Morskaja. Here one could meet not only pastors but also Colonel Pashkov himself, Lord Chamberlain Count Korff, and many other mem- bers of the new society; and here in the most luxuri- ously furnished drawing rooms, seated on high antique chairs of gilt and figured leather, were washerwomen and farm hands side by side with countesses and princesses of the bluest blood, often sharing even the same hymn book—a sight hitherto unknown in Russia. Tolstoy in his novel “Resurrection” has painted a satirical picture of this little group. It is easy to understand how he who had never looked behind the scenes saw in it merely a parody of what he called Christian brotherhood—the outcome of a fashionable whim or a rising tide of emotion among a few rich and self-satisfied people. What the great author failed to see was the deep, rich peace which “the glad tidings” brought to the hearts of poor and rich alike, and which kindled in most of the members of the Paschkovite society a burning desire for service and gave them steadfast courage in the face of abuse and persecution. It was but natural that the work of the Paschkovites was very soon to arouse unrest in the camp of the Orthodox Church. The Church publications showered on the heads of these new sec- tarians abusive words, and demanded their overthrow. At these meetings no mention was made of saints, of PAUL NICOLAY AND HIS THREE SISTERS, 1870 Childhood and Youth 41 the Virgin Mary, or of the Sacraments of the Church, and no icons were found in the meeting places. Was not this sufficient reason for branding the entire move- ment as immoral and unchristian? In 1877 an order was issued to Paschkov prohibit- ing religious meetings, and in the following year the religious authorities were told to urge him and his followers to abandon the error of their ways and return to the fold of the Orthodox Church. As a result Paschkov moved his field of activity to the country places where he could work unnoticed, and especially to his many large estates. In this way the Paschkovite propaganda reached the more distant peoples and came into contact with earlier existing evangelical sects. When Paschkov returned to Peters- burg in 1884, he and Count M. Korff called together a joint meeting of representatives of these sects— Stundists, Baptists, Molokans, and others. This meeting was soon forbidden and many of the dele- gates, mostly peasants from various parts of the coun- try, were arrested, examined, and sent home by the administration. In the same year the society for encouragement of the reading of religious literature was dissolved by governmental ukase. Immediately afterwards the Holy Synod directed the bishops to watch the spread of the Paschkovite movement, and a similar order was given the governors by the Home Secretary. Colonel Paschkov was forced to leave the country and make his home abroad, but the movement continued to spread in the late eighties and through the nineties. During this period it became more and more assimilated with the other existing sects, and 42 Baron Paul Nicolay grew in many respects more radical and more aggres- sive against the Church. But in the highest circles in the capital Paschkovism retained its original character. For here meetings were quietly carried on, occasionally exposed to annoyances from the police but more often, thanks to the protection of the Court, left unmolested. It was here also that Paul Nicolay, in the eighties, first came into touch with the movement. Count Konstan- tin von der Pahlen, his friend, later to become his brother-in-law, introduced him into the society of the Paschkovites, where his mother also was known, for although she never joined the movement—always remaining a faithful member of the German congrega- tion in Petersburg—she embraced, nevertheless, the spiritual sphere of its activities with warmth and sym- pathy and had many intimate friends among its mem- bers. Paul Nicolay, a student and young functionary, thus came to attend these religious meetings first at the home of Paschkov, whom he did not come to know until several years later, and afterwards at the home of Princess Lieven whose son became a good friend of his. Here he found divine worship simpler and more direct than in the Church, and a much greater demand for personal work on the part of the individual members of the group. ‘The latter had at first an almost terrifying effect on him whose re- served nature shrank from united prayer, and the oft heard sentimentality in the preaching of German and English evangelists frequently repelled him. But there were other aspects of these meetings which must have strongly appealed to him. There was a spirit Childhood and Youth 43 of earnestness which permeated these people who were striving to serve God in the midst of a godless and superficial world, and it was not rare to meet here those who had borne witness to their faith before princes and rulers and suffered for it in prison or exile. Something of the deep, pure fire of the early Chris. tians must have been rekindled here. And again and again the speeches emphasised complete surrender to the only God as the condition of fitness for use in the service of His Kingdom. It was now made still clearer to the young Nicolay that his Lord might demand a more complete and unlimited possession of him, that an irreproachable life could not be the sole aim of a Christian, for there was work for every one who was willing to be used. Gradually this thought ripened within him among this group of Christians, so sure of their faith. “How much spiritual blessing have I not found in the meetings in the home of Princess Lieven,” he said to one of his Finnish friends many years later. It was here that the young man often found the needed help for the fight to be able to live in the world without being “of the world.” This battle was still far from over in the last years of study, and it was not so to be until he should have found a way out from this “world” into a richer, fuller, and more fruitful life. CHAPTER III Years of Consecration O* returning from his trip abroad in the autumn of 1884, Paul Nicolay writes: ‘“A new phase of life, a new manner of living is now opening up for me. I will begin it with God, and pray Him to be with me and bless me.” The new life of which he is think- ing is primarily the completion of his studies at the University and the prospective entering upon his legal career as a government official. In the winter of ’84-’85 he worked on the thesis for his final examina- tion in law, after the acceptance of which he was appointed in the spring of ’85 to the first department of the Senate. Some years later he left this civil service department for the Council of Empire. But the new work did not interest Baron Nicolay, and the change from the University life made no great difference to his habits of living. During these years his time is divided between the duties of his position, which he tries to fulfil with his customary minute conscientiousness, and that life of pleasure which his standing in society almost required of him. He at- tends the theatre—which he, not being