Pam* 
 
 Europe 
 
 Heard ? Albert F. 
 
 The Russian Church and Russian Dissent* 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. 
 
 243 
 
 1888.] 
 
 disappointment at wliat lie thought was Wallace’s forestalling 
 of all his years of work. His sense of literary honor comes out 
 strongly in these letters, and his feeling about priority is shown 
 in the admiration expressed in his “ Recollections,” concerning 
 what is termed Wallace’s self-annihilation. 
 
 Wallace prepared a paper on “Man,” in which the leading 
 idea was expressed that during later ages the mind will have 
 been modified more than the body. Darwin is interested in 
 this view, and says that he had got so far as to see, with Wal¬ 
 lace, “ that/ the struggle between the races of man depended 
 entirely op intellectual and moral qualities. This was before 
 he had himself prepared his work on the “ Descent of Man.” 
 In the second volume,/there is a great deal of correspondence 
 with Wallace, Lyell, Hooker, and others. 
 
 In 18^1, the “ Descent of Man” was published, the preparation 
 of which for the press had occupied him for three years. In a 
 letter toHoojter, he says, “I finished the last proofs of my 
 book a few"days ago. The work half killed me, and I have 
 ! not the most remote idea whether the book is worth publish- 
 ] ing.” 
 
 Ho one can read the “ Life” without being impressed with 
 i the genuine simplicity of character and humility of mind in 
 Darwin. He is a representative observer and generalize!*, a 
 true “ man of science.” The absorption of all his energies in the 
 single aim of his life was complete; even to thp detriment of 
 1 his aesthetic tastes and his religious nature. From a like cause, 
 doubtless, they suffered in common. But as ai naturalist he 
 stands as the most conspicuous figure of recent limes;' and his 
 name marks the beginning of a new epoch in physical science, 
 and in numerous trains of thought thence derived. 
 
244 
 
 The Russian Church and Russian Dissent. [April, 
 
 Article II. —THE RUSSIAN CHURCH AND RUSSIAN 
 
 DISSENT. 
 
 The Russian Church and* Russian Dissent: Comprising Or¬ 
 thodoxy, Dissent, and Erratic Sects. By Albert F . Heard, 
 formerly Consul-General for Russia at Shanghai. New 
 York : Harper & Brothers. 1887. 
 
 Those who are interested in social and political questions 
 find in Russia a rich field for their investigations. To them 
 the account of its religious history which is given in the hook 
 under review should be most acceptable. For Russia, since its 
 political system is theocratic, is still in that stage of develop¬ 
 ment where the religious and political affairs of a nation influ¬ 
 ence each other profoundly. In fact the theory of government 
 which Nicholas strove to carry out, and to which Alexander 
 III. has adhered hitherto is best expressed by the motto 
 “ Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality.” Moreover, one reason 
 why the peasantry are so generally indifferent to the cause of 
 civil liberty is to be found in their reverence for the Tsar as 
 the Yicar of God. Nor is the bitter hatred with which the 
 Nihilists regard the imperial administration lacking in striking 
 religious elements. These men and women, professed atheists 
 though they are, manifest a self-abnegation so admirable and 
 a devotion so fervid that they cannot be said to be without a 
 religion. As M. Leroy-Beaulieu remarked in his brilliant Arti¬ 
 cles in the Revue des deux Mondes last year: “ The Russian 
 spirit .... has kept, unconsciously, the habits, the emotions, 
 the generosities of faith, so that in becoming revolutionary it 
 has, so to speak, only changed its religion.” “ To the worship 
 of the invisible has succeeded the worship of what may be 
 touched, and to the promises of the heavenly Jerusalem the 
 visions of an earthly paradise.” 
 
 Mr. Heard, as the title of his book indicates, describes the 
 history and present religious condition of the Orthodox Church 
 of Russia, and then passes to a discussion of the origin and 
 growth of dissent, together with the rise of various erratic sects. 
 
I 
 
 
 
 1 tj 
 
 [/ 
 
 7T 
 
 1888.1 The Russian Church and Russian Dissent. 245 
 
 J. 
 
 The religions condition of large parts of the Russian popu¬ 
 lation is hardly more advanced than was that of the peoples 
 of Western Europe in the fourteenth century. Dark super¬ 
 stitions and pagan survivals still exercise a strange power over 
 the minds of the lower classes. The gods of the woods and 
 the rivers have not yet lost all their devotees. Old heathen 
 divinities masquerade as Christian saints. Elias performs the 
 duties which formerly were the care of the Russian Jupiter. 
 One of the most popular of these canonized deities is St. 
 Nicholas who, some of the people say, will take God’s place 
 when He grows old. Nor has sorcery, though driven from 
 Western Europe, yet deserted the huts and fields of Russia. 
 M. Beaulieu tells us that “ in the eyes of many a peasant the 
 rites of the church are only the solemnest charms, and her 
 prayers the incantations best adapted to conjure real or imagi¬ 
 nary dangers. For him the priest is most of all the depositary 
 of holy formulas and the master of heavenly exorcisms ; Christ 
 is, in a manner, merely the mightiest and sweetest of en¬ 
 chanters ; God is only the supreme magician.” And yet exist¬ 
 ing beside these superstitions we find a rare combination of 
 qualities essentially Christian. The Russian peasants are 
 ■ among the few who have preserved the idea of sanctity. “ The 
 cross is not only about their necks, but it is in their hearts.” 
 So strange a mixture of what is best and what is most degrad¬ 
 ing is in a large measure accounted for by the way in which 
 Christianity was established among them. 
 
 Their conversion was after this manner, to use the words of 
 Dr. Schalf, “ As soon as the Grand Duke Vladimir [980-1015] 
 was baptized preparations were made for the baptism of his 
 people. The wooden image of Perun (the Russian Jupiter) 
 was dragged at a horse’s tail through the country, soundly 
 flogged by all passers by, and finally thrown into the Dniepr. 
 Next, at a given hour, all the people of Kieff, men, women, 
 and children, descended into the river, while the Grand Duke 
 kneeled, and the Christian priests read the prayers from the 
 top of the cliffs on the shore. Nestor, the Russian monk and 
 annalist, thus describes the scene: c Some stood in the water 
 up to their necks, others up to their breasts, holding their 
 young children in their arms, the priests read the prayers from 
 
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 246 The Russian Church and Russian Dissent. [April, 
 
 the shore, naming at once whole companies by the same name. 
 It was a sight wonderfully curious and beautiful to behold; 
 and when the people were baptized, each returned to his own 
 home. 5 ” 
 
 Nor was this change as superficial as we might be led to sup¬ 
 pose. These outward measures were supplemented by the 
 circulation of the Scriptures in the Slavic version of Cyrill, 
 missionary to a kindred people dwelling in the northern part 
 of what is now the Austrian empire. Since, however, Russian 
 paganism was not in its decay, but in its formative state it 
 maintained a hold on the people and reappeared under Chris¬ 
 tian forms. “ Polytheism represented their beliefs and Chris¬ 
 tianity their worship.” 
 
 Passing, now, over Mr. Heard’s graphic account of the 
 heroic age of the Russian Church we desire to call attention to 
 the curious and interesting phenomena which are presented by 
 the heretical sects. And in thinking of this subject it is nec¬ 
 essary to bear in mind that while the Russian Church in mat¬ 
 ters of ecclesiastical organization stands midway between the 
 Church of Rome and the various Protestant bodies, in matters 
 of ritual it is far more extreme than the most ardent Romanists. 
 It was this obstinate attachment to what the people believed 
 to be the ancient rites, which in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries led great numbers of them into bitter antagonism to 
 the Church and even to the government. The circumstances 
 were as follows. Nikon, one of the noblest figures in Russian 
 history, resolved to do away the abuses which, in the times of 
 ignorance and confusion, had crept into the Church, and to 
 purify the ritual from all its superstitious accretions. By the 
 aid of ancient manuscripts he corrected the errors of copyists 
 and restored the old forms of service. But these changes, as 
 well as his rigorous discipline, aroused the distrust and hatred 
 of a large party. What their fathers had taught them they 
 mistook, as do many other better informed people even now, 
 for primitive Christianity. Nikon was overthrown; although 
 his reforms were finally adopted. In his footsteps, but with 
 too reckless violence, followed Peter the Great. u It is diffi¬ 
 cult, at the present day,” says Mr. Heard, “ to realize the im¬ 
 pression this monarch made upon his subjects. It was more 
 
1888.] The Russian Church and Russian Dissent. 247 
 
 than wonder and amazement; they were scandalized by his 
 acts. He trampled under foot their most cherished customs 
 and traditions; openly and brutally assailed ancient and ven¬ 
 erable institutions, held in tenderest respect; . . . enforced 
 regulations which shocked their national prejudices and relig¬ 
 ious belief; . . . and dared even raise a sacrilegious hand upon 
 the holy Church.” To the minds of many “ He was the Anti¬ 
 christ, whose coming had been foretold by the prophets, and 
 his reign was the reign of Satan.” 
 
 The Raskolniks, or schismatics, who now sprang into being, 
 were divided into two classes. The first did not deny the 
 sacred character of the Russian Church, nor the validity of its 
 ordinations ; and therefore simply withdrew from it as tainted 
 with heresy. Believing, however, in the necessity of a regu¬ 
 larly ordained priesthood they were driven, during the early 
 period of their existence, to employ for the most part priests 
 who had either been expelled from the orthodox body or who 
 had been bribed to leave it. This deplorable state of affairs 
 lasted until nearly the middle of the present century, when 
 through the good offices of certain Polish agitators, who be¬ 
 lieved that an organized dissenting church would be a useful 
 political weapon, they succeeded in establishing a regular epis¬ 
 copate of their own. 
 
 This party, called the “ Popovsti,” or priest-possessing, is to 
 be distinguished from the “ Bezpopovsti, ” who have no priests. 
 To the minds of these fanatics “the National Church had 
 become heretical, and lost all claim to divine favor and authority, 
 it was accursed, and its ministers were children of the Evil 
 One; any communication with them was a sin, and consecra¬ 
 tion or ordination by them was pollution. ” Their subsequent 
 career forms some of the most curious, though by no means the 
 most agreeable, pages of religious history. Many of them 
 “ have wandered from Christian truth and ordinary morality, 
 ramifying in every conceivable direction, following out, with 
 inexorable logic, to their most extravagant conclusions the vaga¬ 
 ries and eccentricities of individual opinion.” 
 
 An d yet we Americans must not be in haste to cast the first 
 stone. Let us the rather judge Russian vagaries only after 
 glancing at some of our own peculiar communities; at the 
 
248 
 
 4 /, J 
 
 The Russian Church and Russian Dissent. [April, 
 
 Shakers on the one side, and, on the other, at Oneida and Mor- 
 mondom. We may learn a lesson in charity and humility, also, 
 when we consider that in one of onr large divinity schools there 
 were a few years ago, among one hundred students, seventeen 
 sects represented. 
 
 Many of the [Russian dissenters are distinguished for sobriety, 
 industry, and those quieter virtues which characterize the good 
 citizen of the middle class. 
 
 In the limits of a short review it is quite impossible to touch 
 on the varied aspects of the subjects which Mr. Heard so enter¬ 
 tainingly and ably discusses. There is not a dull page in his 
 book. Prefixed to it is a list of authorities for the direction 
 of those who wish to study deeper into the subject. We will 
 say in addition that in the Revue des Deux Mondes for the 
 year 1887, vol. ii., p. 808, seq.; iv., p. 840, seq.; v., p. 821, 
 seq., there is a series of instructive Articles by M. Anatole 
 Leroy-Beaulieu of the French Academy on the latest phases 
 of Russian religion. 
 
 Henry E. Bourne. 
 

 
 
 
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