Chapter XV · THE SIBERIAN CHURCH.
Reading edition
The Russian Church.—Geographical area.—History, doctrines, schisms.—Ecclesiastical divisions of Siberia.—Church committees.—Russian Church services.—Picture-worship.—Vestments.—Liturgy.—Ordination.—Baptism.—Marriage.—Minor services.
It will be expected, of course, in a journey from the Urals to the Pacific, that something should be said of the Siberian Church, to treat of which is to treat of the Russian Church in Siberia. Wherever the Russians carry their arms, there, like the Romans, they carry their creed; and consequently all along the great Siberian highways, where the Russians dwell, they have their ecclesiastical system as in Europe. I shall therefore speak generally of things concerning the Greek Church, whether in Russia or Siberia, and illustrate them by what I have seen.
Our knowledge of the Russian Church comes to us chiefly from two sources: from the pens of ecclesiastical authors, and from the writings of modern travellers. From the latter, it is not too much to say that the Russians and their religion often receive a scant measure of justice, not to add misrepresentation; for when the British tourist looks upon the gorgeous and elaborate ritual of an Eastern Church, sees the picture-worship of the people, their kissing of relics, and invocation of saints, he is reminded of like things in the Churches of Italy and Spain, and he not unfrequently condemns both East and West as superstitious and corrupt alike. Such a charge, however, is far too sweeping, and betrays a lack of knowledge of many points which, if more generally known, would certainly bring English Churchmen nearer, at least in sympathy, with members of the Church in Russia. On the other hand, the writings of ecclesiastical authors are usually so technical as to fail in bringing before us what the traveller sees as the everyday religious life of a people. It is desirable to avoid these two extremes, and to distinguish between the recognized standards of a Church’s teaching, and the correspondence therewith, or otherwise, of the daily lives of its members.[1]
I do not propose to enter here upon the history,[2] doctrines,[3] or schisms[4] of the Russian Church, but proceed to observe that, for ecclesiastical purposes, Siberia is divided into six dioceses, presided over by 7 bishops. It contains 1,515 churches and 1,509 clergy; 14 monasteries containing 147 monks, and 4 nunneries containing 62 nuns. Russian dioceses are subdivided into rural deaneries, each consisting of a circle of from ten to thirty parishes, some of which, in Siberia, must be very extensive, though not necessarily populous. A priest near Tobolsk, however, told me that he had 5,000 parishioners; another at Kansk, near Irkutsk, had 2,000, widely scattered; whilst on the Siberian coast of the Pacific, Nikolaefsk and Vladivostock, towns of 3,000 and 5,000 inhabitants respectively, form only one parish each. Every selo or town of a certain grade has a church; and in some of the derevni, or villages, churches and small chapels, or oratories, are built, in which latter, services, other than the liturgy or holy communion, may be performed. The churches and vestments are furnished and kept in repair by parochial committees, of not less than five persons, elected annually, who, on retiring from office, are called “church elders.” They visit every house in the parish, and determine what proportion of the expenses should be paid by each householder. There would seem to be no difficulty in raising the necessary funds; and I must add that I was agreeably surprised in Siberia to see how well and how clean the churches were kept, even in the remotest and most out-of-the-way places.[5]
We had several opportunities, in passing through Siberia, of attending the Church services. Picture-worship is an almost universal attendant of Russian devotion—more so, if possible, than in Roman countries; and the Russian Church has found it necessary to issue many warnings against the perils of idolatry.[6]
Another prominent feature of “orthodox” worship is the plentiful use of lighted candles bought at the church entrance. In one church in Petersburg, and that not the largest, I was told that money is taken yearly for candles up to 10,000 roubles—say £1,000.
The vestments of the priests and bishops are gorgeous in the extreme. A metropolitan’s “sakkos” is shown at Moscow, which is said to weigh 50 pounds, by reason of the pearls and gems with which it is embellished. At the Troitza monastery are fifteen dresses for the Archimandrite, one of which, for the mere making, cost the Empress Elizabeth £600, the robe itself being valued at £11,000. This monastery is said to possess amongst its treasures two bushels of pearls, and, from what I have twice seen there, I am inclined to add an estimated pint of diamonds, to say nothing of emeralds, rubies, and sapphires innumerable!
The Church services are of a monastic character, long and tedious, read in Sclavonic, “which is to the modern Russian,” it is said, “about what the language of Chaucer is to us”; so that, what with its ancient form and the rapidity with which the ecclesiastical language is read, it is practically unintelligible to many of the people. From time to time in the services commemorations are made of the Virgin and saints; and prayers are offered to them, blessings are asked of God through their intercessions, and the response, Gospodi Pomilui, “Lord, have mercy!” is uttered thirty, forty, fifty times or more, almost at a breath.
No instrumental music is allowed in the Russian Church; but the singing in large cathedrals, such as St. Isaac’s at Petersburg (where they have 30 choristers dressed in blue and gold tunics), is exceedingly grand. I do not remember to have heard elsewhere such extraordinary harmony. The basses descended to depths almost abyssmal, and the trebles soared to and were sustained at a height perfectly marvellous, whilst other voices were so profusely blended that I can compare the effect of the whole to nothing better than to an exquisite colored window. The hymn called “The Cherubim,” with music by Bortnyanski, I heard sung at Petersburg and Kasan; and at the latter place was not surprised to see tears falling from the eyes of a peasant woman near me, for my own were uncommonly moist. I made bold to approach and look over the music of one of the choristers, thereby alarming the Monk director, who, mistaking my interest, said afterwards he thought I had perchance come from the Imperial choir to take away some of his best voices.
The ritual and services of the Russian Church are contained in twenty volumes folio. The greatest part of the service varies every day in the year except in the Liturgy, where the greater part is fixed.[7]
As we passed through Kasan we happened to see the ordination of a priest and a deacon, which was interesting. Holy orders are regarded by the Russian Church as a sacrament or mystery, but are not indelible. If, for instance, a widower priest wishes to marry again, he can do so by resigning his priest’s orders and taking some inferior place among the minor orders, or by giving up his ecclesiastical profession altogether. They have five orders, namely, bishop, priest, deacon, sub-deacon, and reader; and the episcopal dignitaries consist of metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops, some of which latter are suffragans.[8]
The services connected with baptism in the Russian Church were formerly very numerous, though now they are frequently more or less combined;[9] one principal difference in practice between the Greek and English Churches being that the former always baptizes by immersion. The child is usually named after one of the saints in the Russian calendar, the yearly recurrence of whose festival constitutes the person’s “name’s-day.” This is observed in Russia more than the “birth-day,” which practice has the advantage that if the Christian name of a friend is familiar, one always knows when to congratulate him.
Marriage is counted one of the sacraments or mysteries of the Greek Church, but virginity is taught to be better than wedlock. Priests are commanded, under pain of degradation, not to join in wedlock persons of unsuitable ages, nor those ignorant of the essential articles of the faith, and in no case without due notice given. The Russian Church fixes the age of majority for the bridegroom at twenty-one, or, by permission of parents, as early as eighteen, and sixteen for the bride; it frowns on second and third marriages, and forbids fourth marriages altogether.[10]
There are yet other services, such as the so-called sacrament of penance, which closely resembles, but differs in two important respects from, that of the Church of Rome.[11]
And, again, the Russian sacrament of unction differs in more than one respect from the Roman.[12]
For the benediction of water there are two offices: the lesser, which is used whenever consecrated water is required, and the greater, which is performed at the Epiphany, in memory of the baptism of Christ, and is carried out with great ceremony. Another office in the Russian Church is that of “Orthodox Sunday,” which is in form somewhat similar to the English “Commination Service,” and in which anathemas are pronounced against those who impugn various articles of the Russian faith. Yet another service is “the Office of the Holy Unction,” that is, for preparing the chrism,[13] and there are other occasional and curious services, such as for the consecration of a church; for an icon or picture; washing the feet on Thursday in Holy Week; prayers on laying the first stone of a house; for seed time; longer offices to be used in drought, earthquake, plague, incursion of barbarians, for children when they commence their education, and many more; but I think that on this head I have said enough.