The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-07-24

CHURCH REFORM IN Observation-Disclosures
OF TIE HEREDITARY PRIEsTHooD.-The
autocrat government of Russia has pub
lished with calm dignity ukase by which the
hereditary Icyitical character of the Russo
Greek priesthood. numbering nearly zoo, 0oo
with their families, is forever abolished
In any other country such 8 sweeping
measure would have constituted ei'her q
revolution or coup d'ctat. In Russia II 10
prepared in silence, unexpectedly pun,
iighcd with the imperial signature, ana
masses almost unobserved amid the other
great reforms of the present reign.
OF all the journals in Russia, the Mos
COW Gazette has alone spoken OF the ukase
in tone BETTING its solcmnity and I'M
portancc. Itsays:
at was about the time of Peter the Great
that the priestly character first became
hereditary in Russia, and formed caste
among the lower classes Of the population.
This saved it from becoming theocracy,
while it lowered the social dignity OF the
church. Deprived partly of civil rights,
this leyitical caste increased In NUMBERS
and in poverty until it became the cmc1
care of the bishops to devise the means OF
feeding the clerical prolftdriat, which, to
some extent, stood toward them IN the same
relation rs the serfs once did to their lords.
The Church became simply a means OF pro
ridinr for the wants Of those who were he
reditarily attached to her service. Its tenn
plcs MT last came to form part of the dowry
of "maidens of the priestly class" may
here mention that no priest could get
living until he had married. Indeed he
could rarely get a parish except through
marriage with a lady possessing a reVer-
sionary interest in some living, or educated
at one of the schools for poor daughters OF
the clergy who were thus worked on the
charity list. Another great evil Of this
orronGement was that it prevented the re-
cruitment of the clergy from among the
better educated classes.
Seldom, says the Moscow Gazefe, has
any great reform so carefully avoided the
infringement Of justice in respect to vested
interests. The children Of the clergy lose
none of their rights with the abolition OF
the hereditary character OF the clerical
Office. Ii born of priests or deacons, they
will in future have the status of personal
nobility -. C., the social position OF gen
trv-while those of parents who are lower
in the hierarchy are now placed on an
equality with the upper grade of the mer-
camille class. They are TO continue to have
the benefit of the charitable and ednca-
tional establishments hitherto maintained
for the clergy.
Another important feature in the new
ukase is the better provision which 1t makes
for the maintenance of the priesthood
Their poverty has been principally due to
the excessive number both of parishes and
priests, the former having been created for
the latter. There is to be new distrlbu-
ton of cures, on the basis of population,
facility of communication between villages,
the moral condition of parishioncrs, &c.
Each parish will be served only by an tin
cumbent" and "psalmist,;' the office of
deacon being abolished except IN the capt.
tails and in cathedrals, where greater
number of priests can also be attached !;
and no priestly Office can in future be held
under the age of thirty.