The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-08-11
Death and Burial in Moscow.


In Moscow, as in other parts oil
Russia. dissenters are met with. and
among them we have the "Old Be-
lievers," who conduct their Worship ao-
'cording to the rites of the ancient Greek
Church. not admitting the various
changes adopted by Neon and others
and now carried out in the Russian
Greek Church. These dissenters 90 to
great expense whenever death enters
their dwellings; and just now-March,
lSS3-there has been in Moscow a very
important example of this fact. In
Russian merchants family in that city,
consisting of father. mother, two mar
riageable daughters and one son, the
eldest daughter, about twenty years of
age, has just died, and an outline of the
proceedings consequent thereon will be
interesting. Certainly the social posi-
ton of the family was of the middle
ACKNOWLEDGMENT their living was of
fair style for such folks. On the day of
the daughters death, immediate prep
arations were made for the burial. which
IN Russia must be at once. dead bodies
not being allowed to remain among the
living for more than twenty-four hours.
The coffin was made of thin boards, but
covered with silk velvet, having Hall
marked silver handles, and '' coffin
furniture costing over one thousand
rubles Zone hundred pounds) and in
the hands of the corpse was placed a
small painting of the Virgin, having a
silver frame and covering, costing an
other one hundred pounds, and which
became the property of the church
where the funeral prayers were recited
at burial. The body was dressed as
bride-she had become the bride of
Heaven-and these robes and the dress
ing involved, the first two hundred
pounds and the latter one hundred
pounds. First, she was dressed
in fine linen chemise trimmed
with costly lace; over this a
'chemisette, and then short tunic
in white satin, embroidered with gold
and silver thread, called Sarafdn.
Then the head-dress was the usual Rus.
sian hat with pearls. But the greatest
expenses were incurred in prayers and
masses. In forty churches in the city
e OF Moscow prayers were ordered to be
: said for her, morning and evening, for
forty days, for which 6,000 rublcs were
o charged, or ut the rate of los. per serv-
Ice-Gl 500 being paid for $500 serv-
ices; and at each service some one at
tended and distributed bread and aims
to the poor, the bread being to each
person c05dtch, something more than
penny loaf. Such loaves were also
sent for forty days to all the prisoners
in Moscow. For several days in the
bazars the bakers were authorized to
distribute bread to all poor people APP
plying for it in the name of the dead
girl and engaged to pray for her. But
even this did not suffice. To other
cities of Russia, sand also to such as
Vienna, Pesth, Athens, where churches
OF the sect exist, money was sent and
prayers ordered to be said for forty
days. The funeral took place in the
well-known Holy Cemetery of Ragoshka,
where only Old Believers are buried,
and where a wooden building was put
up capable of dining $50 guests-the
leading members of the sect around
Moscow. The dinner was served from
the leading hotel in Moscow at cost
of about los. per person, to which the
expense of the fruit and wine had to be
added, the fruit in Russia in early
spring costing fabulous prices. 1t is
calculated by some of the most intimate
friends of the family known to the
writer that sum of not less than
10000 was spent over the ceremony;
and none of the co-religionists look up.
on this as at all extravagant.- Cham
GerS' Journal.