The sun., 1903-05-10
RUSSfA'SCZAR AND HIS PEOPLE
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES or
EASTER WEEK Ar MOSCOW.
Nicholas ". and the Czarlna Visit the Holy
Places In the krrmlin-Strict Obj
sefvsncq. OF I.ent-CiOse Contact win
;tSfttAsant Crowds IN the Old Capital
40 Concern About Possible Assassins.

common people go wild over them. Neve
was there such long sustained enthusiasm
showig'by tue people about the rulers o
RUSSIA This fact Il commented on. ant
even kessimsts agree in saying that th'
preseHg visit of Nicholas H. to Moscow
must have a strong effect on the Cars
future policy; that the true communion
with the common people into which he has
entered has cemented the ties that bind
the Cxar to the bulk Of the people-the
peasants and the artisans.
Russia is above all a peasant empire
and Moscow il that empires heart-the
real centre o{ it's circulation. There. in the
ancienS caFftal, with Its 40 times &C
CHURCHES. there Is at ali times an immense
influx of peasant and tisans who came from,
all over Russia to earn money in the city.
NearlSall of these return to their villages
at harvest time and thus disseminate over
Russia i heir impressions of life in the capi-
tai. and their talk. the vividness Of their
transient impressions. is of the utmost
Importance, for the peasants do not read
newspapers and the talk they hear from
their fellows is the only means they have
Of knowing what is going on in the outside
world.
hNcI SlHNt tIlt \ Hdi anu NHdiiih
in Moscow-a day or two before Palm
Sunday-accompan by their four little
daughters, ranging from TO years
of age, they have moved constantly
and with no restraint among the dense
crowds Of their cheering subjects. The
Czarina-the strikingly beautiful grand
daughter of the late Queen Victoria-is a
convert from the Lutheran Church. and
with sTery year she is increasing in her
devotion to her adopted religion; so much
so that it is said that now she is as strict in
her compliance with the hard Lenten
rules tpf the ascetc Russian Orthodox
Church as is lrer own sister. Elizabeth, the
childl@s wife of Grand Duke Sergius
uncle Of the Gear and Governor Of Moscow
at the present time.
The. .pIesent visit Of the imperial couple
to Moscow was avowedly undertaken with
the ohjsct-.of paying their devotions at
the holy xalrines of the Kremlin, preparatory
TO the taking of the yearly communion.
According to the rites of the Eastern Church,
every communicant must attend every
church service for whole week.--or for
four days on Holy Week previous to
going to confession and receiving the
absoution necessary for communion; and
for that period Of time he or she must dis
associate himself aS thoroughly as possible
from al earthly concerns.
The E1ar and his consort spent nearly
all their time between their arrival in Mos
COW on April 10 until Easter Sunday. April
10, attending the services in different
churches within the enclosure of the walls
OF the Kremin. Every day there were
two church services to attend-each of
two or three hours duration-at which
the Czaf ana the Czarina always stood,
as do all the members OF the Russian
ChurcfE the idea being that it is not seemly
to sit down dn the temple and in the pres
ence Sfthe Most High. Also. according to
the custom of the Eastern Church. following
Christ's injunction as to mot preventing
little children" from coming to Him, they
frequently brought the four little Prn-
cesses to church services along with them
one. who Is 8 years of age, keeping Lent
fully and doing all that her father and
mother did, save attending the night SER
vices on Holy Saturday morning. This the
Gar and the Czarina did from O'Clock to
In the morning. as we'll az the service on
the night preceding Easter Sunday. which
lasts from midnight until o'clock in the
court in gala attire.
In the Kremlin the Car is forcibly re-
minded of the conditions under which his
ancestors a simple youth Of the landed ro-
prietors, class. Michael Romanof, was called
some 200 years ago, to the throne of Russia
by the will of the Russian people, exhausted
by the three centuries OF Tartar dominion
and the quarrefs and wars Of their petty
UNrtE, 10, Z.
the reins Of government in the hands of
one man, trusting that, the anointed OF the
Lord, he will always be led right Here.
on the Red Sr,uare Of the Kremlin, the SOW
ereiglls see the monument to Minin and
Poiarsky, recalling to their minds the fact
that 1t wasno to the cour iers nor to mighty
armies. but to plain peasant butcher and
patriot from among the boyards. that their
ancestor. Gar Michael, owed life and his
throne and Russia lis integrity.
On every hand in the kremlin and in
Moscow the Gar sees evidence to testify
to the close intercommunion and inter-
dependence Of the Russian people and
their rulers in the past and Of the historical
role OF orthodoxy. He is confronted with
proof ihnumerable Of the fact that abso-
lutism-in the Western acceptance Of the
term has always been foreign to the
Russian conception Of statehood; that
absolutism has never been evolved out of
Russian life-as the idea OF Czardom un-
doubtedly was-but was introduced forci-
bly, much later by that self-willed genius,
Peter the Great, who rode rough-shod over
national tastes and national peculiarities
and notwithstanding his great achievements
did incalculable harm to the country, de-
hecting the normal development Of Russia
into artificial channels and introducing
western reforms, mostly harmful. because
inconsistent with the national character,
with the Russian genius and ideals OF Gov
ernment.
The Car and his consort offered numer-
GUS opportunities in the course Of the last
two weeks Of their stay in the Kremlin
palace TO anarchists or to any emissaries
Of the so-called Russian patriots" living
abroad to achieve distinction and win
fame through regicide. The Kremlin Ia
an aggregation of number OF very ancient
monasteries. palaces-mostly of
the oldtime Moscow regime" Of Gard ON
and <onic public buildings separated by
public squares, the whole inclosed by
the famous white crenelated Kremin walls
At all tim,s tn, general public-the
common people--have free access to the
Buaoe esn,losed in tine Kremlin walls
which are 30 thick that Il js easy for two