The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-05-01
REAL RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM AT LAST
Priceless Boon Conferred Upon Long.
Suffering Russian People.
EMPER0R'S EASTER GIFT

EMPER0R'S EASTER GIFT
HISTORIC EVENT OF GREAT
SIGNIFICANCE.
St Petersburg, May 1. 2:20 a. m
Real religious freedom conferred upon
his subjects by Emperor Nicholas as
an Easter gift is a historic event of
the highest significance in comparison
with which the, remission of millions
of dollars of taxes to the peasantry. a
long list Of decorations, and six pages
of promotions of bureaucratic officials
are hardly worthy of comment.
Liberty of conscience has been re-
peatedly proclaimed. and ProCuratOr
PobedOnOstzeff, in his famous reply to
the evangelical petition of 1883, con-
tended that it existed in the empire
The fact IS that as a trystins place
all religions have been tolerated in
Russia, but none has been allowed to
trespass upon the orthodox faith as
enunciated from the mosque that faces
the Church on the Nevski in St. Pc
tersbuTg. People were free to remain
true to the religion Of their fathers.
but were forbidden to make pros =
lytes.
None Might Leave.
Everybody might enter. but none
might leave the orthodox church with
out FORGETTING all civil rights. including
the right to inherit crown property,
and in the train of that policy perse-
cutions of every conceivable charac-
ter were directed against the RaS-
kOlniki or disSident seCts. and especial
" the old believers. Among the Ras-
kOlniki are numbered a thousand and
one queer and rustic hereSies bred of
the great sChiSm caused by reform of
the ancient liturgy and augmented by
the suppression of the patTiach6te by
Peter the Great The old believers.
who chung to the old liturgy and made
the sign Of the cross with three fingers
instead Of two, was broken up into nu-
merOUs sects. some discarding priests
and sacramento, and some tTendinE to-
ward free love and immoral practices,
while others instituted an episcopate
and priesthood of their own and dealt
with all innovations from the west as
inventions of the anti-Christ esChew-
ing tea. coffee and sugar, and consid-
ering shaving wicked
Victims of Persecution.
These latter survived countless per
secutions for years. without legal rec
ognitiOn of marriages conducted by
their priests. but nevertheless became
commercially the abIest class in Rus
Sia- Morality and wealth were the Sc
crets of their strength. This branch of
the old believers includes merchant
princes of Moscow Tivaling those of
America. but they have never ceased
| to be regarded as apOstates from the
orthodox church and have been sub
jected to all sorts OF legal prosecutions
as such.
Some Worshipped Napoleon.
The humber dissenters have had a
much harder time. being hunted down
until secretly they gave rise TO d horde
Of stra nCe sects. One preached redemp-
ton by suicide and Il fiery or bloody
baptism. others WOTShipped images Of
Napoleon as the Messiah. believing that
he escaped 10 Siberia and would return
some day and eSta blish a reign of JUS
tice and peace. and still others. like
the FiagellantS. EunuchS. Jumpers and
AdamiteS. which are now practically
wiped out. INDUCED in most IiceutiOuS
rites. The Studists and NOlkanS of
southern Russia. now the principal
nOn-confoTmists. who might he de
sCribed as the QUakeTS of Russia, have
made tremendous progress in recent
/ years i'm spite of prosecutions which
often have driven them eastward and
made them pioneers of Russian colo
nization. There are in all about r.
/ 000. GOO Of these dissidents.
Millions Are Affected.
The enperors act viii also affect
about 4o,00o,0Go belonging to alien
faiths such as the Jews. Catholics and
LutherauS Of Poland and the Baltic
I provinces: the Protestants Of Finland,
/ and the followers Of Islam and Budda
/ in the Urals the Crimea. the eau
casus. TUFkestan and Central Asia.
| These figures are only approximate, as
| probably millions who are uominally
! orthodox secretly profess other reli-
| gions. Whole villages Of Mussulmans
I baptized into the orthodox communion
by a ruse petition in vain to be per-
mitted to return to MOhammendan-
/ ism
While the emDero-'s approval of the
action Of the committee of the minis
ters distinctly holds to orthodoxy as
the state religion. and creates the
usual commission to work out many
details in connection with the Off
spring Of mixed marriages during mi
| nority. Iegitimization Of marriages and
registra ton of deaths and births, 1t
also TesciudS a number of acts aimed
specifically at various religions. and es-
J Ia blishes the principle of absolute free
dom of worship and the right of every
| Russian who becomes of age to change
his confession Of faith. in which the
assurance Of religious freedom lies
1t also contempIates relief of Cath
olics and Poles from the present vex-
atiOus restrictions as to preaching the
, catechism. the Russian language, etc.
Complete Reversal.
Logically the emperoT's action in
wolves a complete reversal Of the Rus
sian policy of seeking national unity
I in conquered provinces i'm religious
unity He has accepted the axiom Of
the Metropolitan Antonius: You can
not hUid strange children in the church
against their Will" and recognizes in
religious variety good for the nation
| as well as for the church itself, a
| principle which if acknowledged pO-
! Iitically, would mean a federated Rus
STA.
AMERICA REPRESENTED.
1 Natalie FEATURES of the NatiOna |