The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-20
sUSSIA'S CHURCE PROBLEM
srRI GGLE or OLD BELIEVERS
FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
freedom OF worship offered Them. but
The, Must Not Seek Con,erts-They
Mn In the ~IDuIna-The Graz VIII
stand Out for the Orthodox Church..

~,s maryelling during the revolutionary
,r.is at the stolidity Of the mass OF the
p,,ssian people, Would nothing arouse
Them
.Only one thing could do it. answered
, wise man. "1f anybody on earth,
.cen the Car, should attempt to enforce
law %forbidding them to cross them
,.lyes before the ikons of their Church
they would rise up as one rebellious
giant.
Their Church is in the marrow OF their
homes more than with any other people
in modern C~hristendom. Its all per-
rsding influence has just been brought
hv the Duma out into the open life Of
national politics.
The first act of legislation carrying
through the Cars promise of freedom
NJ conscience has been presented by the
r%oyernmcnt. 1t is addressed to relieve
the grievances Of the community, num-
herine over 5000, 900 of Russians. known
az the Old Believers. On it will be mod
slIed subsequently some more or less
liberal legislation on behalf Of other
denominations outside the Orthodox
Church,
The Government bill proposes that the
Old Believers should be allowed with
out let or hindrance to pray and to bap-
tie, marry and bury according to the
doctrines Of their faith; but it expressly
provides that they shall not engage in
propaganda. meaning thereby that their
clergy shall not invade territories where
their communities do not now exist.
The Government draws a distinction
between freedom of conscience and re-
Isious liberty. 1t maintains that the
Gar promised to allow all Russians to
Worship according to conscience but
that he could confer liberty to
propagate in his empire any religion
except his own.
So widespread is the interest In this
matter that although there are twenty
dergymen in the Duma and eight Bishops
IN the Council Of Empire the spokesman
q the Church have been swept aside
and the debates fought out by the ma
tional party leaders. 1t is especially
important to keep in mind that the Old
Believers are an important conservative
and loyal element in the population. In
their present demand for complete re-
! Hgious liberty. including the right to
spread their faith. they are supported by
the radical parties. who have had moth
ing in common with them in the past.
The obvious reason for Catholics, Luth-
Grams, Jews. Mohammedans and Agnos-
tic Socialists all coming to their support
il that these bodies within the empire
desire to establish a legal precedent for
public meetings and public agitation on
behalf Of the cause which zach Of them
regards as OF foremost Importance to
itself.
The Old Believers broke away from
the main body of the Russian Orthodox
Church two centuries and a half ago. in
1885, on a question Of Interpretation Of
the text OF Holy Writ. The Scriptures
had previously circulated in Russia only
in parchment manuscript. and many
errors OF transcription had crept in
through the increasing difficulty of de-
cphering accurately the old copies.
The authorities of the Church under
Archbishop Nixon decided to arrest the
increasing confusion and have the test
regularized by translating the Scriptures
afresh from the old Greek. Naturally
the new version showed differences from
the words that had been accepted by
many thousands Of the most devout
Russian Christians.
They refused to conform to the new
oder. Moreover a different way of
crossing themselves which was ordained
after reference TO the placing of the hands
Of saints in the old Byzantine holy pic
lures by the reformers then in control
Of the Church intensified their hostility.
They abandoned the Orthodox Church
and we're treated as heretics. The schism
became complete when they resisted
Peter the Greats assumption for himself
Of the headship of the Church a. well
as Of the State.
Before Peters day the Metropolitan OF
Moscow was a greater parsonage than the
Gar Of Moscovy, for the Church was
both autonomous and predominant. Once
a year the Metropolitan set out for the
Kremlin seated astride Of an ass which
\ as him IN foot. Peter changed all that
ir reasons OF contemporary practical
polltics.
The Church dignitaries we're influencing
Is wife and son against him because OF
rs rough and ready undermining meth
ds. He defeated the clerlcals by the
sngle stroke Of appointing himself head
n the Church and making its d~ignitaries
wear personal obedience to him as much
sif they we're officers Of his army. The
Old Believers abhorred all this and stud
I'd the archaic texts ~fervently but Sc
retly. a hunted. prosecuted sect.
They kept their Puritan habit of life
and through it grew in number, wealth
and social strength. The fact that they
have to-day after two centuries OF out
awry the richest average membership
Of any denomination in Russia has a
good deal to do with the stir reused by
their demand for full religious freedom.
Many OF them are millionaire merchants.
Their members have the best of the fer
tile lands in Siberia. They own a vast
amount Of inherited property invested
in the land.
In time theirs came to be almost a
political doctrine. 1t is equally against
courtiers and radicals and stands for a
solid, self reliant class which hitherto
has had no dealings with the Government
except to pay it's agents for securing i'm
mnnity Of worship When ready money
was very scarce around the court during
the Japanese war such eminent non
believers as the late Grand Dukes Vladi-
tho idea OF abating the restrictions on the
Old Believers in return for a cash payment
OF 10000, 600 rubles.
Alexander Gutchkoff. the leader of
tho most numerous party in the present
puma, the Octobrists. is an Old Believer.
Il" championed their right to fuller free
dom than the Government offers. They
have had to enrich not only police officials
out city and State Governors, he said.