A TALE OF RUSSIAN CLERICAL LIFE.*
Tuis little story, a volume of " The Pseudonym Library," is made interesting by its subject, without the help of subtle drawing of character or intricate plot. Cyril Obnovlienski, son of the deacon of a country village, obtains the highest honours at the Theological Academy, an institution which may be described as a Clerical University. He takes, that is, the first place in the " Magistrant," or " M.A." examination. The usual course for a young man who has so distinguished himself is to accept an appointment at the Academy, But Cyril has no such views ; the appointment is offered to him, but he refuses it. It is his desire to live among the people : he will be a village priest. Nothing could exceed the dismay with which this determination is received. The father and mother of the girl to whom he is engaged declare the match broken off, though they. are overcome by the firmness of their daughter. Family friends and acquaintances consider it to be a proof of something like madness. Even the Bishop is astonished when the young man calls upon him, and asks him for a post in the country. It is the first time such an application has been made to him. When he comes to understand the motive, there is no praise too high for such disinterestedness. He will give him the best living that there is at his disposal. He will even bestow on him the very strange reward of promoting a stupid elder brother to the rank of the priesthood. Cyril accordingly marries, an essential preliminary before taking a pastoral charge (there is an order of celibate clergy, but they are reserved for other duties), and settles down in his parish. Before he goes to it, however, he receives a significant warning from the Bishop. He must have no " ideas." The good man can hardly get it out of his mind that there are some revolutionary tendencies concealed under this unprece- dented desire of a clever young man to " serve the lesser brethren." Cyril's village experiences are very curious. He is perfectly well aware how things stand between a village clergy- man and his flock. He knew that clerical life," consisted in one long struggle with the parishioners for income." He proposes to himself a very different state of things. He will have what the people choose to give him. This resolve is soon put to a test. A peasant wishes his daughter to be married, and comes, as nsual, to make a bargain with the new priest for his services. The common course would be for the priest to ask ten roubles (about £1 10s.), for the peasant to offer five, and for the two finally to agree on seven and a half. Cyril, after ironically demanding the impossible sum of a hundred roubles, tells him to give what he can, and the man pays a silver rouble,—i.e., about half-a-crown. Next comes the village blacksmith, who has lost his mother. Here the plan had been to bury the poor as they died without ceremony, and then, when five or six had been, so to speak, accumulated, to read one service over all. A special funeral service had been regarded as a mark of wealth, not to be obtained under two roubles. Cyril performs the service without hesitation, and will take nothing. Alto- gether, the result of the week's operations is a sum of fourteen roubles and a half, whereas it should have been forty. But Cyril has got others to think of besides himself. He has a coadjutor who takes the services, week and week about. There are a deacon and a clerk, who live on their share of the fees. The incomes of all these people are seriously affected by the new departure. The other priest's hands are very much tied when he tries to bargain in the old fashion; the subordinates have to suffer, -whether they will or no, from an enthusiasm which they do mot in the least understand. Then Cyril himself has to live, and that is no easy matter, especially when he gives up his glebe to the deacon and the clerk, to make up to them for their losses. His wife has very little more comprehension of his motives than other people ; and the end of it is that she goes home again. In short, the reformer finds, as other re- formers have found before him, that life is not easy, and that questions have two sides to them. Still he perseveres, and does not fail to see some result of his toils and sacrifices. A famine, followed by typhus, occurs—both visitations being graphically described—and Cyril's devotion wins the hearts of his people. Unfortunately, his vigorous personality attracts the notice of the rich lady of the place. Then follows a painful episode, which might as well have been omitted, even though meant to show that men of Cyril's stamp have trials other than those which their new • A Russian Priest, By H. IIOTAIIEHKO. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
ideas might be expected to produce. The priest's pure and simple nature is not even tempted ; but the incident adds another load to his burden, for it deprives him of the help of a sympathy to which be had begun to look. So we leave him, lonely but resolute, and even hopeful.
The Russian Priest presents, then, a picture of clerical life which it is interesting to compare with .what exists among ourselves. The comparison is certainly not to our disadvan- tage. We need not try to strike a balance of merit between the Russian village priest and the English. The simple fact is enough that it is described as an unparalleled, almost a revolutionary proceeding, when a man of more than average ability and attainments settles down in the country. Here it is not in the least surprising to find in. country parsonages men with every social and intellectual qualification. What- ever defects there may be in our Anglican organisation, that is no trifling advantage. Whether, if our Liberationist friends succeed in their object, this condition will long, remain, is more than doubtful.
Previous page
