BOOKS.
THE GRECO-RUSSIAN CHURCH.*
Miss YONGE has reached the position which makes an introduc- tion from her pen a valuable passport. We are glad to say that in this case the favour is not ill bestowed. The book for which she bespeaks our notice may well stand on its own merits, and, indeed, deserves a much better preface than the few very carelessly written pages which its patron has found time to produce. Its Sketches of the Rita and Customs a/ the Greco-Russian Church. By J. C. Itomanoff. With Introduction by the Author of the Heir of Redclyffe. London: Rivingtone. 1868. subject, indeed, is one which is exciting peculiar interest at this time. The feeling of sympathy which Miss Yonge expresses towards Eastern Christendom is doubtless shared by a large party. There are aspirations after unity which, though the form they take may indicate an ignorance of what unity really is, are yet harmless, and even praiseworthy, and, we may add, there is an uneasy doubt as to their own ecclesiastical position which never ceases to harass the more logical and learned of Anglo-Catholics ; these feelings combine to recommend a rapprochement with some Church which can boast a spiritual pedigree less doubtful than that of our Establishment. Circumstances of late have caused that whatever tentative movements of this kind have been made should chiefly take the direction of the Eastern Church. The ancient communions which this title includes occupy a neutral position with regard to us. No controversies, no proselytizing zeal, have interfered to embitter the relation. Mutual civilities which the Vatican would have disdained to bestow or to accept have passed between our own authorities and high ecclesiastical authorities, Patriarchs and Archbishops, in the East. One adventurous English clergyman even received the Communion at the hands of a Greek priest, though subsequent rumour, not, we believe, authenticated, declared that the celebrant had been degraded by his superior. In the face of the obstinate and uncompromising non-possumus with which Rome has always answered advances from English Churchmen, it is not surprising that many minds have turned to a quarter where the prospects of reconciliation seem to be more hopeful.
We very much doubt whether this hopefulness is anything more than apparent. The line of Eastern orthodoxy is drawn as clearly by the Councils which she accepts as is that of Rome by the Tridentine decrees, though doubtless it runs much nearer to our own boundary. The point of the Fitioque, though it is difficult for us in our present attitude of mind to realize the transcendent importance which it once possessed, is yet a difficulty which theologians would not find it easy to get over. And we strongly suspect that it will be found,—we believe, that in one or two cases it has been found already,—that a nearer contact will prove that the immobility of the Eastern Churches, as compared with the active boa - tility of Rome, is due to indifference rather than to any friendliness of feeling. It was but a few months ago, unless our memory deceives us, that certain members of the Russo-Greek Church were called very sharply to account for certain acts or words that seemed to recognize the Christian character of a meeting of English Church- men. We would refer our readers to a very interesting account which they will find in this volume, under the title of "Adult Unction" of the Princess Dagmar's admission to the Greco-Russian Church. Here, as Miss Yonge allows, "the old intolerant Eastern temper shows itself." Nothing, indeed, can exceed the energy and fervour with which the convert is made to renounce "the errors of Lutheranism," and everything that was contrary to the "Holy Eastern Orthodox Church."
But, apart from these hopes and speculations, to which, indeed, we wish all the fulfilment that is not inconsistent with full liberty of thought in Christendom, this volume possesses a very great in- terest as a careful and genuine study of manners. It contains a number of tales which are used as vehicles for the conveyance of a great amount of curious information about the Russian Church, its rites and ceremonies, and, incidentally as connected with and illustrated by these, the life of its members, both priests and lay- men. These tales, as we learn from the introduction, are " col- lected " by an English lady, married to a Russian officer, who resides at Votkinsk, about 300 miles to the east of St. Petersburg. The term "collected" is vague; some of the chapters are evi- dently, we should say, written by an Englishwoman ; some seem to bear the marks of native authorship. When the narrative form does not lend itself readily to her purpose the writer dis- penses with it, and would, we think, have been wise in doing so more frequently. The sketch which concludes the book, the de- scription of the "Visitation of a Russian Bishop," strikes us as being one of the best things in the book, both for interest and in re- spect of literary value. The tales indeed are of a very slight and inartistic character, reminding us of Bekker's stories of Gallus and Charicles, where, amidst the profusion of classical learning, the thread of personal interest is almost lost. We will instance the first story, "Roman the Reader." Roman is the son of a "deacon." Nothing could be more graphic than the sketch of the father's home, and of the son's rearing as child and boy ; of the village school and the seminary at the Government town. We begin to think that something is going to be made of the hero. Much to the horror of his friends, he is visited with misgivings as to whether he ought to enter upon a clerical life. Finally, he is persuaded to give up his objection, and, having by this time lost the opportunity of getting a higher position, is ordained "Reader." There is also the beginning of a nice little love story on hand.
But here the author bccoines manifestly embarrassed with the young man ; and he is summarily disposed of by a flash of light- ning which kills him as be is walking home, and which, we are in- clined to think, he might have escaped if it had not been necessary somehow to introduce the singular Rimian phrase which seems to be employed in such cases, that he died "by the grace of God."
But though the incidents of the tale are as ill managed as they could be, the illustrations which are introduced into it are of great interest and value. For instance, there is a curious account of how the babies are swaddled, and of how they are washed, the latter a method which an experienced critic of such things assures us is admirable, the chief point being that the infant is not held on the knee, but is laid on a camel's hair mattress which lies in the bath. Then, again, the ceremony of baptism is described ; and a weary thing it must be for all parties concerned. The priest
first blows on each child three times, and sometimes there are as many as forty children to be baptised at once. Then comes the immersion. This is performed three times, that is, at each invoca- tion of the Holy Name. "He stops its ears with his thumb and little finger ; its eyes with the fourth and forefingers of the right hand, and with his palm he covers its mouth and nostrils. With
his left hand he holds its body, and plunges it face downwards. . . . I have heard that little innocents have been known (though this is a rare occurrence) to be drowned at the very moment they were made Christians !" After this comes the anointing with oil. A few days after baptism the child's hair is shorn. It is the only offering which it can make. When the mother is churched she takes her infant to receive the communion, which is administered,
for the very obvious reason of necessity, we suppose, in wine only. Children indeed continue to communicate without interruption.
It ought to be observed by those who are inclined to be precise on such points that the Russian Church, certainly among the most conservative of Christian communities, knows nothing of the rite of confirmation.
One of the most curious features of Russian life which this book brings before us is the existence of a priestly class, which is made hereditary not by any prescriptive right, but by the operation of causes which are nearly as effective. A priest will do his utmost that his son shall follow his own profession; and, though even this feeling yields to the fascination which the Imperial service exercises over every Russian, considers it almost a disgrace if he should choose a secular calling. At the same time, it is a custom, though not a necessity, that a candidate for orders should seek his wife (an indispensable qualifica- tion in the Russian Church) in the family of a priest, or at least of some minister of the Church. This suggests an obvious way of providing for the orphan daughters of the clergy. It was some time ago the recognized practice that in the disposal of bene- fices the preference should be given to the candidate who might be able and willing thus to provide for one of the daughters of the late incumbent. This has now been forbidden, but it is, we should imagine, easier to forbid than to prevent. The strong class feel- ing of the clergy is illustrated by what is one of the most spirited sketches in the volume, though it does little more than show bow a certain lad ran away from the opportunity of getting into the Bishop's choir, and how he was brought back. But then we meet with a good lady, Anna Ivanovna by name, who is decidedly the most amusing person in the book, and who reminds us a little of our old friend Mrs. Poyser. Perhaps the best tale is that called "Adoption," though here, again, there is the same provoking indifference to the capabilities of the story. There is a very interesting love passage between the heroine and a certain heroic young doctor, but it comes absolutely to nothing. Some merce- nary aunt interferes, and the doctor disappears for ever. On the whole, we like the writer best when she speaks in her own person.
Here is a scene from a cemetery which shows, we think, no mean power of description :—
" On a recently formed mound, with a plain pine-wood cross, on which was carved the date 1859, and nothing more, lay a female figure, in a smart gown, with a violet satin-tulle paletot, and a bright-colour ed cash- mere handkerchief on her head. The voice was that of a young girl, and a few phrases served to inform us that she was howling, as the peasants say, very correctly, for her mother. She would fling herself violently on the grave, howling, roaring, and hiccoughing between each phrase in a tone indescribable, and chanting a lament which was next
to untranslatable, but was to the following effect 0 my dear Maminka! My red Sun! Why didst thou leave me ? A bitter orphan ! Who will care for me? My own born mother!' Between each phrase she would bang her head on the -ground, tossing her arms wildly ; the screams were too loud and forced to be affecting, that is, to us ; but several tender-hearted women were shedding real and copious tears. At last an elderly woman came up to her, and endeavoured to raise her, but in vain ; she flung and howled more than over. That will do, Pashinka ; enough, my pigeon !' she said ; thou wilt cry thine eyes out, weeping at home and shrieking here ! Get up, Matouschka?' But Pashinka was not to be persuaded, and the woman, after several essays, left her. She was getting quite hearse, and we quite tired of looking at her, and of hearing her mournful repetitions ; but I wanted to know the end of it, and was soon gratified, for when another woman, -with a great bowlful of curd tarts tied up in a coloured handkerchief, approached her with nearly the same worth as the first woman, she got up, groaned once or twice, blow her nose, looked about her, sniffed violently on one side, and went with the crowd to look at another orphan, as if she had never howled in her life."
This last touch seems to us very happy. Altogether, the book is one which, with a fair amount of literary merit, contains a quite unusual amount of interesting matter.
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