Russia greatly increased, but the clergy, shut out from the study of classic literature, were, as a body, afflicted with gross ignorance, degenerating into superstition, and the standard of morals among them was lowered to the level of their intellectual condition.
As regards rites and ceremonies the Russian differs widely from the Catholic and the Protestant Churches. It is essentially ritualistic, and rigidly adheres to the practices of the fourth and fifth centuries. It is often reproached with stifling the essence of religious belief under outward forms. This accusation is, however, true only in part, and the fact, such as it exists, is attributable more to the character and disposition of the Slavonic and Eastern races, than to any fault of the Church; on the contrary, it has, from the earliest ages, endeavored to guard against superstition and the surreptitiously degrading influences of the senses. It has shown constant hostility to the most corrupting of all external observances, that of image worship; statues have never been admitted to its temples, and all pictorial illustrations have been restricted to unchanging traditional types, covered with metal, save the face and hands, ancient, expressionless, and austere; the bishop, at his consecration, promises "to provide that honor shall be paid to God only, not to the holy pictures, and that no false miracle shall be ascribed to them." The Virgin Mary, the apostles, and the saints receive, not adoration as gods, but a secondary devotion, as due to those cleansed from original sin, and admitted to behold the Deity.[1]
Musical instruments have always been prohibited, and the human voice only has been heard in its chants, as in its prayers. Its efforts in this direction have been in
- ↑ Hare, "Studies in Russia," p. 57.
