Orthodoxy appears to occupy an intermediate place between Catholicism and Protestantism, but it would be a grave error to suppose that it accepts this position in any timid or halting spirit, or as being in any wise one of transition, as if emanating from the former and gradually tending to the latter. On the contrary, it unhesitatingly asserts its claim to be the sole legitimate heir of the primitive Church, unchangeable and ever unchanging, immutable from the beginning, founded upon apostolic truth as upon a rock. Far from seeking alliance with either, it looks down upon them both, with pitying disdain, as wandering and estranged from Christ.
Christianity in Russia has, from its introduction, been subject to the principle of development peculiar and inherent to Orthodoxy. The Church has adapted itself to, and modelled itself upon, the political constitution of the nation; it has extended its jurisdiction as the geographical boundaries of the empire have been enlarged.
The degree of independence which it has. enjoyed in its connection with the State, and the freedom it has allowed to those within its bosom, have been in harmony with the character of the national institutions; and the method of its administration has corresponded to that of the civil government. The autocratic principle, imposed upon the people by its rulers, did not have its rise in any timid subserviency on the part of the Church; it existed already in the nature of the governing power; it was recognized by the Church, as well as by the nation, and, under its influence, the one assumed its natural position of relative dependency, and the other was reduced to absolute subjection. In this result of dependency on the State the Church has never felt, nor acknowledged, any degradation of its sacred character; in its own estimation, and as its disciples declare, it has been guided by
