ble, from motives of policy, that his position should be decent, and more befitting his sacred office, the salary may reach 300 roubles[1] (at present about $150), but on the average, his annual stipend does not exceed 100 roubles ($60), a miserable pittance which cannot support him and his family in respectability. He becomes, therefore, dependent upon, and is at the mercy of, his parishioners; for the cultivation of the land allotted for his support the labor of his own hands cannot suffice, and he must rely upon the gratuitous and grudgingly-given assistance of the peasants, who can, themselves, barely keep body and soul together; he must eke out his meagre existence by gifts and offerings of his poor and scanty flock; these contributions might afford a decent livelihood, were not the larger part reclaimed by the Synod or the diocese, and the slender portion remaining still to be shared by him with the minor clergy of his parish. Necessity compels him to wring, or cajole, all that is possible from his congregation; his daily bread depends upon it, and every ceremony he performs, every sacrament he confers, is bargained for and haggled over as it can only be done in Russia; bridal-couples have left the altar unmarried, and bodies have been buried secretly, because the pope and the peasant could not agree upon a price; the pious and the indifferent, the foreign Jew and the native Christian, the Orthodox believer and the Dissenter, are all under contribution, and the pope's most engrossing occupation is to watch greedily over every member of his parish, to see that none evade the payment of dues he may rightfully exact, or beg. The task is arduous, for the occasions are many, and of diverse
- ↑ The mint value of the rouble is 65.8 cents, but in recent years, by depreciation, it has fallen to about 50 cents.
