THE CHURCHES OF MOSCOW.
WE were alone in the holiest of all the holy places in the empire of
Russia: a church and a sepulchre; the place where the emperors crown
themselves and the primates of the church are lying in their
grave-clothes all around; the grandest of all earthly grandeur, and the
solemn evidences of the mightier power of King Death staring at the
pageant in mockery of all that man is and does.
We were alone in the Cathedral of the Assumption; four gigantic gilded
and pictured columns in the midst of it support five great domes; and on
the sides are arranged the huge sarcophagi in which repose the bones of
old patriarchs whose names are part of the history of the church, and
whose relics are thus kept near at hand impressing the worshipper with
something of awe, as one will feel it in the presence of the dead. There
was no attendant in the church when we entered, and the deep silence
reigning seemed befitting the place. We were silent, for the grandeur of
the scene, the historic associations with the place, the evidences
around us that this spot is holy in the eyes and hearts of the millions
of this vast empire, made us solemn. Before us is the Iconastasis, or
screen for sacred pictures, and behind this screen are the pictures of
the patriarchs and fathers of the church. _No woman may enter this holy
place._ It is very plain that the woman’s rights ideas of equality have
not penetrated this veil. Here, too, are views of the final judgment
scene, and of the life and death of the Virgin Mary. These sacred
pictures surround the _sanctuary_, the holy of holies, before it is the
principal altar, and behind it the throne of the Archbishop of Moscow.
In the centre of the church, with the four great pillars at each corner,
is the coronation platform, on which takes place the most august
ceremony known to the Greek Church or the Russian people. We cannot
enter fully into the sentiment of awe that possesses the minds of a
half-civilized race, who receive their sovereign with a mingled
conception of the divine and human in his person. He seeks to perpetuate
this reverential sentiment. He secludes himself from the world before he
comes to take the imperial crown; he mortifies himself by fasting and
prayer; and when the appointed day arrives for his investiture with the
high office to which God has called him, there is none in all his realm
that is high and holy enough to put on him the emblem of the power he is
to take. This cathedral is thronged with the highest dignitaries of
church and state, and the representatives of other empires, eastern and
western, with the richest display of all that can illustrate the glory
of this scene. They surround this empty platform, and gaze upon it with
fixed expectancy. A solitary man enters and ascends alone; he speaks,
but it is to repeat the words in which is expressed his faith in the
doctrines of the church; he kneels to pray for his empire; he takes his
own golden crown, and with his own unaided hands he places it upon his
head; he descends, and entering the holiest sanctuary takes the bread
and wine from the altar, and thus _alone_ with God, whom alone he
confesses to be his superior, he consecrates himself to the throne of
Russia. Thus from Ivan the Terrible, all the way down to the Alexander
who was shot at in Paris during the exhibition, have the Czars been
self-crowned on this sacred spot.
[Illustration: THE RUSSO-GREEK SERVICE.]
In a side chapel near the altar lies Peter, the first metropolitan of
Moscow, with a nail of the Saviour’s cross and a part of his seamless
robe. On the right is the coffin of Philip, who had the courage to
rebuke the Terrible Ivan, a terribly brutal ruler, murdering his nobles
without mercy, and when Philip became too troublesome he murdered him.
Now the dead prelate lies here with one of his skeleton hands exposed to
view on his breast, and it is part of the Emperor’s service, when he
approaches this tomb, to kiss the holy bone, that is left convenient for
the purpose.
Very like this cathedral is that of the Archangel Michael close by; and
here lie the coffins and relics of the early rulers of the Runic and
Romanoff dynasties, all the way down to Peter the Great. The tomb of
Demetrius, son of Ivan the Terrible, is the most sacred of all; he
disappeared mysteriously, and the country was plunged into a long and
bloody civil war; and, finally, his murdered body and coffin were
brought to view by a miracle, and the forehead of the dead prince being
exposed, or a hole about an inch in diameter being cut through the
coffin and the forehead raised up to it, or what is just as good, a bone
being put across the hole, the people approach with reverence and press
their lips upon this holy and disgusting skull.
Our meditations among the tombs were disturbed by the entrance of
visitors, many of them natives of the country, whose reverence in the
midst of so much that to them was specially sacred, we could not fail to
respect. I cannot kiss a bone with any enthusiasm; but there is no
accounting for the tastes of people; and disgusting as is the idolatry
of the Greek Church to me, I know that many English and American
Christians wish to have that church united to theirs. I would like to
see it reformed first.
There are no restrictions on religious worship in Russia! On one street
in the capital of Russia, where the Emperor himself resides, and the
Greek Church reigns in all its glory, there are six churches of as many
different religious persuasions, all protected by the law.
The English have a church of their own in Moscow, and a rectory, for
there are a large number of English-speaking people in these cities, not
only men in trade, but tutors and governesses who are induced to come to
Russia from England to teach the children and youth the English
language. It is quite as great an accomplishment to speak English, as
with us it is to speak French. And such is the extension of business
westward, it is quite important that one who is in commercial pursuits
of any kind should understand a language which more rapidly than any
other is spreading over the world. We meet more Russians speaking our
own tongue than of almost any other people.
During the Crimean war complaint was made to the Emperor that the
English chaplain in Moscow offered prayers every Sunday that Queen
Victoria might be victorious over all her enemies, and the Emperor
replied that the chaplain might pray for the Queen or anybody else.
In the city of Moscow there are three hundred and seventy churches of
the Greek faith, two Roman Catholic, and four Protestant; of these four,
two are for those who worship in the German language, one French, and
one English.
On the Sabbath I attended the Greek service in the St. Basil Cathedral.
The crowd was so vast that multitudes were unable to get within the
doors. A narrow door at the side yielded to the touch, and the sacristan
received us as strangers and conducted us into the holy place where the
priests were performing service. A choir of five—two old men, two young
men, and a boy—made the responses and sang parts of the service with an
energy and power that was exciting and astonishing as we stood by them
and saw the effort they made to give effect to their utterances. The
devotion of the crowded auditory was affecting. If one may judge of
emotion by what he sees of people worshipping in a strange language, he
must believe that these are truly devout, and deeply impressed with the
services in which they are earnestly engaged.
It is Trinity Sunday. Wagon loads of green branches of trees are carried
through the streets for sale. Every house, shop, shrine, church, and
station is adorned with evergreens; windows and doors are garlanded; the
humblest house in the poorest quarter we passed through had its sprig of
green, and where the poverty of the person prevented any display, it was
evident that no one was ashamed to do what he could in honor of the day.
The women and children carried flowers, the lily of the valley seeming
to be the favorite; and bunches of it were constantly offered for sale,
by those who would do a little business for themselves and help the rest
to worship after their fashion.
We went up the Kremlin to the Archangel Cathedral. Thousands on
thousands of people, a countless multitude, were standing around the
Ivan Tower and the big bell, unable to gain entrance into any church,
for these were all filled to overflowing by the densest mass of
sweltering humanity. Many of this crowd were common and unclean people,
like the very poor everywhere; they were ragged, unshod, and dirty.
Those in better order had long frock-coats on, reaching to the ground
nearly, with high boots over their pantaloons. These crowds were quiet,
lounging around as if they had nothing to do and were doing it
patiently, but not earnestly. They seemed to me a dull, phlegmatic race,
incapable of emotion; but this is a judgment of no great account, for it
is not unlikely the Russians may be as easily roused to action, for good
or evil, as the Germans or English.
Work of all sorts was going on in the city, with not the slightest
indication that the day was a sabbath. It was only wonderful that so
many people could be busy with the work of every day, and such
multitudes at leisure to enjoy a holiday.
Now and then a procession of poor pilgrims passed along, with sandals of
bark bound upon the soles of their feet, for they had come a long
distance from the far interior to worship in this holy city. Weary and
foot-sore they were, men and women, in scanty, but heavy clothing, even
in this hot weather, and wearing a look of solemn suffering as they
trudged along with staves in their hands. They have not yet learned that
the hill of Zion is now as near to them as in the Kremlin, and that God
is worshipped acceptably only by those who worship in heart and truth.
Some of these pilgrims may be beggars so disguised, for here, as at
home, there is no form of swindling more common than religious
imposture. The Russians are very kind and tender to idiots, and beggars
go about barefoot even in winter, pretending to be underwitted!
On the wide area in front of St. Basil is the Golgotha, or skull place,
a name given to a circular stone platform, said to be the place of
public executions in old times, but if so, it has long since ceased to
be used for any such purpose. Here the Czar sometimes stands in the
midst of myriads of his subjects. Here the Patriarch blesses the people.
Here the Patriarch has mounted an ass and the Emperor of all the Russias
has led the beast by the bridle to the Cathedral of the Assumption. But
the church has no such supremacy over the state now, as such a ceremony
would imply. The Czar is a devout member as well as head of the Greek
Church, and the Patriarch is his friend and coadjutor. The progress of
the truth on the great question of religious liberty has made itself
felt here as well as in western nations, and with all the ignorance and
despotism and superstition, and the semi-civilization of this people,
the government does not obstruct the spread of the Holy Scriptures, nor
interfere with liberty of worship in any part of the mighty empire.
One of the priests of this church very kindly led us into the sacristy
of the former patriarchs and now of the Holy Synod, where he would show
us the treasury, the library, and the vestry of the ancient
metropolitans of Russia and the patriarchs of Moscow. It was the same
old story which had been told us over and over again in the cathedrals
of the Romish Church, _ad nauseam_; and unless we had been advertised of
the fact, we would not have supposed that we had taken a departure from
Italy or Spain.
A reliquary containing a part of the purple robe which the Saviour of
sinners was clad with in mockery of his kingship, and a bit of the rock
of Calvary, are among the most precious relics which this rich
collection boasts; yet they are not more admired by the faithful than
the robes which were worn by the metropolitans five hundred years ago,
and are now exhibited; a sakkos of crimson velvet, covered with great
pearls, rubies, emeralds, almandines, garnets, and diamonds, making it
weigh more than fifty pounds. And it is said that the Czar John the
Terrible presented this priceless robe to the church as an expiatory
offering after he had caused his own son to be murdered. The crimson
garment, price of blood or not, is cherished with religious care as one
of the most valuable things in the treasury of the Holy Synod.
But it is more wearisome to read of, than it is to see and note the
robes and mitres and images worn by the bishops, figures of the Virgin
and infant Saviour and St. John, cut in precious stones, the crucifixion
scene done on an onyx stone, and others in gold and silver. Yet all
these yield in value and religious interest to a few pots and kettles
which are used in this chamber, and were now presented to what were
presumed to be our admiring eyes. It may be that our instantaneous
conversion to the Greek faith was anticipated as the effect of the
sight. We stood it unmoved, and will venture to describe the things seen
with no expectation that the perusal will make a convert of you.
Here is prepared the Holy Oil, or MIR, with which every orthodox Russian
subject is baptized. The same mixture is used to consecrate every
emperor who comes regularly to the throne, and to sanctify every church
in the empire that is to be used for worship by the orthodox Greek
communion. Now, if all the oil to be used for all these purposes, in an
empire of sixty millions of people and by the adherents of the same
church in other countries, is to be prepared in this room and by the
priests here employed, it is plain they must have their hands and
kettles full pretty much all the time.
The ceremony of oiling a child in the Greek Church, at its baptism, is
performed by the priest taking a little brush or feather, dipped in the
holy chrism, and touching with it the mouth, eyes, ears, hands and feet,
back and breast; the eyes are thus anointed that the child may see only
what is good, the ears to prevent him hearing the evil that is in the
world, the lips that they may speak the truth, the hands and feet that
they may be always found in the right way. Whence this oil that has such
wondrous properties? When Christianity was first introduced into Russia,
Constantinople furnished an infinitely little portion of holy oil that
was then in use in the church for these sacred purposes; and this
portion being used by the priests in preparing a large quantity, and
some of that being used in preparing more, and thus from time to time
each new supply being composed in part of what was prepared before, it
comes to pass, on the strictly philosophical principle of the infinite
divisibility of matter, some of the same unguent that came from
Constantinople many centuries agone, is now used in anointing the eyes,
ears, and mouth of every child that is baptized in Russia. If you do not
believe it, it still comes to the same thing, and I do not see that it
makes any difference.
The holy chrism is made by the clergy during Lent, with great care and
solemnity; about thirty different ingredients being used, gums, balsams,
and spices. These are put into two large silver kettles and a huge
caldron, scrupulously clean; and when the mixture is thoroughly made it
is poured out into sixteen silver jars, which are distributed among the
several bishops of the empire. The silver utensils used in this work,
and all of which are exhibited as the most sacred treasures of the
church, are said to weigh thirteen hundred pounds. And with them is a
vessel of copper with mother-of-pearl coating, that contained the
original oil as it came from Constantinople; and each year a few drops
are taken out of it, and as many of the new mixture returned, so that
the supply is always kept good, and the faithful of the church believe
that this is the true succession of the oil with which Mary anointed the
feet of her Saviour.