ons, that early in the
sixteenth century Vassili IV., a Russian prince, summoned a Greek monk
for the purpose of revising the liturgical books. But the blind
veneration of the clergy and people rendered this attempt abortive. The
reviser, Maximus, was condemned by a council, and confined on a charge
of heresy in a distant monastery. The crisis was superinduced by the
introduction of the press. Here, as elsewhere, the new discovery brought
with it a taste for the study and revision of texts, and ultimately
violent theological contests. The missals which issued from the Russian
presses of the sixteenth century at first only aggravated the evils for
which they should have afforded a remedy. The errors of the manuscripts
from which they were printed received from these missals the authority
and circulation of type. The copyists had introduced countless
variations, but these acquired a fresh unity and unanimity from the very
fact of their publication in such a form.

The Slavonic liturgy of Russia seemed in a state of hopeless corruption
when, toward the middle of the seventeenth century, the patriarch Nikon
determined upon a measure of reform. In addition to a degree of
cultivation unusual in his age and country, and an enterprising and
determined character, he possessed what was specially required for such
a step: he had learning, firmness and power, for through his influence
over Alexis, the czar, he ruled the State almost as thoroughly as he
ruled the Church. In Russia, as it was before Peter the Great, a task so
completely dependent on learning was indeed a bold undertaking. By order
of the patriarch ancient Greek and Slavonic manuscripts were gathered
from all quarters, and monks were summoned from Byzantium and from the
learned community of Athos to collate the Slavic versions with their
Greek originals. The interpolations due to the ignorance or whims of
copyists were remorselessly stricken out, and into the ritual, thus
purified, was introduced the pomp customary at the court of Byzantium.
The new missals were printed and adopted by a council (through the
patriarch's influence), and finally imposed, with all the authority of
the state government, on every Russian province. "A sore trembling laid
hold upon me," says a copyist of the sixteenth century, "and I was
affrighted when the reverend Maximus the Greek bade me blot out certain
lines from one of our Church books." Not less was the scandal under
Peter the Great.