s thoroughly understood, and
never, as far as I know, resented. We always make it perfectly clear
that we never wish to interfere with the Church of the country, nor the
religion of its people, but are there to shepherd our own. And it is a
curious thing that in Catholic Belgium, as it is called, with people
devoted to their Church, and with a clerical government such as they
have had for at least the last forty years, our Anglican clergy receive
from the Belgian government the same recognition, status, stipends,
grants for houses, etc., as are given to the clergy of the country.

But nowhere is the position of our Church more fully, sympathetically or
affectionately recognized than in Russia. Nowhere would it be felt, as
there, a grave and responsible neglect of duty on our part if we were to
leave our own people without the ministrations of their own Church. They
go further than this in sympathetic feeling, for they consider that
there is a special link and bond of union between our Church and their
own. An anonymous but evidently extremely well-informed writer about
Russia, over the _nom de plume_ of "Anglitchanin" in a leading
Review[13] a month or two ago, said, in the course of his article on
_Russia and the War_, "the English Church is said to be very like the
Greek Orthodox. It is not so in fact, but in Russia it is believed to be
so by _all classes of the population_. That is indeed the one thing
about England that they all know. I have known more than one peasant ask
me, 'Is England beyond Germany--far? or beyond Siberia? But your
religion is like ours.'

"The origin of this belief," he adds, "is to be found in the fact that
we are not Lutherans on the one side, and on the other do not
acknowledge the Pope."

They welcome our bishops and clergy to their services in their robes,
and attend ours in the same way. When the late Duke of Edinburgh married
the daughter of the Emperor Alexander, the service took place first in
the cathedral with the Russian rite, with Dean Stanley present in his
robes, and then a second time in the English Church with our own
service, with the Russian clergy present in the sanctuary. The Bishop of
London also loves to describe his reception at the great Troitsky
Monastery near Moscow, where he attended the services in cope and mitre,
and with pastoral staff, and was greeted by all the clergy present as
one of their own bishops; and the last time I heard him describe the
beautiful c