ll possesses large
funds and, it seems to me, they must all be spent in support of our
Anglican Church in Russia. It is impossible even to think of what that
work would be without the help given to us by the Russia Society, and
the British Factory in Petrograd.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] _Contemporary Review_, November, 1914.

CHAPTER XI

THE JEWS

The Jewish question was the first of many I was called upon to consider
after crossing the Russian frontier, for my first service within the
empire was the Confirmation of a Jew. He was of the educated class, and
particularly attractive; and as he bowed low over my hand and kissed it
with a singular grace of manner the western part of Europe seemed
already far away. It was at Warsaw, where, as at Cracow--the ancient
capital of Poland--the Jews form a larger and more influential part of
the population than in any other European city. It will surprise many,
no doubt, to hear that, though the Anglican Church has no _legal_ status
as yet, our chaplain at Warsaw has the sole and exclusive right of
baptizing those Jews who are Russian subjects, and wish to be received
into the Christian Church. _Any_ Jew who wishes to become a Christian,
if in the Russian Empire, must go to Warsaw and receive Baptism from the
Anglican chaplain, maintained there for many years by the London
Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews.

[Illustration: _The Archbishop of Warsaw._]

This young Russian, with his wife, had travelled a great distance for
his Baptism and Confirmation, and, if I remember rightly, was leaving
Russia in the course of time. He was able, therefore, to receive
Confirmation in our own Church, although Russian subjects, if Jewish, on
receiving Baptism from us--it is a strange anomaly that we hope will
soon cease--are expected to choose whether they will next be received
into the communion of the Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox
Churches. None of these, of course, attract them after receiving
instruction and Baptism in our own Church, and, on that account, no
doubt, many of them have reverted again to their old religion.

The passport system in Russia is an admirable and comprehensive one, and
as soon as a Hebrew Christian abandons his Faith and returns to Judaism,
he is required by law to report it at once to the local authority, in
order that his passport may be altered; and on his doing so a notice is
at once dispatched to our chaplain at Warsaw that a pen is