esides this, he is
expected to comfort the afflicted, to assist the needy, to counsel those
who are harassed with doubts, and to admonish those who openly stray
from the narrow path. Such is the ideal in the popular mind, and
pastors generally seek to realise it, if not in very deed, at least in
appearance. The Russian priest, on the contrary, has no such ideal set
before him by his parishioners. He is expected merely to conform
to certain observances, and to perform punctiliously the rites and
ceremonies prescribed by the Church. If he does this without practising
extortion his parishioners are quite satisfied. He rarely preaches or
exhorts, and neither has nor seeks to have a moral influence over his
flock. I have occasionally heard of Russian priests who approach to what
I have termed the Protestant ideal, and I have even seen one or two of
them, but I fear they are not numerous.

In the above contrast I have accidentally omitted one important feature.
The Protestant clergy have in all countries rendered valuable service to
the cause of popular education. The reason of this is not difficult to
find. In order to be a good Protestant it is necessary to "search the
Scriptures," and to do this, one must be able at least to read. To be a
good member of the Greek Orthodox Church, on the contrary, according to
popular conceptions, the reading of the Scriptures is not necessary, and
therefore primary education has not in the eyes of the Greek Orthodox
priest the same importance which it has in the eyes of the Protestant
pastor.

It must be admitted that the Russian people are in a certain sense
religions. They go regularly to church on Sundays and holy-days, cross
themselves repeatedly when they pass a church or Icon, take the Holy
Communion at stated seasons, rigorously abstain from animal food--not
only on Wednesdays and Fridays, but also during Lent and the other long
fasts--make occasional pilgrimages to holy shrines, and, in a word,
fulfil punctiliously the ceremonial observances which they suppose
necessary for salvation. But here their religiousness ends. They are
generally profoundly ignorant of religious doctrine, and know little or
nothing of Holy Writ. A peasant, it is said, was once asked by a priest
if he could name the three Persons of the Trinity, and replied without a
moment's hesitation, "How can one not know that, Batushka? Of course
it is the Saviour, the Mother of God, and Saint Nicholas the
miracle-wor