Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/268

78 person confessing in the middle of the church, with his face turned towards a certain image placed for that purpose. When the confession is finished, and penance enjoined according to the nature of the offence, they bow before the image, mark their foreheads and breasts with the sign of the cross, and lastly cry out with great wailing, "O Jesus Christ, thou Son of God, have mercy upon us". For this is their common prayer. Some are enjoined to fast by way of penance; some to say certain prayers (for very few know the Lord's Prayer); and those who have committed any rather serious offence, are washed with water. For at the Epiphany of our Lord, they draw water from a spring, and after it has been consecrated in the church for a whole year, they draw it off for cleansing and washing away the more serious sins. They also judge more leniently a sin committed on the Sabbath, and enjoin less penance for it. There are also many very slight causes for which they are not admitted into the church; but when they are shut out, they are accustomed to stand at many of the church windows and doors, and thence see and hear as well as if they were in the church.

They communicate in both kinds, mixing the bread with the wine, or the body with the blood. The priest takes a small portion, in a spoon, out of the chalice, and hands it to the communicant. Any one may receive the Lord's body as often in the year as he will, provided he have confessed; otherwise they have a fixed time, at Easter. They administer the Sacrament to boys of seven years old, and say, that at that age man sins. If a boy happen to be sick, or near