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228 rents, or, if detected, easily purchasing immunity from venal officials with the abundant resources at their command.

Danger to Russia was apprehended from the existence, beyond the control of its government, of an irresponsible power, wielding such extensive authority over a large portion of the population, and it formed the subject of frequent remonstrance and of much diplomatic correspondence with Austria. It was a constant annoyance to the Emperor Nicholas, whose haughty spirit could ill brook the slight to his authority. He was angered that his determination to stamp out Dissent should be thwarted by this insignificant chief of a despised sect, whose adherents were an ignorant mob of peasants and serfs. Opposition on their part to his attempts to Russianize Poland was feared by him, and expected by the Poles, but both were disappointed; the loyalty of the Old Believers to the tsar proved stronger than their gratitude to the Polish patriots, and, as apprehensions from this source disappeared, the existence of a schismatic pontiff was disregarded. Ambrosius, alternately suppressed, ignored, and tolerated by Austria, as circumstances dictated, died in possession of his ecclesiastical dignity. Cyril, a Russian, succeeded, and, during the Crimean war, disaffection, possibly overt resistance to imperial authority, was feared, but again patriotism and national sentiment rose superior to ceremonial differences, and the Old Believers recognized in the Turks the traditional enemy of Orthodoxy and holy Russia.

The accession of Alexander II. aroused hopes of a brighter future. The elders of Rogojski induced their metropolitan to visit his flock; he came to Russia in 1863, disguised and secretly, but probably with the connivance of the government.