Page:Russian Church and Russian Dissent.djvu/8



the following pages I have given a consecutive account of the Orthodox Church of Russia, commencing with its origin and history, then investigating its present condition and that of its clergy, tracing the causes and consequences of the schism which arose in the seventeenth century, and still continues, and finally examining the innumerable sects springing from the schismatic movement, or from the inherent devotional character of the people. A work of this nature, without any pretence of theological erudition, and intended for the general reader, does not, so far as I have been able to ascertain, exist, and I have endeavored to supply the deficiency. I have been compelled to seek information from many sources, and a list of the authorities I have consulted is appended; but for a view of the Church and the clergy, and of the various sects, as they are at present known, I have followed and borrowed freely from the interesting and able articles of M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, in the Revue des Deux Mondes. This distinguished writer has treated, in a thoroughly philosophic spirit, the complex institutions of Russia; and, if I may judge by my own experience, derived from a long residence among Russians, and by the testimony of Russians