Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/398

 362 BTJSSIA.

of the last remnant of its administrative independence. By im- perial decree of September 1, 1864, following in the wake of the suppression of the great revolt of the two preceding years, the kingdom was placed under the rule of eight military governors depending from a 'Council of State' established at "Warsaw; and this form of government again was superseded by a decree of March 22, 1867, which, abolishing the Council of State, transferred the entire administration of the country to a ' Commission for the interior affairs of Poland,' sitting at St. Petersburg. Finally, by ukase of the Emperor dated Feb. 23, 1868, the Commission was dissolved, and the government of Poland absolutely incorporated with that of Russia.

Church and Education.

The established religion of the empire is the Greco-Russian, officially called the Orthodox-Catholic Faith. The Russian Church separated from the See of Rome in 1054, and from the Byzantine patriarchate in 1589. It has its own independent synod, but main- tains the relations of a sister Church with the four patriarchates of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. The sacred synod, the board of government of the Church, was established with the concurrence of the Russian clergy and the four Eastern patriarchs.

There have been three epochs in the government of the Russian Church. At first it had a foreign head, the patriarch in Constanti- nople, who appointed the Metropolitan of Kief, and afterwards of Moscow ; during the second period, commencing in 1589, it was governed by a patriarch appointed by the Tsar, but nearly indepen- dent ; lastly, the direction of the Church was transferred to the emperor. He is however not the head of the Church in the same sense as the Pope of Rome. The emperor exercises the external functions in a still greater degree than the pontiff; he appoints to every office in the Church, and is restricted only so far as to leave to the bishops and prelates the privilege of proposing candidates; and he transfers and dismisses persons from their offices in certain eases. But he has never claimed the right of deciding theological and dogmatic questions. In the case of any new heresy springing up in Russia, requiring a judgment, the emperor cannot pronounce a decision, but this duty appertains to the synod, and, if the ques- tion is critical, the opinion of the four Eastern patriarchs must be consulted, and finally a council has to be convened. The judg- ment of the Church being once given, the emperor must command its execution. In official documents the emperor never calls him- self the Head, but only the Protector or Defender of the Church.

The points in which the Greco-Russian Church differs from the Roman Catholic faith, are, its denying the spiritual supremacy of