Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/250

244 contains over eight hundred diamonds and twice as many rubies, and it is by no means the most costly one in the collection. Near the thrones are the coronation robes worn by several of the emperors and empresses, and there is also a masquerade dress which belonged to Catherine the Great.

"We lingered over a glass case containing the decoration of the Order of the Garter and its diploma, which Queen Elizabeth sent to John the Terrible.

"Another gift from the good Queen to the cruel Czar was the state carriage winch stands in one of the rooms of the Treasury, along with several other vehicles, all of the olden time. One is on runners, and large enough for a whole family; it has a table and benches covered with green cloth and was used by the Empress Elizabeth in her journeys between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

"Enough of curiosities. We grew weary with seeing the relics of the rulers of Russia, though all were full of interest, and willingly followed our guide to the churches that stand within the walls of the Kremlin. The first is the Church of the Assumption, in winch the emperors are crowned and where the patriarchs formerly officiated. The church dates from 1475, and occupies the site of another which was erected one hundred and fifty years earlier. It has been altered and restored several times, but remains very much in shape and general appearance as it was four hundred years ago.

"In the church is a shrine of silver m memory of St Philip, a patriarch of the Church, who had the temerity to rebuke John the Terrible for his misdeeds, and was imprisoned and put to death in consequence. The hand St. Philip is exposed, and whenever the Emperor comes here he never fails to kiss the sacred relic.

"There are tombs and shrines in great number, and a large part of the religions history of Russia belongs to this building. Every Czar of the Empire from John the Terrible to Alexander III., has been crowned here, and the most sacred pictures in the whole country are deposited along the altar screen.

"Dean Stanley says of the Imperial coronation in the Church of the Assumption:

The coronation, even at the present time, is not a mere ceremony, but an historical event and solemn consecration. It is preceded by fasting and seclusion, and takes place in the most sacred church in Russia, the Emperor, not as in the corresponding forms of European investiture, a passive recipient, but himself the principal figure in the whole scene; himself aloud the confession of the orthodox faith; himself alone