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94 liberal professors were dismissed from St. Petersburg university; university students and even the pupils of the higher schools were sent to Siberia; masonic lodges were closed (the lodges closed in 1822 had 2,000 members). The protector of the holy alliance, of Baroness Krüdener, and of all the reaction mystics, passed in the end beneath the spiritual sway of Photius.

Photius, an uncultured man sprung from the peasantry, rough and selfish, became ruler of the court, the vigorous will of the fanatic and ascetic gaining the upper hand over the aimless romanticism of the religious enthusiast. Even Prince Golicyn, chief procurator to the synod, a man of great influence and for many years one of Alexander's intimates, had to yield to the power of Photius. Golicyn, Alexander's "postillon, d'amour," a man who read the gospels for the first time subsequently to his appointment as chief procurator, was deprived of his office; and the sub-department of the ministry of education to deal with religious affairs established in 1817 and entrusted to Golicyn, was abolished, the work being transferred to the synod. "The only minister we have is the Lord Jesus Christ," wrote Photius to a friend. In reality the minister for religion was Count Arakcěev, the lay Photius, as Photius was the spiritual Arakcěev. Arakcěev and Photius represent theocratic cæsaropapism at the close of Alexander's reign; they are the throne and the altar which Photius defended against the revolution. Photius never wearied of prophesying the coming of antichrist. He announced the final revolution in Russia and the world at large, the onset of "universal destruction," for the year 1836, this being his interpretation of the apocalyptic number. Photius himself died in that year. It was characteristic of this fanatic of the Orthodox letter that he should condemn the moral laxity of the emperor but should condone Arakcěev's weaknesses because Arakcěev was friendly to his own lust for power. When Arakcěev's mistress was murdered on account of her cruelty, Photius celebrated a funeral service on her behalf although she was a Lutheran. In a word, Photius' minister was not Christ, but Arakcěev-Photius at the court of Alexander—an eloquent demonstration that morality and fanatical religious faith are two utterly different things.