sian priesthood at the
present time can be easily explained by its past history, and by certain
peculiarities of the national character.

The Russian White Clergy--that is to say, the parish priests, as
distinguished from the monks, who are called the Black Clergy--have had
a curious history. In primitive times they were drawn from all classes
of the population, and freely elected by the parishioners. When a man
was elected by the popular vote, he was presented to the Bishop, and
if he was found to be a fit and proper person for the office, he was
at once ordained. But this custom early fell into disuse. The Bishops,
finding that many of the candidates presented were illiterate peasants,
gradually assumed the right of appointing the priests, with or without
the consent of the parishioners; and their choice generally fell on the
sons of the clergy as the men best fitted to take orders. The creation
of Bishops' schools, afterwards called seminaries, in which the sons of
the clergy were educated, naturally led, in the course of time, to the
total exclusion of the other classes. The policy of the civil Government
led to the same end. Peter the Great laid down the principle that every
subject should in some way serve the State--the nobles as officers in
the army or navy, or as officials in the civil service; the clergy as
ministers of religion; and the lower classes as soldiers, sailors, or
tax-payers. Of these three classes the clergy had by far the lightest
burdens, and consequently many nobles and peasants would willingly have
entered its ranks. But this species of desertion the Government could
not tolerate, and accordingly the priesthood was surrounded by a legal
barrier which prevented all outsiders from entering it. Thus by the
combined efforts of the ecclesiastical and the civil Administration the
clergy became a separate class or caste, legally and actually incapable
of mingling with the other classes of the population.

The simple fact that the clergy became an exclusive caste, with a
peculiar character, peculiar habits, and peculiar ideals, would in
itself have had a prejudicial influence on the priesthood; but this
was not all. The caste increased in numbers by the process of natural
reproduction much more rapidly than the offices to be filled, so that
the supply of priests and deacons soon far exceeded the demand; and the
disproportion between supply and demand became every year greater and
greater. In this way