religion in all its forms
seemed to them an old-world superstition which tended to retard rather
than accelerate social progress, and which consequently should be
allowed to die as tranquilly as possible; whilst the men of more
moderate views found they had enough to do in emancipating the serfs
and reforming the corrupt civil and judicial Administration. During the
subsequent reactionary period, which culminated in the reign of the
late Emperor, Alexander III., much more attention was devoted to Church
matters, and it came to be recognised in official circles that something
ought to be done for the parish clergy in the way of improving their
material condition so as to increase their moral influence. With this
object in view, M. Pobedonostsef, the Procurator of the Holy Synod,
induced the Government in 1893 to make a State-grant of about 6,500,000
roubles, which should be increased every year, but the sum was very
inadequate, and a large portion of it was devoted to purposes of
political propaganda in the form of maintaining Greek Orthodox priests
in districts where the population was Protestant or Roman Catholic.
Consequently, of the 35,865 parishes which Russia contains, only 18,936,
or a little more than one-half, were enabled to benefit by the grant. In
an optimistic, semi-official statement published as late as 1896 it is
admitted that "the means for the support of the parish clergy must even
now be considered insufficient and wanting in stability, making the
priests dependent on the parishioners, and thereby preventing the
establishment of the necessary moral authority of the spiritual father
over his flock."

In some places the needs of the Church are attended to by voluntary
parish-curatorships which annually raise a certain sum of money, and the
way in which they distribute it is very characteristic of the Russian
people, who have a profound veneration for the Church and its rites, but
very little consideration for the human beings who serve at the altar.
In 14,564 parishes possessing such curatorships no less than 2,500,000
roubles were collected, but of this sum 2,000,000 were expended on the
maintenance and embellishment of churches, and only 174,000 were devoted
to the personal wants of the clergy. According to the semi-official
document from which these figures are taken the whole body of the
Russian White Clergy in 1893 numbered 99,391, of whom 42,513 were
priests, 12,953 deacons, and 43,925 clerks.

I