Faithful--something of the nature of an epidemic, but
infinitely more dangerous; for disease kills merely the body, whereas
"heresy" kills the soul, and causes both soul and body to be cast into
hell-fire.

Had the Government introduced the innovations slowly and cautiously,
respecting as far as possible all outward forms, it might have effected
much without producing a religious panic; but, instead of acting
circumspectly as the occasion demanded, it ran full-tilt against the
ancient prejudices and superstitious fears, and drove the people into
open resistance. When the art of printing was introduced, it became
necessary to choose the best texts of the Liturgy, Psalter, and other
religious books, and on examination it was found that, through the
ignorance and carelessness of copyists, numerous errors had crept into
the manuscripts in use. This discovery led to further investigation,
which showed that certain irregularities had likewise crept into the
ceremonial. The chief of the clerical errors lay in the orthography of
the word "Jesus," and the chief irregularity in the ceremonial regarded
the position of the fingers when making the sign of the cross.

To correct these errors the celebrated Nikon, who was Patriarch in the
time of Tsar Alexis, father of Peter the Great, ordered all the old
liturgical books and the old Icons to be called in, and new ones to be
distributed; but the clergy and the people resisted. Believing these
"Nikonian novelties" to be heretical, they clung to their old Icons,
their old missals and their old religious customs as the sole anchors of
safety which could save the Faithful from drifting to perdition. In vain
the Patriarch assured the people that the change was a return to the
ancient forms still preserved in Greece and Constantinople. "The Greek
Church," it was replied, "is no longer free from heresy. Orthodoxy has
become many-coloured from the violence of the Turkish Mahomet; and
the Greeks, under the sons of Hagar, have fallen away from the ancient
traditions."

An anathema, formally pronounced by an Ecclesiastical Council against
these Nonconformists, had no more effect than the admonitions of the
Patriarch. They persevered in their obstinacy, and refused to believe
that the blessed saints and holy martyrs who had used the ancient forms
had not prayed and crossed themselves aright. "Not those holy men of
old, but the present Patriarch and his counsellors must be heretics."
"Woe to u