from two Russian words--ras, asunder;
and kolot, to split. Those who belong to the Raskol are
called Raskolniki. They call themselves Staro-obriadtsi
(Old Ritualists) or Staroveri (Old Believers).

From that time down to the present the Government has followed a
wavering policy, oscillating between complete tolerance and active
persecution. It must, however, be said that the persecution has
never been of a very searching kind. In persecution, as in all other
manifestations, the Russian Church directs its attention chiefly
to external forms. It does not seek to ferret out heresy in a man's
opinions, but complacently accepts as Orthodox all who annually
appear at confession and communion, and who refrain from acts of open
hostility. Those who can make these concessions to convenience are
practically free from molestation, and those who cannot so trifle
with their conscience have an equally convenient method of escaping
persecution. The parish clergy, with their customary indifference
to things spiritual and their traditional habit of regarding their
functions from the financial point of view, are hostile to sectarianism
chiefly because it diminishes their revenues by diminishing the number
of parishioners requiring their ministrations. This cause of hostility
can easily be removed by a certain pecuniary sacrifice on the part of
the sectarians, and accordingly there generally exists between them
and their parish priest a tacit contract, by which both parties are
perfectly satisfied. The priest receives his income as if all his
parishioners belonged to the State Church, and the parishioners are
left in peace to believe and practise what they please. By this rude,
convenient method a very large amount of toleration is effectually
secured. Whether the practise has a beneficial moral influence on the
parish clergy is, of course, an entirely different question.

When the priest has been satisfied, there still remains the police,
which likewise levies an irregular tax on heterodoxy; but the
negotiations are generally not difficult, for it is in the interest of
both parties that they should come to terms and live in good-fellowship.
Thus practically the Raskolniki live in the same condition as in the
time of Peter: they pay a tax and are not molested--only the money paid
does not now find its way into the Imperial Exchequer.

These external changes in the history of the Raskol have exercised a
powerful influe