ordinances, but they had no means
of renewing the supply. They had no bishops, and according to Orthodox
belief the lower degrees of the clergy cannot be created without
episcopal consecration. At the time of the schism one bishop had thrown
in his lot with the Schismatics, but he had died shortly afterwards
without leaving a successor, and thereafter no bishop had joined their
ranks. As time wore on, the necessity of episcopal consecration came to
be more and more felt, and it is not a little interesting to observe
how these rigorists, who held to the letter of the law and declared
themselves ready to die for a jot or a tittle, modified their theory
in accordance with the changing exigencies of their position. When the
priests who had kept themselves "pure and undefiled"--free from all
contact with Antichrist--became scarce, it was discovered that certain
priests of the dominant Church might be accepted if they formally
abjured the Nikonian novelties. At first, however, only those who had
been consecrated previous to the supposed apostasy of the Church were
accepted, for the very good reason that consecration by bishops who had
become heretical could not be efficacious. When these could no longer be
obtained it was discovered that those who had been baptised previous to
the apostasy might be accepted; and when even these could no longer
be found, a still further concession was made to necessity, and all
consecrated priests were received on condition of their solemnly
abjuring their errors. Of such priests there was always an abundant
supply. If a regular priest could not find a parish, or if he was
deposed by the authorities for some crime or misdemeanour, he had merely
to pass over to the Old Ritualists, and was sure to find among them a
hearty welcome and a tolerable salary.

By these concessions the indefinite prolongation of Old Ritualism was
secured, but many of the Old Ritualists could not but feel that their
position was, to say the least, extremely anomalous. They had no bishops
of their own, and their priests were all consecrated by bishops whom
they believed to be heretical! For many years they hoped to escape
from this dilemma by discovering "Orthodox"--that is to say, Old
Ritualist--bishops somewhere in the East; but when the East had been
searched in vain, and all their efforts to obtain native bishops proved
fruitless, they conceived the design of creating a bishopric somewhere
beyond the frontier, among