登陆注册
5382300000027

第27章 CHAPTER IV(5)

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 was formed an ever-

increasing clerical Proletariat, which--as is always the case with a Proletariat of any kind--gravitated towards the towns. In vain the Government issued ukazes prohibiting the priests from quitting their places of domicile, and treated as vagrants and runaways those who disregarded the prohibition; in vain successive sovereigns endeavoured to diminish the number of these supernumeraries by drafting them wholesale into the army. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, and all the larger towns the cry was, "Still they come!" Every morning, in the Kremlin of Moscow, a large crowd of them assembled for the purpose of being hired to officiate in the private chapels of the rich nobles, and a great deal of hard bargaining took place between the priests and the lackeys sent to hire them--conducted in the same spirit, and in nearly the same forms, as that which simultaneously took place in the bazaar close by between extortionate traders and thrifty housewives. "Listen to me," a priest would say, as an ultimatum, to a lackey who was trying to beat down the price: "if you don't give me seventy-five kopeks without further ado, I'll take a bite of this roll, and that will be an end to it!" And that would have been an end to the bargaining, for, according to the rules of the Church, a priest cannot officiate after breaking his fast. The ultimatum, however, could be used with effect only to country servants who had recently come to town. A sharp lackey, experienced in this kind of diplomacy, would have laughed at the threat, and replied coolly, "Bite away, Batushka; I can find plenty more of your sort!" Amusing scenes of this kind I have heard described by old people who professed to have been eye-witnesses.

The condition of the priests who remained in the villages was not much better. Those of them who were fortunate enough to find places were raised at least above the fear of absolute destitution, but their position was by no means enviable. They received little consideration or respect from the peasantry, and still less from the nobles. When the church was situated not on the State Domains, but on a private estate, they were practically under the power of the proprietor--almost as completely as his serfs; and sometimes that power was exercised in a most humiliating and shameful way. I

have heard, for instance, of one priest who was ducked in a pond on a cold winter day for the amusement of the proprietor and his guests--choice spirits, of rough, jovial temperament; and of another who, having neglected to take off his hat as he passed the proprietor's house, was put into a barrel and rolled down a hill into the river at the bottom!

In citing these incidents, I do not at all mean to imply that they represent the relations which usually existed between proprietors and village priests, for I am quite aware that wanton cruelty was not among the ordinary vices of Russian serf-owners. My object in mentioning the incidents is to show how a brutal proprietor--and it must be admitted that they were not a few brutal individuals in the class--could maltreat a priest without much danger of being called to account for his conduct. Of course such conduct was an offence in the eyes of the criminal law; but the criminal law of that time was very shortsighted, and strongly disposed to close its eyes completely when the offender was an influential proprietor. Had the incidents reached the ears of the Emperor Nicholas he would probably have ordered the culprit to be summarily and severely punished but, as the Russian proverb has it, "Heaven is high, and the Tsar is far off." A village priest treated in this barbarous way could have little hope of redress, and, if he were a prudent man, he would make no attempt to obtain it; for any annoyance which he might give the proprietor by complaining to the ecclesiastical authorities would be sure to be paid back to him with interest in some indirect way.

The sons of the clergy who did not succeed in finding regular sacerdotal employment were in a still worse position. Many of them served as scribes or subordinate officials in the public offices, where they commonly eked out their scanty salaries by unblushing extortion and pilfering. Those who did not succeed in gaining even modest employment of this kind had to keep off starvation by less lawful means, and not unfrequently found their way into the prisons or to Siberia.

In judging of the Russian priesthood of the present time, we must call to mind this severe school through which it has passed, and we must also take into consideration the spirit which has been for centuries predominant in the Eastern Church--I mean the strong tendency both in the clergy and in the laity to attribute an inordinate importance to the ceremonial element of religion.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 美食攻略

    美食攻略

    什么也无法阻挡,一个吃货对美食的向往,正经的技能一个不擅长,歪门邪道的本领各种风光,一身厨艺引得众行会哄抢,一颗玲珑心,赢得腹黑好儿郎O(∩_∩)O~
  • 正邪天下(全6册)

    正邪天下(全6册)

    一段师门恩怨引出一场天下动乱。武林之争始于绝世奇人空灵子所创“天平六术”。空灵子六位逆徒横行江湖,扰起一场血腥风雨。两位神秘少年便在这风雨江湖中同时崛起,各凭绝世智谋在武林中卷起一股狂潮,心怀圣意者,却魔缘不断,而心怀邪念者,却机缘连连,更统一邪道与正道相持不下,然而,自古正邪不两立,他们终因不同的信念而决战武林。
  • 独游者

    独游者

    这就只是无比绝伦超级简单没有任何成分超级水。
  • 肥胖病知识读本

    肥胖病知识读本

    市场上有关减肥的书琳琅满目,鱼龙混珠,肥胖是什么,如何减肥,减肥的疗法有哪些,有哪些副作用,怎样正确看待肥胖与美丽,关于这些问题,一般的书往往侧重一点,不及其余。《肥胖病知识读本》的优点,恰恰在于,以肥胖病研究者的角度入手,对肥胖病的知识、减肥的方法、减肥的副作用,以及肥胖与美丽的看法等,进行了通俗与专业相结合的介绍。既有介绍减肥误区,以及令人啼笑皆非的减肥故事,也有针对减肥效果和减肥方法,科学和专业地去做出解释。不争取噱头,也不剑走偏锋,踏实严谨,以专业与通俗想结合的笔法,描述关于肥胖病和减肥问题,是一本有益、有趣的关于肥胖病和减肥的科普读物。
  • 绝望岛历险记
  • 美人劫:七杀天下

    美人劫:七杀天下

    七杀现世,战乱降至。她是星氏一族灵力最强的占星师,却为了摆脱星辰的宿命割腕自杀。墨眸初醒,她摇身一变成为异世新婚的太子正妃,却在大婚之前失去了自己的守宫砂。冥血,家族,权谋,毒杀。他,是腐朽之国最不受宠的皇子,外表淡漠疏离,内在薄情狡诈。一场协议,他救了她,从此与她携手天下,却沉沦在一柄淬了剧毒的双刃剑之下。权倾碧落的太子,薄凉如冰的殿下,阴狠诡秘的血族半妖,正直果毅的妖狼魔君。最终,与她相知相守的,是夺她清白的他,亦或是谋算天下的他。
  • 爱相随

    爱相随

    神秘女林月如一直以来独自抚养着一个女儿,因上班迟到与总公司的总经理肖仁辉发生冲突,两人也因此阴差阳错地发生了一段爱恋,然而月如怎么会有一个女儿呢.?肖仁辉能否接受这个孩子。
  • 读诗(第一卷)

    读诗(第一卷)

    《读诗(第1卷)》内容简介:作为一本诗歌读物,《读诗(第1卷)》选稿的基本原则是不论门派,但求好诗,鼓励勇于承担,直面现实,体现汉语诗性魅力的写作;无条件地向那些将汉诗带入成熟、开阔、高贵、大气之境界的诗人致敬,向那些给汉诗的未来投注新活力、体现新难度、创造新格局的诗人致敬。写诗在今天比起任何时代都更是一项寂寞的事业,新世纪诗歌版图的拓展,有赖澡雪精神,日益精进的一代人的共同戮力,我们满怀信心地期待隐忍自处,孤怀独往,引领风骚的巨匠与杰作的出现。我们也将不遗余力地发现新手,向有借鉴价值的实验之作开放。
  • 遥远的麦子

    遥远的麦子

    八月天,河南省作家协会会员。发表小说《遥远的麦子》《黑神的别样人生》《低腰裤》《父亲的王国》等。现任某报社记者。
  • 黄帝内经中的女人养生养颜经

    黄帝内经中的女人养生养颜经

    集合传统中医养生、养颜、养心智慧之大成,塑造美女体质的国医经典,50套自我排毒养颜术,300个养生美颜细节,100个抗衰养颜秘方,56个美丽穴道,女性阴阳平衡五步曲,颈胸腰臀腿美丽全攻略;五行美容经,解决面子上的金木水火土。