,,the ,,way ,,of ,,martha ,,and ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,mary ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,london ,,bombay ,,calcutta ,,melbourne ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company ,,new ,,york ,,boston ,,chicago ,,dallas ,,san ,,francisco ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4 ,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4 ,,toronto ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,martha ,,and ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,mary ,,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,,author ,,of #8,,with ,,the ,,russian ,,pilgrims ,,to ,,jerusalem1' ,,etc4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,st4 ,,martin',s ,,street1 ,,london #aiae ,,preface ,the quotation 8,martha1 ,martha1 thou art cumbered about with many things3 but one thing is needful3 and ,mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her0 is as common in ,russia as 8faith without works is dead0 is common here4 ,speaking roughly1 ,eastern ,christianity is associated with ,mary's good part and ,western ,christianity with the way of ,martha and service4 ,the two aspects seem to be irreconcilable1 but they are not2 and ,i have called my book ,the ,way of ,martha and the ,way of ,mary because the ways of the sisters are as touchstones for ,christianity1 and in their reconciliation is a great beauty4 ,if you would know what a nation is1 you must ask what is the religion of the people4 ,without a national religion a nation is not a nation but a collection of people4 ,it is a truism to say that what is best in a nation springs from its religion1 from some central idealism to which every one in the nation has access--the idea of the nation4 ,there is a 8,british idea10 an 8,american idea10 a 8,german idea10 a 8,russian idea40 ,this is profoundly true of ,russia2 for all that is beautiful in her life1 art1 and culture springs from the particular and characteristic ,christian idea in the depths of her4 ,she is essentially a great and wonderful unity4 ,it is of that essential unity that ,i write1 and in writing hope to show on the one plane ,russia1 and on another the splendour of the true ,christian idea4 ,this book was written in ,russia and in ,egypt during #aiad and #aiae4 ,in #aiac ,i was in ,america and wrote my study of ,american ideals in contrast to ,russian ideals4 ,i returned to ,russia in ,january #aiad eager to look at the ,east afresh and compare it with the ,west4 ,in setting out for ,russia the fundamental idea in my mind was that of ,russia as a religious country where one found refuge from materialism and worldly cares1 and ,i hoped to find stories and pictures of life with which to clothe the beautiful idea of the sanctuary4 ,the book ,i was going to write ,i always called in my mind 8the sanctuary book10 and my notion was to make a book that should also be a sanctuary itself--a book in which the reader could find sacred refuge4 ,much has intervened4 ,my quest resolved itself first of all into a seeking for what ,i call the ,russian idea1 then into a study of ,russian ,christianity4 ,my new volume is necessarily one of seeking and finding1 a making of discoveries4 ,one chapter led me on to another1 and the scope of my study increased till it took in the whole question of what ,eastern ,christianity is and how it is in contrast to ,western ,christianity4 ,athwart this peaceful work came the typhoon of the ,great ,war1 and my hand was claimed by the new friendship between ,england and ,russia1 the friendship of brothers in arms4 ,it was fitting to seize the opportunity to make that friendship wider and deeper by describing and interpreting the ,russian people to larger audiences4 ,but ,i carried the purpose of this book with me1 and much of what is written here was first put into words on public platforms in the winter of #aiad-ae4 ,finally1 as a culmination to this personal work1 on the #afth ,april #aiae ,i gave a lecture at the ,royal ,institution on 8,the ,russian ,idea10 and therein collected together and summarised all that ,i had said during the winter4 ,that evening ,i read almost all that is vital in ,part ,i4 of this book4 ,in ,may1 in order to carry on this study ,i went to ,egypt to visit the shrines and monasteries of the ,desert1 some of the sources of inspiration of ,eastern ,christianity1 and to make a journey to ,russia the way ,christianity came to her4 ,in these journeyings and doings lie the chronological and geographical scheme of this new volume4 ,i feel that this book1 the hardest of all my books to write1 is not in any sense a collection or a medley of impressions and stories1 but has one and the same object and quest running through the whole of it2 and that in order to understand it even in a small way it is necessary to read the whole of it1 and perhaps re-read it4 ,it is an organic unity1 and reflects in its form something of the ,russian idea and of ,sancta ,sophia itself4 ,the ,way of ,martha and ,the ,way of ,mary is an interpretation and a survey of ,eastern ,christianity1 and a consideration of the ideas at present to the fore in ,christianity generally4 ,christianity is not yet a system3 it is chaotic in its tenets and the manner of its profession4 ,this young religion of ,christianity6 ,perhaps #fjjj years hence it will have crystallised out1 but as yet it is in the confused grandeur of youth4 ,it has all possibilities4 ,a young man or young woman of to-day can live by ,christianity because it is young with them4 ,probably any true book on ,christianity must reflect this fact4 ,as yet ,christianity is running germs3 it is in being's flood1 in action's storm4 ,it is not all logical1 symmetrical1 like a thesis demonstrated and proved to a class in moral philosophy4 ,christianity is a great live religion still absorbing all that is true in other religions4 ,it is the word4 ,it is part of our language1 and by means of it we express what is deepest in ourselves4 ,there has not been in history such a powerful medium of self-expression4 ,words are our means of inter-communication1 of understanding one another and telling one another what is in the heart1 that is--of communion with one another4 ,that communion is deep and tender1 and the knowledge of it1 like the knowledge of ,god1 passeth understanding2 all that we know is that love kindles from it4 ,i make this affirmation as one whose special medium is the written and the spoken word4 ,,stephen ,,graham4 ,,moscow1 ,september #aiae4 ,,contents ,i4 ,,the ,,russian ,,idea-- #a4 ,,to ,,russia #a #b4 ,,modern ,,russia ,,and ,,holy ,,russia #ab #c4 ,,pereplotchikof ,,again #bi #d4 ,,at ,,the ,,theatre #cg #e4 ,,the ,,movements ,,of ,,the ,,peoples #dh #f4 ,,let ,,us ,,go ,,into ,,the ,,tavern #eh #g4 ,,in ,,the ,,church #gc #h4 ,,in ,,the ,,market-,,place #hf #i4 ,,the ,,russian ,,idea #ij #aj4 ,,the ,,labyrinth #aje ,,ii4 ,,martha ,,and ,,mary-- #a4 ,,the ,,podvig #aaa #b4 ,,the ,,hermitage ,,of ,,father ,,seraphim #aba #c4 ,,tolstoy',s ,,flight ,,from ,,home #acj #d4 ,,back ,,to ,,moscow #acf #e4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,suffering #adc #f4 ,,the ,,two ,,hermits #aee #g4 ,,at ,,the ,,convent ,,of ,,martha ,,and ,,mary #afa #h4 ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,martha #afh #i4 ,,martha',s ,,true ,,way #agh #aj4 ,,making ,,west ,,east #ahb #aa4 ,,the ,,ecclesiastical ,,church ,,and ,,the ,,living ,,church #aij #ab4 ,,witness ,,unto ,,the ,,truth #bjj #ac4 ,,the ,,festival ,,of ,,the ,,dead #bjf ,,iii4 ,,the ,,desert ,,and ,,the ,,world-- #a4 ,a ,,chain ,,of ,,happenings #bag #b4 ,,the ,,hermits #bba #c4 ,,in ,,the ,,desert #bce #d4 ,,the ,,world #bdf #e4 ,,st4 ,,sophia #bef #f4 ,,from ,,egypt ,,to ,,russia #bfc ,,appendices-- #a4 ,,war ,,and ,,christianity #bgc #b4 ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,,east ,,and ,,west #bhj ,frontispiece--,,martha ,,and ,,mary4 ,i ,,the ,,russian ,,idea ,i ,,to ,,russia ,,kief1 ,january #aiad4 ,all night long from ,paris to ,cologne the train speeds like a bird1 joyously screaming4 ,i am in the carriage next the engine1 and as ,i lie full length in the darkened empty carriage ,i look out on snow-patched fields and hills1 now partly obscured by wild volumes of vapour1 now fierily illumined by the glow of the furnace1 the black sky raining showers of red sparks on to the vague night landscape1 the engine racing forward past signal-boxes and stations1 clattering along the changing points of the rails of junctions1 knowing apparently that all signals are for1 never anticipating any hindrance1 skirling and leaping in the exuberance of accomplishment4 ,we pass the ,belgian frontier at three in the morning near ,namur1 and the ,german at ,herbesthal in the dim glimmering before dawn4 ,the world that becomes visible as the sun rises is the ordered world of the ,germans4 ,everything is prim1 everything is as it should be2 the fields are symmetrical1 the palings are vertical and in good repair1 the manure heaps are compact2 where houses are being pulled down or set up there is no disorder whatever2 nothing is scattered about1 everything is collected and numbered4 ,at the little stations we pass through1 the station-master in brilliant red and blue is standing erect at that point on the platform that it is his duty to occupy4 ,on the train a woman in uniform has appeared4 ,she has put thirty or forty little tablets of soap and two dozen hand-towels into the lavatory2 she has picked up the bits of paper that lay scattered in the corridor all night2 she has washed everything in the lavatory2 put water in the cistern and boiled water in the carafe4 ,the conductor1 a well-groomed military man1 has come and allotted us definitely numbered seats in the carriages and has seen that our respective hand-luggage occupies just that space in the rack which is above our numbered seats4 ,at ,cologne there are just four minutes to cross the subway and get into the ,berlin express4 ,my porter--luggage-dragger1 as the precise ,germans call him--takes me across at a run and puts me in the train1 and my registered box of books and papers and what-not is not allowed to miss the connexion4 ,i hardly sit down in the speckless third-class carriage of the real ,german train before the whistle goes and we slip past the great black piles of ,cologne ,cathedral in the background4 ,all day long we tear over ,germany at sixty miles an hour to ,berlin4 ,at ,paris ,i had registered my box to the ,charlottenburg ,station of ,berlin1 but to my dismay the train did not stop there4 ,i had only ten minutes in which to change francs to marks1 get my ticket to the ,russian frontier1 have my luggage weighed and registered1 and get into the train4 ,and ,i do not speak ,german1 but the ,germans understood4 ,i was put down at ,zoological ,gardens ,station4 ,my porter understood the situation at once1 ran me along to some stairs1 and pointed down them4 ,i went down2 he went 8to expedite my baggage10 so ,i understood4 ,i took my ticket1 and in doing so offered the girl in the booking-office about six more marks than was necessary4 ,she pushed back the superfluous silver without a smile4 ,turning round1 ,i saw my trunk reposing on the weighing machine4 ,my porter pointed to the registration window4 ,i paid two marks and obtained my receipt and went up the stairs to the platform for the ,russian train1 and had two minutes to spare4 ,how efficient the ,germans are6 ,they have a great excellence in their way4 ,they permit no one to lose himself1 they permit no disorder1 everything is done by the chronometer rather than by the watch4 ,they have a genius for orderliness1 neatness1 and precision4 ,they have our ,english ideal of thoroughness and smartness1 but they seem to have consummated it whilst we have paused in the ways of ,destiny and changed our mind in favour of something different4 ,if we could see ,germans in a friendly spirit there are many ,english who would bow down in admiration to their civilisation4 ,for the ,saxon part of ,english nature has a similar instinct for order1 for living one's life like a neatly-worked mathematics paper4 ,it is the aboriginal ,celtic base in us which with much that came over with the ,normans has frustrated the ,saxon element in our race4 ,the ,british earth itself has formed us1 inspired us3 hence our kindliness1 verve1 and imaginativeness1 human tenderness4 ,thanks to the ancient ,briton in us1 we are more like the ,russians than the ,germans4 ,there is a people who are the antipodes of the ,germans--wild in their emotions1 anarchic in their spirits1 amused by laws and regulations1 lacking in the instincts that make 8progress0 possible4 ,naturally the ,russians can't stand the ,germans4 ,as a ,russian said to me when ,i recounted how once ,i left a ,kodak behind in the waiting-room at ,cologne station1 wired from ,dusseldorf my ,russian address1 and eventually received the apparatus in good condition at ,rostof-on-the-,don1 8,the ,germans are an accurate people4 ,o ,lord1 how accurate they are60 ,we reached the ,russian frontier at one in the morning1 and1 passing in single file1 gave up our passports to the sentry4 ,at the ,custom-house the baggage was submitted to a vigorous examination4 ,an armed ,customs officer in a heavy overcoat with black astrakhan collar directed the operations2 three or four porters and inspectors fumbled in the trunks1 turning things almost upside down1 and a slim girl of twenty-five1 a female expert1 scrutinised all the clothes for the things that men were not likely to see of themselves--embroidery1 lace1 silk underwear1 neatly packed away ,paris blouses1 feathers1 new costumes with artificial creases and tacked-in dirty linings4 ,but ,i am not smuggling anything through1 and no one takes the trouble even to look at the contents of my books4 ,i take my ticket to ,kief and a supplement to ,warsaw4 ,at half-past three we are allowed to board the ,russian train and spread out our bedding and make ourselves comfortable4 ,the station is dark and gloomy1 the dreariest station in western ,russia4 ,as we stand at the windows of the train and look out a strange procession comes up out of the darkness--threescore of men in irons1 following a soldier who carries on a pole high above his head a flaming naphtha torch4 ,the faces of the men are pale1 furtive1 hairy1 their shoulders awkward2 some are in old blouses1 some in collars1 some in sheepskins2 they are ,jews1 ,poles1 ,russians1 chained together in fours1 marching along the railway track to a barred convict-train waiting at a siding4 ,foot soldiers accompany them with drawn swords in their uplifted hands4 ,they come out of the darkness like living shadows and disappear into the darkness again4 8,soloveiki10 says the conductor disparagingly4 8,well10 says a ,russian1 8,i don't suppose they're heroes4 ,poland swarms with thieves and smugglers1 and people smuggling themselves across the frontier in order to get to ,america40 8,they are human beings10 says another4 8,they are in chains and we free4 ,it is a heavy sight40 ,but the second bell and the third bell sound1 and the train moves gradually out of the station and nearly every one lies down to sleep4 ,even when we arrive at ,warsaw many of the passengers are snoring and have to be awakened up by acquaintances or porters4 ,across the two miles of the slush-covered cobbles of ,warsaw1 through driving rain and sleet1 in an open droshky at dawn1 from the ,vienna to the ,brest station4 8,a vam ne skoro60 says the ,russian porter who greets me4 8,your train is not soon4 ,the next for ,kief is at four o'clock in the afternoon40 ,i have breakfast4 ,i stroll into the rainy city and back1 have a plate of hot soup1 read the papers1 write letters4 ,opposite me in the ,kief train was a little girl in simple but antique national attire1 in soiled clothes1 but having a fresh and delicate classical face and black hair in two plaits1 one about each little ear--a rare beauty3 it was a piquant pleasure just to look at her4 8,when do we get to ,kharkof80 she asked4 8,seven1 to-morrow night40 8,oh1 what a long time6 ,it's a long way3 it's the first time ,i've been away from home40 ,as the guard blew his whistle she stood up1 looked towards the city1 and crossed herself4 8,are you a little ,russian80 ,i asked4 8,no2 a ,pole4 ,i was once a ,jewess1 but have just been baptized4 ,see44440 ,she showed me a little crucifix1 and the figure of the ,virgin on a little medallion hanging from her neck4 8,you're a ,catholic now80 8,yes2 and ,i don't like the ,jews40 ,i wondered whether in view of the ill odour in which the ,jews were at that time1 she had been told by her mother to announce her conversion very distinctly4 8,such a mama ,i have60 said she1 turning out a basket of provisions--two bags of nuts1 several pots of jam1 biscuits1 a ,polish ,christmas pudding4 ,there were in the carriage besides myself and the girl opposite me a ,russian student1 a young ,polish flaneur1 and a middle-aged1 grizzly1 smelly1 ,polish peasant4 ,the young convert offered us all nuts4 ,she was very engaging4 ,she took out a long bottle1 put it to her lips and drank from it4 ,she told me it was cold tea with sugar at the bottom of the bottle1 but to the ,pole announced that it was vodka4 ,he was fool enough to believe her1 and at once cast about in his mind some means of doing her an ill turn4 ,he came over and made love to her in excited whispers1 and was so rude and urgent that at last the girl refused to have anything more to do with him1 and turned sullen and angry4 ,he for his part sneaked off to another compartment1 and we saw no more of him4 ,after a while the girl relaxed and smiled1 took out a large but cracked hand-mirror1 looked at her pretty face1 and patted the curls to her temples4 ,i got a kettleful of boiling water and made tea for the grizzly peasant and her and myself4 ,then the peasant climbed on to the shelf above and spread out his big overcoat and slept on it1 and the little girl1 after explaining that she was going to live with ,poles in ,kharkof1 and that her father played the violin and she the mandoline1 and that she was going to take a part in a 8troop0 and earn her living1 undid her black locks1 put down a quilt and a pillow1 and curled herself up and slept4 ,the conductor came round and searched under the seats for 8hares10 the flickering candle burned low1 and ,i was about to turn in and sleep when the ,russian student1 who had been trying to read a newspaper by the aid of a dip of his own1 finally gave up the task and set himself to talk to me4 8,how far are you going8 ,where from8 ,what for8 ,how long have you been away from ,russia8 ,what interest can ,russia have for you8 ,i should have thought the ,west more interesting44440 and so on1 the usual flood of questions4 ,then my questions4 8,has much happened in ,russia during the year8 ,what are people talking about8 ,what are they doing8 ,what is in the air80 8,oh10 said he1 8the ,futurists are walking about with gilded noses and dyed faces4 ,the ,jew-haters of the ,black ,hundred want to raise a temple in memory of the ,christian boy ,yushinsky4 ,everyone has been discussing a play of ,artsibashef called ,jealousy4 ,literary ,russia has been giving a welcome to the ,belgian poet ,verhaeren1 such as you in ,england have been giving ,anatole ,france4 ,every one is either hearing or giving lectures about ,verhaeren4 ,but ,i suppose most clamour of all has been raised about ,gorky and ,dostoieffsky and the ,theatre of ,art at ,moscow4 ,they propose to perform ,dostoieffsky's ,demons at the ,theatre of ,art1 and ,gorky has raised a great protest4 ,he holds that ,dostoieffsky is so reactionary in tendency that he ought not to be played at the great democratic theatre4 ,not only that1 but he holds that ,tolstoy1 and indeed all ,russian literature1 is on the wrong side in the struggle for the liberation of the people4 ,he is almost ready to say1 #8,burn the works of ,tolstoy and ,dostoieffsky2 burn them1 and let us be free6'0 8,how does ,russia take it80 ,i asked4 8,it is indeed true that ,dostoieffsky's work is not on the side of progress and freedom4 ,he believed in suffering2 he believed in the ,russian ,church1 and was a ,christian40 8,russia is mostly against ,gorky10 said the student4 8,merezhkovsky1 for instance1 has written a brilliant article against him in the ,russian ,word1 and he says1 #8,yes1 ,gorky is keenly sensitive1 but in ,italy or ,greece1 where he lives1#a he is too far away to feel what ,russia is now4 ,russia has changed much in the last eight years4 ,her wounds have healed up1 many of them2 she has the great hope of the convalescent4 ,if ,gorky breathed ,russian air he would understand that there was now in ,russia a strong religious movement4'0 8,and what do you think80 ,i asked4 8,do you possibly agree with ,gorky80 8,no4 ,i don't think it is right to steal an instrument from the other side's box of tricks4 ,the ,censorship is one of their weapons1 not one of ours4 ,the people have loved ,dostoieffsky more than they have loved any other ,russian author2 he is still beloved4 ,we ,russians are a religious and loving people4 ,we will never sacrifice humanity for ideas44440 ,we talked a long time4 ,when ,i lay down on my shelf to sleep ,i felt only gladness that ,i was coming back to ,russia1 coming to live with her and for her once more1 after a year in ,england and ,america4 ,it seemed to me a pity that ,gorky had not come back the year before when so many exiles took advantage of the ,tsar's manifesto1 and returned to the open arms of a loving1 astonishingly patriotic people6 ,next morning at dawn ,i arrived at ,kief1 said 8,good-bye0 to the little girl who was sleepily stretching herself1 and to the student who was chatting with a new acquaintance in the gangway and smoking a cigarette4 ,the grizzly peasant ,i let snore on4444 ,a fine crowd this of the ,kief streets3 stalwart1 diverse1 interested in one another1 attractive-faced1 they are a refreshment1 such a refreshment1 after ,paris and ,new ,york4 ,but ,i do not reckon that ,i have achieved the first stage of my journey back till ,i enter the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,vladimir and light candles before ,queen ,olga1 ,king ,vladimir1 and the ,mother and ,child1 baring my head in the presence of ,russia and accepting her sanctuary from the ,west4 ,footnote #a3 ,he had not then returned to ,russia4 ,,ii ,,modern ,,russia ,,and ,,holy ,,russia ,,kief1 ,january #aiad4 ,one of the first friends ,i visited in ,kief was ,little-,russian ,katia1 a typical ,russian of to-day1 with the problems and prospects of the new-formed middle class4 ,at the time of the ,boer ,war ,katia ran away from school and set off on foot for ,south ,africa as a ,russian pilgrim would set out for ,jerusalem1 with a bundle on her back and a stick in her hand4 ,she would beg her way to the ,transvaal and collect money to help the ,boers6 ,at the same school1 in the time of the riots in ,kief1 the first class presented an ultimatum to the masters and directors1 demanding among other things the right to hold meetings1 the right to get books from the public libraries1 and equal justice for all pupils irrespective of race1 be they ,russians1 ,poles1 or ,jews6 ,a go-ahead school as far as the scholars were concerned4 ,if a mistress in a fit of anger strikes one of her class1 straight away a boycott of her lessons is arranged1 and no one answers her questions1 no one does any homework for her4 ,katia learnt at school to adore above all things the works of ,oscar ,wilde4 ,she professes to know his works almost by heart2 she sleeps with ,the ,happy ,prince under her pillow4 ,on a wall in her bedroom hangs a large portrait of ,oscar ,wilde2 in a corner is the sacred ikon1 before which on festival nights and for holy days she lights a little lamp4 ,she was the last ,russian ,i had seen when ,i left ,kief some fifteen months before4 ,she was then engaged to ,sasha1 a thinly-clad1 stern1 poverty-stricken student1 who in order to travel thirty versts on the railway free would take a conductor's job and examine the tickets in the second class4 ,if she married ,sasha he would get drunk and beat her2 they would live dogs' lives--so every one said4 ,the father1 a rich manufacturer1 was opposed to ,sasha1 but then the father was a tyrant2 the mother1 not on speaking terms with the father1 gave countenance to the engagement4 ,sasha was able to come to all meals and stay as long as he liked with ,katia4 ,when ,katia was indisposed and thought fit to lie in bed1 he might spend whole evenings sitting by her4 ,that was all comme il faut1 for in ,russia a betrothed couple are already called bride and bridegroom and have such freedom4 ,the father1 however1 cut short ,katia's pocket-money and cut short his wife's housekeeping money1 and made coarse jokes at the expense of the house-hold4 ,though ,katia was twenty-two years of age she had no passport of her own4 ,her father simply kept her name written on his own passport1 and in that way cut off the chance of his daughter's running away from home4 ,you cannot get far in ,russia without a passport of your own4 ,you certainly cannot get married without a passport and without many documents4 ,katia's sweetheart was not at all abashed by his own poverty or by the rudeness of the father4 ,he came to all parties and functions in his shabby clothes4 ,he lectured the father and mother on their behaviour4 ,he was even hard and brusque to ,katia herself upon occasion4 ,but he stood up for her dignity1 and would have fought any one who insulted her4 99 99 99 99 99 ,returning to ,kief this month ,i rather wondered how far ,katia's romance had got4 ,perhaps she and ,sasha were now man and wife4 ,but ,i could not imagine it4 ,one of the felicities of travelling is to pay surprise visits4 ,i had heard nothing from ,katia in the interim4 ,so ,i rang at the door and gave my name to a strange servant and went in and4444 ,exclamations6 8,oh1 how fine6 on the twenty-fifth of ,january is my wedding10 says the same beautiful ,katia4 8,i congratulate you4 ,i did not know whom to visit first10 said ,i1 8you or ,sasha40 8,sasha is in ,moscow10 says ,katia with a troubled expression4 8,will you live in ,kief80 ,i ask4 8,i in ,kief10 says she with meaning emphasis4 ,so it is not ,sasha that she is marrying4 ,presently in comes a bright-looking soldier of rather charming manners1 and he is introduced as the bridegroom4 ,he is a guest in the house and has been living there some weeks--,fedor ,leonidovitch ,smirnoff--who has completed his university course in law1 and is now serving his term in the army4 8,the date is absolutely settled80 ,i suppose4 8,if papa will take out the papers in time10 says ,katia4 ,but the new young man is on good terms with the father4 ,he has evidently plenty of money of his own1 and he is a persona grata4 8,what of ,sasha80 ,i ask ,katia aside4 8,we quarrelled10 says she4 8,god1 how we quarrelled6 ,we were rowing in a boat on the ,dnieper1 and when ,i told him it was no good1 we could never be married1 he shot at me with a revolver4 ,i had to save myself by jumping into the water40 8,you've chosen a nice young man this time4 ,perhaps you are more likely to be happy with him40 8,yes4 ,everybody likes him40 ,fedor is certainly a relief after the sternness of ,sasha4 ,he is affable1 he is interested in the prices of all things1 and is bourgeois1 but he says that success and money and luxury do not tempt him4 ,he would like to give up everything and try and find out what life means4 ,he would like to be a wanderer as ,i am1 or to go into a monastery4 ,all the same1 the career assigned to him seems to be that of a lawyer1 and as a lawyer1 not as a vagabond1 will he win the hand of ,katia4 ,he will live with her as a wealthy bourgeois ,european1 and not as a ,russian4 ,this modern ,kief is a mill where purely ,russian types go in and ,europeans come out4 8,once a ,european1 always a ,european10 says some one4 8,a ,european may become an ,american10 ,i hazard4 8,but he can never become a ,russian again40 8,what am ,i80 asks ,katia of me1 8a ,russian or a ,european80 8,i don't know4 ,you are changing perhaps4 ,but keep a ,russian60 ,one evening1 on ,katia's advice1 ,i took a sledge across the snow-covered city to ,solovtsof's theatre and saw ,jealousy performed1 a story that has had a vast vulgar success in ,russia4 ,it is by ,artsibashef1 the author of the most notorious books of the last ten years4 ,he is the voice of the bourgeois1 of the new commercial middle-class ,europeans being turned out at such an astonishing rate by the modern industrialism of ,russia4 ,he concerns himself almost entirely with sexual problems1 and the relation of woman to man4 ,his outlook in life is something like that of ,bernard ,shaw1 but his criterion in life is not racial progress so much as physical happiness4 ,he mirrors the life of those whose aim is money1 whose relaxation is feasting and flirtation4 ,he reflects the growing non-,christian ,russia1 the increasing mass of ,parisian types of men and women obscuring the real ,russia4 ,a crowded theatre1 nobody in evening dress1 many women pretentiously dressed1 many rich town-folk in the stalls1 clerks and their sweethearts or their wives in other parts of the house4 ,the play is very well staged1 well upholstered1 and is vociferously received4 ,what they are cheering is nothing more or less than a series of opinions about women1 a disparagement and uglification of the symbol 8woman10 of what is holiest4 ,but to quote the opinions gives the play4 ,in woman first of all it is necessary to awaken curiosity4 ,women do not value those who pray to them4 ,woman1 of course1 likes admiration1 but only gives herself to the man who despises her a little4 ,men are most interesting when they are angry4 ,woman is only interesting1 vivacious1 clever1 when she is bathed in the atmosphere of love4 ,man is interested in his business1 in sport1 in thought1 but woman is only interested in herself1 and if she seems to have interest in other things it is only feigned4 ,her sole object is to make herself more alluring1 more interesting4 ,we seek ,lauras and ,beatrices1 not knowing that such creatures are only the incarnation of male fancy1 and do not and cannot exist4 ,girls are charming1 but when you marry one you find her to be a tedious baba like the rest4 ,at the piano they tinkle1 8,i am a princess1 ,i am a princess40 ,all young girls are princesses1 but you never come across a queen4 ,a woman lies in a way that a man would not wish to lie1 and indeed cannot lie4 ,she lies with her whole being4 ,when a man deceives he grows cool1 and in that betrays himself4 ,but a woman returns from another man's love specially languorous1 caressing1 and tender4444 ,sin must surely set her soul ablaze4 ,even the most sinful man is ashamed of deceit1 and that prevents him from lying effectively4 ,a woman quite sincerely reckons she has a right to deceive4 ,she thinks that to deceive not only does not humiliate her1 but1 on the contrary1 makes her more interesting4 ,the action of the drama shows two women1 one who may be dismissed as a wanton1 the other is a flirt who loves her husband best of all4 ,the latter coquettes in various ways with an officer1 a student1 and a savage ,caucasian prince4 ,she leads them on to the last limit of propriety1 and evidently finds her sole zest of life in the vanity of having lovers always expecting rendezvous and secret kisses4 ,the only words spoken on behalf of woman come from an old fellow who has been three times married--and deceived and made foolish by three women in turn4 ,he says3-- ,woman is a magnificent1 delicate instrument on which each can play all that he can and will4 ,of course1 put some ,beethoven at the piano1 and he will find you a wonderful sonata2 but put some giftless strummer there1 and he rattles out a vulgar polka4 ,we are just such giftless fools1 and swear at the instrument because it produces no music4 ,no1 friends1 you are wrong2 woman is sensitive1 hospitable1 tender1 poetic4 ,god gave us woman as an adornment of our lives2 we ourselves have spoiled her and complain4 ,the play ,jealousy is a sort of public trial of woman1 and when at the end the crazy husband of the woman who flirted but loved him best strangles her1 it is a sort of verdict1 sentence1 and execution in one4 ,how serious the trial is may be judged from the fact that each of the audience is given a pencil and a piece of paper and asked to record his opinion as to whether the man was justified in committing the murder4 ,how repulsive the whole thing6 ,a play that should put 8,woman0 adequately on the stage needs many women and the various kinds of men who need from women the things that women can give--faith1 love1 children4 ,for setting or for evidence it needs the world4 ,the powers of life and death must stalk across the stage4 ,the stakes for which men bid must be there1 and also the ,stars silent over us1 ,graves under us silent4 ,jealousy is the reflection of a shameful way of life4 ,it is trivial1 mean1 parochial1 the rage of talk for a day among the bourgeois of ,russia1 interesting now1 as opposed to the story of ,antony and ,cleopatra1 interesting for ever4 8,and what do you think of woman80 asked a ,kief friend4 8,why10 said ,i1 8the beast was a beast until a woman loved him4 ,then he became a man1 even a prince4 ,so it is with all of us4 ,when a woman kisses a man1 even an ugly1 wretched1 despised creature1 he knows that he has found grace and is precious in the sight of ,god4 ,when a woman smiles on a man she bids him live4 8,the world is kept fresh by women and children1 by their faith and their influence and their prayers4 ,it would have rotted away but for them4 8,the love and the faith of women empower men to do things4 ,no man who is out on the adventurous tracks of life but has women behind him1 and their love even far away keeps him alive4 ,a woman has cords from her soul to the far-off hands of man1 and at her will can empower men to lift their hands and do things4 ,she has spiritual nervous force40 8,but if these cords get broken80 said my friend4 8,ah1 then indeed she is in a different position4 ,she finds herself stranded in destiny4 ,she may become a man's plaything or worse4 ,or she may become a militant suffragist or a believer in secular education or a propagandist of eugenism and hygienics40 8,in ,england10 says my friend4 8,but in ,russia we have no woman's movement4 ,she becomes one of ,artsibashef's women1 no more2 a man's plaything and fetish40 ,even so4 99 99 99 99 99 ,what has ,artsibashef's play got to do with ,russia8 ,it has a good deal to do with her because of thousands such as ,katia who are at the cross-roads4 ,with her cross1 hard1 but loving student ,sasha she might have been poor and unhappy1 but1 on the other hand1 she would save her soul's health4 ,whereas with her new-found bourgeois ,fedor she may easily enter the world and the atmosphere of ,jealousy4 ,among those ,i visited at ,kief was a certain ,vassia1 a poverty-stricken doctor who worked from morning to night healing men and women1 a specialist in internal diseases but practising in a poor district4 ,he did not receive a fifth of his fees2 he healed on trust4 8,they come to me suffering3 how can ,i refuse to help80 he would urge when people tried to harden his heart against those who couldn't pay4 ,an extraordinarily kind1 impracticable fellow1 with a flat in complete disorder1 with an adopted child but no wife2 lazy and thieving servants4 ,neighbours have stolen much of his furniture1 even the ikons from some of the rooms2 and the candles burn in the empty corners from which the ikons have been stolen6 ,that is ,russian4 ,vassia and ,i were invited to an astonishing all-night feast given in honour of ,katia on the occasion of her last name-day before marriage4 ,we sat down to dinner at six1 we got up from dinner at half-past eleven2 we went to the drawing-room and talked and sang till a quarter past twelve1 then we returned to the dining-room for tea and coffee and dessert4 ,the funniest moments were when the bride's father sat on the floor pretending he was drunk1 and when the bridegroom1 to prove he was not tipsy1 crawled under the table on all fours among the guests' feet and went from one end to the other1 and then jumped up and gave a military salute4 ,they drank too much4 ,they were near quarrelling at the end4 ,one of the guests shouted in a loud voice that ,katia's brother had played the piano like a bootmaker4 ,then the toasts6 ,they drank twice to everybody in the room1 and the men kissed the hands of the women as well as clinking glasses with them4 ,all the bridegroom said at dinner was1 8,so-and-so1 for what reason do you not drink80 though ,so-and-so was often half-seas over4 ,they drank to absent friends1 to ,freedom1 to ,truth1 to ,english ,literature--8,let us drink to ,english ,literature1 #8urrah60--to ,russian dancing1 to ,katia1 to ,katia's figure 78thank ,god she isn't like a telegraph pole071 to ,katia's future happiness4 ,she changed her dress between dinner and dessert4 ,some of the women present had a private view of the bride's linen--eight dozen chemises at a hundred and forty roubles the dozen1 and all the rest on a similar scale4 8,fine batiste and lace10 said an old lady present1 rubbing her fingers together as if feeling the linen2 8fine batiste that at the first wash goes into shreds from the chemicals the laundresses use4 ,i wouldn't accept such garments as a gift4 ,it is a sin to wear them4 ,nowadays1 when you live in a city and the washerwoman won't wash naturally1 the only thing to do is to wear cheap things and replace them continually40 ,what was interesting to me was the complete absence of attention on the part of the bridegroom4 ,he could not have treated an enemy more negligently4 ,it even prompted the ,german governess1 who had unfortunately got a little drunk with champagne1 to cry out-- 8,the bridegroom has not kissed the bride once2 why is it80 ,poor ,katia6 she did not seem to have one true friend amongst all these people1 and was possibly marrying to escape from father and home4444 ,but away from these problems6 ,thousands of sleigh-horses flog the grey-white snow of the ,kief streets1 flocked with ,christmas traffic4 ,the sleighs are loaded with baskets of cakes and sweets4 ,men are driving1 carrying in their arms huge ,christmas trees4 ,there are men struggling with little pigs and live geese and turkeys designed for the market or the ,christmas dinner4 ,on the slippery sidewalks urchins are crying with cheerful irrelevance3-- 8,five copecks1 aluminium wonder lights1 cold fire without smoke1 without smell40 8,five copecks1 warm socks to put inside boots or goloshes40 ,in the ,jewish old-clothes market of the ,podol there are tremendous crowds1 and much business is being done4 ,the mood of ,jewry is happy in the ,christmas orgy of trade4 ,all is calm after the ritual trial1 and the fear of persecution is all gone in the reality of good business4 ,all ,kief seems to be in the streets buying2 and the tram-cars tinkling their alarm bells are crowded to the last inch of the step-boards4 ,but somewhere there is another ,kief1 a quiet radiant city1 silent but for the footfalls of monks or pilgrims on the snow--the sanctuaries1 monasteries1 ruins1 shops1 hostelries of the ,petcherskaya ,lavra4 ,this ,kief stands high on those cliffs of the ,dnieper whence the ,russians sent tumbling down their old god ,peroun2 it looks upon the river to which ,king ,vladimir at the dawning of ,russian faith stepped down with his whole army to be baptized4 ,yellow walls1 half a mile long1 twenty feet high1 go down1 alongside steep1 snowy1 rutty1 over-drifted roads1 from church to church4 ,peasant men and women in chestnut-coloured sheepskins1 fur-edged and embroidered1 are plodding up and down with bundles on their shoulders4 ,bright gilded domes of churches glitter above white walls1 and from many kolokolnyas come antique-sounding chimes4 ,as you look down from a tower you see beyond the thirty-five churches of the beautiful ,lavra the blue and white ,dnieper1 half frozen and snowed over1 half free as yet from winter's grip--you see beyond all the far snowy steppes and forests of ,little ,russia4 ,here1 in a historical sense1 is ,holy ,russia1 for the whole cliff on which the monasteries are built is holy ground4 ,the foundations are honeycombed with cells of the primeval hermits and saints of ,russia4 ,you enter dark and narrow passages in the rock1 places in which you cannot stand erect1 and you wander candle in hand from shrine to shrine in the depths of the earth4 ,an old monk with black cloak1 grey hair1 and yellow five-times broken twisted candle1 leads you from skeleton to skeleton wrapped in purple pall2 shows you now and then a skull1 a dried-up hand2 points out the picture of the likeness of the saint whose remains you salute1 indicating the nickname the hermit bore in the days when he was upon the world1 thus3 the industrious1 the silent1 the bookless1 the faster1 the healer1 the herbalist1 and so on2 thrusting the glimmer of his torch into the intense darkness of the cell which the father had occupied when alive4 ,all day long the peasants wander from sepulchre to sepulchre in this unlocked cemetery or dungeon of the dead1 kissing the coffins1 laying personal ikons upon the relics in order that they may receive special sanctification1 dropping their farthings on the palls1 listening to services in remote underground churches1 gathering unusual impressions of death1 tasting the sweet emotions of religion4 ,in the hostelries1 where are accommodated upon occasion as many as #bj1jjj pilgrims1 you may wander at will and see peasant ,russia sprawling on sheepskins and reading holy books1 or making tea4 ,you may go into the refectories and see #ejj pilgrims sit down together to a free monastery dinner of cabbage soup and porridge and kvass1 or you may sit with them yourself and eat4 ,on this ,christmas ,eve just past ,i sat with such a party in the twilight waiting for the first star to come out1 the signal to make the holy meal of ,sotchelnik4 ,it was a different ,russia from ,katia's1 this of the #ejj uncouth1 shaggy-headed men and women at long dark tables1 waiting in front of huge ,russian basins full of soup1 as the shades of night came down1 and the lamp before the ,virgin and ,child grew brighter and brighter4 ,you tread with gentle steps across the giving snow and enter one of the churches1 and find yourself in an irregularly grouped crowd of antique1 hairy1 patriarchal-looking men in sheepskins and birch-bark boots4 ,there are no pews or seats1 there is no electric light1 but there is the gloom and effulgence of much gold and of many half-illuminated paintings and frescoes4 ,you stand with peasant ,russia on a stone floor in the glimmer and shadow of an immense candle-lit temple4 ,you pass through with a candle to the front1 to the altar-rail lit by scores of steady silver flames1 the votive tapers of the pilgrims2 you find yourself in the presence of a radiant line of calm1 attentive1 singing faces4 ,this is ,holy ,russia independent of historical association4 ,the music you hear in ,russian churches robs you of the sense of time4 ,on ,christmas ,eve in ,russia you hear the music of the herald-angels1 and see at the same time1 in the likeness of the listening ,russian peasants1 the shepherds who heard the angels sing4 ,you veritably escape from 8the world0 and from 8to-day10 and are so potently reminded of the beauty and mystery of man's life that you shake off all dull cares and the reproach of failure or success1 the soil and stain of circumstance1 and know that what is you is something utterly beautiful before ,god4 ,kief has been called many names--the ,canterbury of ,russia1 the ,russian ,jerusalem1 the ,font of ,russia--but it may most truly be called the ,russian ,bethlehem1 the place where ,christ was born in ,russia1 adored by rude shepherds1 sought by the noble and the wise4 ,,iii ,,pereplotchikof ,,again ,,moscow1 ,february #aiad4 ,i went to ,moscow to see my old friend ,vassily ,vassilievitch ,pereplotchikof1 the painter4 ,he received me in his house in the ,sadovia1 in that mysterious sitting-room of his where scores of his paintings are always standing with their faces to the wall1 like very shy young maidens who wait till it is their turn to be shown to society and to their prospective suitors4 ,during the summer in ,america which ,i had tramped1 he had been seeking impressions on the barren ,arctic island of ,nova ,zemlia4 ,what a contrast in our fields of action6 ,he in the silent snow-swept island2 ,i on the luxurious mainland of the ,new ,world4 ,vassily ,vassilitch prefers places like ,nova ,zemlia1 where1 as it were1 candles are burning in corners from which ikons have been taken away4 ,we exchanged our impressions4 ,nova ,zemlia has only a hundred inhabitants1 one steamer calls there in the year4 ,there is only one post4 ,in winter there is three months darkness without light2 in summer two months light without darkness4 ,the ice and snow do not melt away even in ,july1 and the colonists--trappers and hunters--live a stark life in opposition to the storm and stress of nature4 ,they are dead to the world--the world all dead to them until the prow of their one annual steamer comes into view on the ocean in ,july4 ,the day of its arrival they call their ,easter1 and they do not hold ,easter according to the calendar in the dark and terrible spring1 but postpone their holiday till life is born again with the coming of the ship4 ,their resurrection day is when their brother-man comes again to them4 ,in the arriving of the ship they see ,jesus walking towards them on the sea4 ,vassily ,vassilitch told me this with a subtle emphasis4 ,i felt rich in having ,vassily ,vassilitch as a friend1 for ,i realised he was able to tell me sacred things4 ,this evening of our seeing one another again he read me many poems which he had written 8not to print1 but for his own pleasure40 ,all that he says has a deep human interest1 a significant emphasis and luminous suggestiveness that may be recognised in his paintings also4 ,vassily ,vassilitch left ,archangel for ,nova ,zemlia one morning in ,july4 ,the boat steamed placidly and peacefully out of the vast and enlarged ,dwina into the ,white ,sea1 and then out of the ,white ,sea into the cold and buffeting ,arctic4 ,on board were two ,government officials going to consider 8,colonisation10 an ,english artillery officer1 an astronomer1 a journalist from ,archangel1 a monk going to relieve another monk and spend the winter on the island1 peasant fur-buyers1 carpenters1 and workmen4 ,the monk was one of the most interesting characters1 and told how a ,samoyede once in a storm dug a hole in the snow and lay there three or four days1 and slept till it was over4 ,when the blizzard ceased he broke out of his white grave and went home4 ,he told how there was once such a storm on ,easter ,eve that he and the villagers had to crawl to church on hands and knees4 ,coming home they were all blown about half a mile out of their course4 ,from the hunting expeditions the islanders nearly always brought home young bears taken alive1 and they fed them and reared them and eventually sold them into menageries and circuses4 ,the monk had two young bears one season and they were very much attached to him4 ,they followed him everywhere and would take food from his hands alone4 ,if by any chance he escaped them and got away by himself to do something they raised a scandal4 ,however1 on the return journey to ,archangel the monk lost one of them4 ,when they were some #bej miles out at sea one of the bears broke her fastenings1 jumped into the ocean and swam away4 ,and she swam all the way back to the harbour and was recaptured by the ,samoyedes there4 ,the other bear gave a lot of trouble at ,archangel by absolutely refusing to be tended by any one else but the monk who had brought him4 ,but at last the monk exchanged his cassock with some one else1 and it was found that the bear at once transferred his obedience1 and that he could be managed by any one who wore the monk's garments4 ,the monk therefore sold the cassock with the bear1 and both are now part of the stock-in-trade of a circus4 ,in this case the habit did make the monk4 ,the boat had an open hatchway1 and the captain was for ever crying out3-- 8,more careful1 people6 ,don't fall down the hole4 ,once the ,governor of ,archangel fell down there2 he didn't get hurt because he fell on a chambermaid who was passing4 ,once an official fell through and broke twelve bottles of various drinks2 he didn't get hurt either1 but was much upset when we gave him the bill for the drinks4 ,another official was reading a bit of paper and stepped over and fell on some baskets--he also didn't get hurt2 but be careful all the same4 ,and various ordinary passengers fell44440 ,but1 as it happened1 some tremendous weather overtook the ship1 and not many dare move from their places in the cabins4 ,so the hatchway remained open without misadventure4 ,it was touching--,vassily ,vassilitch's account of their coming into view of the shore1 and the whole population of the little colony standing staring at the ship with greedy eyes1 the first visitors to them from the great family of mankind on the rest of the world1 their ,easter4 ,poor lonely ones6 ,with what thirst they exchanged the first greetings and questions6 8,how have you got on80 8,any sick80 8,any dead80 8,have you shot many bears80 8,how's trade80 ,the islanders had suffered very much from scurvy during the year4 ,the day before the vessel arrived a man had died of it and ,vassily ,vassilitch saw the funeral4 ,it took place about midnight4 ,from one of the huts came the klak1 klak1 klak1 of the nailing up of the coffin4 ,the coffin issued from the little village borne on a dog-drawn hearse1 then followed the priest in his gilded raiment1 the frantic widow1 the mourners4 8,holy ,god10 they sang1 8,holy ,strong ,one1 ,holy ,immortal10 and the dogs all whined and howled4 ,in the bitter shadowy night they bore the corpse away1 over grey earth and rags of snow1 far away to the side of a black tumbling river1 and the midnight sunshine gleamed on all the snowy mountain peaks1 catching the light from the horizon where the sun seemed poised4 ,vassily ,vassilitch showed me a copy he had made of a diary kept by a ,russian peasant who had died of scurvy4 ,two ,russian peasants settled on a desolate part of the island to spend the winter and hunt4 ,it was somewhat pathetic that the man doomed to die should have had the idea of keeping a log-book4 ,the story tells much of ,russian patience1 simplicity1 tenderness1 pluck4 ,i only quote a few entries from the diary3-- ,november #cj4--;,bear came to door of hut and began to gnaw the carcase that was there4 ,snatched my gun1 but he saw me and was off and ,i dare not follow in the dark4 ,december #e4--;,daylight was short4 ,hardly got a shot before it was dark4 ,eve of the day of my angel4 ,in the evening drank tea4 ,washed my body at a basin for want of a bath4 ,changed my linen4 ,lighted lamp before the ikon4 ,february #a4--;,cloudy and windy4 ,shot some seals4 ,had great difficulty in bringing them home4 ,we have colds4 ,northern lights4 ,february #bh4--;,heavy weather4 ,both seriously ill4 ,extraordinary pain4 ,first the toes ache as if frozen1 then it goes into the legs1 into the knees and muscles4 ,man must lie down4 ,over his whole body and arms a rash breaks out4 ,in ,march the scurvy was too much for him2 the diary is continued by the hand of his mate1 who writes on ,april #af3-- ,to-day ,kulebakin 7the former writer of the diary7 was in pain and delirium1 but afterwards calmly and peacefully gave back his soul to ,god4 ,weather cloudy to clear4 ,no water4 ,dug the grave4 ,all by myself now4 ,no one to talk to now4 ,it is sad4 ,april #ba4--,lighted a candle and burnt incense over ,kulebakin1 and then carried him to the grave4 ,bright and sunny day4 ,no water4 ,april #bc4--,the ice has cleared4 ,hung a torn shirt on the mountain instead of a flag4 ,i still wait on the chance of some one coming from the settlement4 ,it is very dreary4 ,pain in the legs4 ,walk with difficulty4 ,need to gather strength against illness4 ,nothing to eat but bread4 ,at this point the diary comes entirely to an end1 and it might have seemed the writer was dead1 but a peasant came from the settlement1 rescued him1 and carried him back1 and he returned to ,russia and recovered4 ,the astonishing thing is he came back again to ,nova ,zemlia1 and wintered and hunted1 repeating the experiment4 ,a tough fellow6 ,one of the sights of ,nova ,zemlia is the cemetery1 with its tumbled and broken crosses4 ,the dead sleep there in the ,russian faith even as they sleep far away in tropical ,turkestan and the pleasant borders of ,persia4 ,not only a nation stretching from ,west to ,east1 these ,russians1 but diving four or five thousand miles from ,north to ,south4 ,how do they support life in the ,far ,north8 ,they have to have their vodka there4#b ,there is a big supply of it on the ship for them4 ,it will not1 however1 be sold to them till all the business of fur-selling is accomplished and the cargo brought on board1 and the ship is ready to steam away4 ,the sale of vodka begins only after the second blast of the hooter4 ,the day after the boat leaves the island there is an orgy of drinking1 and in a short while all the vodka disappears and there ensue months of enforced sobriety4 ,the island has a loving and striving priest who wrestles with the people for their souls4 ,vassily ,vassilitch came upon him sobbing4 ,there had been a case of cheating on the island4 8,i try to make them good men and women10 said the priest2 8,i pray for them4 ,i pray with them1 and yet see how they cheat and drink and forget all that they learn60 ,vassily ,vassilitch went right round the island calling at the various points where there were inhabitants1 painting a little1 talking to the people4 ,it is a wonderful island1 a continuation of the ,urals1 very rich in metals1 very mountainous4 ,there were no trees1 however1 and though there were bright and beautiful flowers and birds and butterflies it was ever bleak and wind-swept4 ,there was not a mosquito or hornfly in the island even in ,july4 ,coming home the ship passed through a field of icebergs4 ,vassily ,vassilitch for the first time in his life saw a mirage4 ,it gave him the idea that all that he had seen on the island was really a mirage1 a dream1 an insubstantial pageant2 that life itself was such4 ,when he heard the last of the growling and snapping of the twelve or fifteen bears tied up on deck and stepped off on to the pier and sat once more in an ,archangel droshky1 clattering over the cobbles of the muddy town1 he felt indeed that all that he had seen and heard was something folded and hidden away in the everyday1 a wonderful1 fantastic1 even absurd and improbable dream4 8,some time1 perhaps1 after we die and awake elsewhere1 we shall look back on life and say the same of it10 said he4 ,footnote #b3 ,before the vodka prohibition4 ,how they get on now it would be difficult to say4 ,,iv ,,at ,,the ,,theatre ,,moscow1 ,march #aiad4 ,at ,moscow1 at one of the meetings of the ,religious and ,philosophical ,society1 ,i met ,namirovitch ,danchenko1 the manager of the ,theatre of ,art1 and he invited me to see five or six pieces of the repertory4 ,this gave me great pleasure and interest4 ,an interesting figure in the stalls of the theatre on the first night ,i was there was ,maxim ,gorky1 who had unexpectedly returned after eight years' involuntary exile1 and now was looking at the theatrical presentation of ,dostoieffsky's novel1 ,the ,possessed1 against which he had been writing from abroad in such a way as to provoke all literate ,russia to discussion4 ,his hair cut short1 his black blouse put aside for ,european jacket and waistcoat and collar1 the tramp-author looked somewhat shorn of the mystery of his personality4 ,as he tripped quickly past me1 in one of the entr'actes1 in his light evening boots it was easy to think he used to be a more real character in sapogi4 ,for the rest1 he did not look in bad health1 was even a little flushed with colour4 ,but his face was nervous1 self-conscious4 ,i should say it is not by any means the old ,gorky that has returned4 ,there was considerable excitement in the theatre amongst those who knew of the novelist's presence1 ,moscow being crazy to welcome ,gorky with banquets and speeches and newspaper headlines1 but being unable to do so1 because ,gorky's health will not stand excitement1 and because he can remain happily in ,russia only on condition that he keeps quiet4 ,i was sitting next to ,m4 ,lakiardopulo1 the secretary of the theatre4 8,you know how he has been slating us10 whispered he to me4 8,there was a time when on such an occasion ,gorky would have stood up in his seat and addressed the house1 saying1 #8,why do you come to see such a thing8 ,it is no good2 it is reactionary1 and only helps to put back the progress of ,russia4' ,but he is afraid to do it now4 ,he is not sure of the ,russia to which he has returned40 ,around ,gorky and the spirit of ,dostoieffsky rage for the time being all the questions of the hour in ,russia--,apollo versus ,dionysus1 ,progress and ,westernism versus ,life understood as a religious orgy2 ,materialism versus ,mysticism4 ,how weak is the power of the ,west may be seen in the guise of its champion--,gorky with his foot in his grave1 ,gorky1 whose wonderful literary gift ,italy and ,greece have withered4 ,but ,gorky1 frustrate as he seems1 has effectually raised the question and set ,russia thinking and differentiating4 ,i have a strange1 strange feeling about ,moscow 7says he71 a mournful feeling4444 ,were the ,moscow streets and the ,moscow people like this before1 or do ,i only remark it now because ,i have seen what it is like in the ,west8 ,there1 in ,italy1 amidst the brilliance and magnificence of ,nature1 in the magnificent chaos of cities buzzing with automobiles1 humming with factories1 you feel at least that ,man is not losing himself2 you feel he is the master1 the centre4 ,his voice is full-sounding1 it is ever in one's ears1 the voice of one who is master of earth and master of his life4 ,but in ,moscow6 ,on the streets ,i feel the people are all voiceless4 ,the pavements are populous1 lively1 noisy2 there are people of all kinds going to and fro1 but the actual human voice of mankind seems to be utterly silent4 ,the people are all gloomy1 melancholy1 above all1 angry4 ,the women have widows' faces4444 ,is it possible it was like this when ,i was here before8 ,gorky1 despite his experience in what may be called the absolute ,west--,america#c--;has come back enchanted with the ,west4 ,the idea accepted in the revolutionary days that the ,west was good1 the ,west was ,russia's bright destiny providentially lighted before her for her to follow1 has died out almost unremarked4 ,gorky alone1 all these eight years1 has nursed it1 and he has been writing stories and dramas which fall flatter and flatter on the ears of ,russia4 ,the ,theatre of ,art alone has refused in turn each of his last eight plays6 ,no wonder the faces seem to him preoccupied4 ,he cannot understand why the ,theatre of ,art1 in its working out of a new life for the theatre in general1 should take ,the ,brothers ,karamazof and ,besi 7,the ,possessed74 ,were there not new writers who would breathe the new ideals and new hopes of ,russia into the work of the stage8 ,dostoieffsky was a genius1 but in ,gorky's opinion an evil genius--the evil genius--the evil genius of ,russia which ,russia must overcome1 an abscess on the ,russian body4 ,dostoieffsky was profoundly national1 yes1 but he expressed the ,asiatic side of the ,russian4 8,if ,russians give themselves up to ,dostoieffsky they will become like ,china10 said he4 8,in each of us sits a ,dostoieffsky--we have to overcome him40 ,well1 the great fact of this month is that ,gorky's protest has had the fullest publicity1 and has been discussed at many hundred public meetings and in numberless newspaper articles1 and yet the great mass of the people have supported the ,theatre of ,art and ,dostoieffsky--even although the performance of ,the ,possessed is but a poor experiment4 ,the difference between ,eastern and ,western literature may be aptly contrasted4 ,i read last summer in the letter of an ,american to an ,english publisher something of this kind3-- ,mr4 ,so-and-,so's novel may be a success with you1 but we shan't be able to do much with it over here as it ends on a note of failure2 the reader must be quite sure that the hero and heroine1 whatever troubles they may have at the beginning1 are going to win through in the end4 ,anything that ends on a curse or a suicide or hysteria is almost sure to fall commercially dead over here4 ,now the ,russian considers failure and despair and cursing and suicide as a glory1 and success to be a reproach--the likely destiny of ,jews or earth-swallowers4 ,america and the ,west prize the whole1 the sound1 the substantial banking account1 the ideal marriage1 domestic bliss1 correct collars and ties1 creases where they should be on the right sort of attire1 that glamour of materialism which ,mr4 ,bennett so satisfactorily renders in his descriptions of hotel apartments and the clothes of the soulless4 ,but ,russia1 even ,gorky in his best days1 prizes the barefooted tramp1 the consumptive and disease-stricken1 the imbecile1 the improvident1 the man who has no sense of the value of money1 the poverty-stricken student of ,chekhof's ,cherry ,garden who can refuse money1 saying1 8,offer me two hundred thousand1 ,i wouldn't take it4 ,i am a free man4 ,and none of all that you value so highly is any use to me4 ,i can do without it on the way to higher truth40 ,the grandeur of the ,west1 ,gorky's 8magnificent chaos of cities buzzing with automobiles and humming with factories0 only prevent1 tolko meshait1 as ,russians say so constantly4 ,man's voice is loud because he has to overcry noisy machines2 it is loud also because1 like a child1 he is wildly excited over his toys4 ,it is unjustifiably loud4 ,but ,gorky1 like a fond savage1 would give up broad lands and a fair birthright for coloured beads and toys4 ,round about ,besi rages also the question of the future of the theatre4 ,moscow is likely to become the literary capital of ,europe2 it is already the theatrical capital4 ,whatever it is working out is likely in time to affect the whole stage of ,europe4 ,almost every one in ,russian literature has contributed something towards the question of the new development of the theatre4 ,strange to say1 it is a question of the theatre and the producer1 not a question of the dramatist4 ,that is a starting-point4 ,the two fundamental ideas which are in contrast are again that of ,east versus ,west1 ,materialism versus ,mysticism4 ,one party derives the theatre from the puppet-show and the elaborated ,punch and ,judy show1 suggests a theatre of dolls or types1 and above all things heralds 8the glorious cinema0 as the womb of the theatre-to-be--that is the ,western notion of the theatre1 a show to arrest passers-by1 divert them and coax coppers from them4 ,the other party derives the theatre from the ancient mystery1 and requires that in the theatre of the future the audience shall collaborate with those on the stage1 the foot-lights shall be disenchanted1 there shall be mystical dancing and singing and horror and exaltation--this is the ,eastern notion4 ,the latter seems at first glance far removed from possible realisation in the present1 a dream of the impractical even romantic and absurd4 ,but when we remember that church and theatre were once one and the same1 all plays being holy1 and that our ,mass or ,communion ,service was in a sense a survival of the ,holy ,mystery wherein not only the actors1 i4e4 the priests and those who serve at the altar1 took part but also the people themselves1 then it is seen to be not quite so remote4 ,the ,shaw plays are remarkable examples of the developed ,punch and ,judy show1 where various bizarre dolls with funny faces reel off amusing speeches1 all of which are just audibly prompted by the man who holds the strings4 ,he tries to create the illusion that the dolls are flesh and blood--for that reason he sometimes will have even a doll-representation of himself on the stage1 as in the case of ,mr4 ,tanner in ,man and ,superman4 ,and if we are deceived for a moment or an hour and the illusion succeeds and we discuss the acts of ,punch and ,judy1 and ,judy's mother1 and the ,counsel for the ,prosecution1 and ,toby1 and the ,judge1 as if they were real people1 yet when we get home we reflect after all it was all ,shaw--8awfully clever1 very funny1 but it was the man behind the red curtain talking all the while2 we must tell so-and-so they ought to go40 ,the ,ibsen play is more or less a game of chess2 again observe the skilful moving of puppets on a board4 ,his drama is specialised intellectually4 ,it is interesting to keen minds1 but not diverting1 not so elementary as ,shaw4 ,peer ,gynt1 however1 is a mystery play1 or could be taken as such2 there are parts in it not only for the prime actors but for everybody in the theatre4 ,the sad fact is that the theatre audiences are heavy4 ,they are not quite so heavy in ,russia as in ,england1 for no one here considers his dinner as of any importance beside being at the theatre2 and indeed if you are not punctual at the ,theatre of ,art you find the doors are closed and you cannot get in4 ,but all the same the people are heavy1 clinging to their seats as if in them they had found refuge4 ,the moderns are not the ,greeks4 ,the minds and souls of the modern ,russians are at the disposal of the ,hierophant of the ,mystery1 but the bodies are more enslaved by gravity than lead4 ,so1 in the near future at least1 there can be no active collaboration between audience and actors1 no real disenchantment of that line of lamps separating the stage from the world4 ,perhaps in time choruses will be devised for audiences--even now in ,english music-halls where the people sing the choruses of the popular songs there is a witness of the possibility of the realisation of such an idea4 ,perhaps in time a part of the public may take part in dances or may march with banners and emblems1 or opportunity may be given to public characters of the day to make their exits and their entrances1 and make speeches not to be found in the books of words4 ,but all this belongs to the thrice-interesting future1 not to the tantalising present moment4 ,all that the theatre is doing now is to put the dramatist in his place and give scope to the producer and the ,master of ,ceremonies4 ,the ,theatre of ,art1 the ,moscow ,free ,theatre1 and in ,london1 as a beginning1 ,granville ,barker's theatre1 are all working for a new1 large1 vital stage4 ,in a sense it is futuristic work1 for it takes no inspiration from the past1 unless from ancient ,greece4 ,it regards all the work of the last few thousand years as makeshift4 ,it will work out something worthy of ,man1 something noble and enduring4 ,then again ,man will have a voice1 and not that gay1 confident1 business cry to which ,gorky has fondly given his ear4 ,and that brings me back to ,besi 7,the ,possessed71 at which ,i was sitting with ,gorky in front of me and the genial secretary at my side4 ,besi1 or1 as it is entitled in the programme1 ,nikolai ,stavrogin1 is an example of the present work of the ,theatre of ,art4 ,the theatre that will produce ,pickwick ,papers as a play and can set one of its own staff to work out the libretto is not in need of dramatists at present4 ,nikolai ,stavrogin was arranged by ,namirovitch ,danchenko1 and it is a presentment in some fifteen or twenty scenes of the vital portions of ,dostoieffsky's novel4 ,it assumes that the public has read the book and knows it well1 and so1 subtly1 makes the person sitting in his seat collaborate1 by supplying in his mind the missing links4 ,the performance commences at #h ,p4,m4 and finishes about #ab4cj4 ,all the while you are considering failure--death to all ,americans4 ,in the first scene1 a very beautiful one1 with little village church and worshippers and beggars and lackeys1 the bells are set a-ringing and you open the doors of the temple of your soul and admit the whole ,russian world of the suffering4 ,the stage becomes the forecourt of your heart1 and the many people in the mystery commune with your sympathies4 ,it must be said that from an ,english1 even from a ,celtic point of view1 the story is rather desperate1 somewhat unredeemed2 the dream-picture that you see is rather the nightmare of some one who is too conscious of being ill himself--the epileptic ,dostoieffsky4 ,dostoieffsky's physical ills and personal down-heartedness are interesting in his biography1 but blemishes in his artistic work4 ,all those long novels were written as almost everlasting feuilletons1 scribbled often while the printer's devil was waiting1 or writhed into black and white in the still hours of lonely poverty and feebleness1 in dreary midnight hours in ,petrograd4 ,in order to understand them truly you need ,dostoieffsky himself somewhere on the stage1 or in the heart4 ,footnote #c3 ,gorky went to ,america to raise money to help the ,revolutionary ,party in ,russia1 but was hounded out of the country as an immoral man4 ,the newspapers started a campaign against his private life1 and despite ,american sympathy for the cause of 8liberty0 he was forced to leave the country4 ,no hotel would take him in4 ,v ,,the ,,movements ,,of ,,the ,,peoples ,,moscow1 ,march #aiad4 ,during the summer1 in which ,i lived in a cottage in the ,urals1 there passed my window an endless procession of weary tramps1 not in flocks or crowds1 in hundreds or in fifties1 but in twos and threes day by day4 ,i saw them on the highway stamping their weak boots and bruised feet in the deep ,august dust1 trudging forward patiently1 patiently4 ,they would come to the door1 untie the black kettle that dangled from the pack on their shoulders1 beg water to make tea1 sit down to munch our peasant-wife's pastry1 resting their ragged elbows on the unvarnished table1 holding a saucerful of hot tea in both hands1 and sucking at it and breathing over it in manifest appreciation and satisfaction4 ,i would ask one of them1 8,what are you1 brother1 a pilgrim80 8,no1 brother1 we seek land10 he would answer4 8,where we live it is too close--we live too near together2 we are going to ,siberia to get land40 8,and where do you come from80 8,from ,tambovsky ,government1 from ,penzensky1 from ,nizhegorodsky10 they would answer4 ,from all the more crowded parts of ,central ,russia4 ,they were perecelentsi1 migratory ,russians1 children of the womb of nations1 the race ever pushing out from the centre1 extending ,russia to the ,east and the ,south and the ,north4 ,wherever you go to-day you find on the confines of the ,empire1 and indeed beyond the confines1 the wandering poverty-stricken emigrant-tramp2 in ,siberia1 in ,russian ,turkestan1 in ,mongolia1 ,persia1 ,turkey4 ,anon he grows tired1 or he finds his happy valley and settles down1 forming the nucleus of a new ,russian colony1 or adding to the strength of one already existent4 ,after him comes the ,russian army1 claiming interests1 and the ,russian flag1 claiming sovereignty or giving protection2 but it must always be remembered that the movement is first of all natural1 it is not merely aggressively imperial4 ,it is not even encouraged by the ,government2 thousands of the tramps die of privation every year2 thousands get thrown into prison for being1 as is often the case1 bez-passportny 7without passports72 the people they meet on the way call them fools going from bad conditions to perhaps worse--but the tramps go on4 ,they say they seek a better land1 but ,god alone knows what they really seek1 what they imagine they may see at the next turning of the long long road4 ,if you stay at ,chelyabinsk1 the eastern gate of ,russia1 you may see thousands of these wanderers4 ,and it is interesting to compare their type with those whom you see at ,libava1 the western gate of ,russia4 ,through ,libava pass the greater number of those who are going to ,america4 ,every ten days the ,russo-,asiatsky ,lloyd embarks a thousand or two thousand emigrants1 every week vessels sail for ,london and ,hull carrying ,russians who have booked by the ,cunard and the ,white ,star and other lines4 ,from ,russia there pass over to ,america more colonists than from any other country in the world--upwards of #bge1jjj people every year4 ,a great number of these are ,jews and ,poles and ,lithuanians4 ,for many years the number of actual ,russians had been few2 but in #aiac there were of ,russians alone more than of any other nationality in the world4 ,they are richer ,russians these4 ,they have money to show to the inspectors at ,ellis ,island2 they have trunks full of clothes4 ,they could not carry their burdens on their shoulders2 they have come to the port in trains4 ,they are not melancholy and dusty and bearded like the tramps1 but bright-eyed1 well dressed1 so as to pass muster at the inspection4 ,they are making a bold bid for new life2 they have had the courage to pay for the new life with all the old2 to take a jump in the dark1 and trust ,god4 ,they do not belong eternally to the road2 and they are not carrying the cross on their backs1 as are those melancholy tramps of ,siberia4 ,the ,siberian emigrants stop at many factories and mines and do a few days' work1 and are perchance shot down like dogs1 at a place like the ,lena gold-washings1 or they settle in a fever-stricken swamp and are swept away by pestilence4 ,but for the most part they come to no harm1 dying eventually of old age1 full of memories1 poverty-stricken all their lives1 and yet in a spiritual sense rich1 confessing always that they were strangers1 seeking something better than that they were leaving behind4 ,but they who go out at the western gate take their chance of strange destiny4 ,they are cast off from ,russia and from that understanding of life that ,russia breathes4 ,they go to be the most unfortunate class in ,america1 the simplest and therefore the most exploited2 they go to do work fitted better to black slaves2 their young women1 though they do not know it1 are often already sold into infamy whilst they breathe the 8air of freedom0 on the steamer2 and often the men1 contracted in gangs to the ,argentine and ,brazil to work on railways and plantations1 are simply living merchandise for which the labour agent who engages them receives a substantial premium4 ,they go to work as ,russians never worked before1 and to receive double the wages they would get in ,russia1 and then to realise that money buys little or no extra happiness4 ,or they go to settle on the land and form a ,russian community1 as the ,dukhobors have done in ,canada1 the ,molokans in ,california1 the ,adventists in the ,dakotas and in the backwoods of ,america1 to forget that they are not in ,russia1 to be as much in debt to the agricultural machine manufacturers as they were in arrears in the payment of rent and taxes in the old country1 to perish of starvation in lean years1 to be persecuted by educational and sanitary officials1 and to be spurred on once more to seek a happier country4 ,others are destined to enter the choir-dance of the races with ,jew and ,german and ,english and ,irish1 marrying the foreigner and merging the ,european in the new type--the coming ,american4 ,at ,odessa1 the southern gate of ,russia1 the pilgrims are embarking for ,mount ,athos and ,palestine a thousand at a time1 an unexpected delivery of bowed and aged men and women out of the depths of ,russia4 ,there you may see another of the continual movements of the people of ,russia1 an astonishing procession this to those who are absorbed in the commercial life of ,russia1 to those ,jews and exiled ,russians who write to the ,english papers that the outward signs of ,russian religion are 8the mummery of the ,holy ,synod40 ,at ,odessa1 and indeed on all the roads of ,russia1 there are many thousands of pious ,russians1 pack on back1 staff in hand1 on their way to the monasteries and holy places1 to the sepulchre1 to ,kief1 to the ,hermitage of ,father ,seraphim1 to ,new ,athos1 to many a little wayside shrine and monastery that only has its ten pilgrims where the great ones have their hundreds and their housefuls4 ,it has been said that with an ,englishman the conversation always1 sooner or later1 turns to sport1 with a ,frenchman to woman1 and with a ,russian to the subject of ,russia4 ,this is true of the educated classes of society2 but the peasants do not talk of these things so much--the peasants' talk nearly always turns to ,god and religion4 ,the ,russians are always en route for some place where they may find out something about ,god1 and if there is a particularly animated conversation in the hostelry of a monastery1 a third-class carriage1 or a tea-shop or ,russian public-house 7traktir71 it is almost always sure to be about religion4 ,the modern evangelical movement may almost be said to have had its birth in the famous but filthy public house1 8,yama10 where originally over vodka and beer1 and later more commonly over tea1 the question of salvation was continually mooted4 ,in the third-class carriage you will occasionally come across an old man who reads an antique ,bible through iron-rimmed spectacles4 ,he has heard that a new sect has been formed by some peasants in some remote village1 and is off to discover 8whether they have found anything40 ,then what of those who march in chains from prison to prison on the road8 ,often ,i have stopped my writing on a bright summer morning to listen to an appalling sound--the clank1 clank1 clank of fifty or sixty men in fetters--and ,i have looked out at a procession of unfortunate ,russians1 dust from head to foot1 the sun flashing on the bright steel links on their legs and their bodies4 ,they also belonged to the road4 ,they move us to the depths of sorrow or to hoarse anarchy2 but they are of the road4 ,their vague shuffled footmarks are the writing of the finger in the dust4 ,they are symbolical4 ,we also walk as they4 ,listen with 8the third ear10 and you will hear the clangour of our chains as we tramp-- having unearthly souls1 ,yet fettered and forged to the earth6 ,the world is like a theatre1 is it not8 ,the theatre should reflect the world and touch man to a remembrance of his mystery4 ,he comes into it to be stirred by pity and fear1 not simply to be amused between dinner and sleep4 ,he comes into it as to a ,communion ,service1 not merely to receive1 but to partake4 ,such a theatre is the world1 with its marches and processions1 its lively and its heavy measures1 its sacrifices1 its words of ancient wisdom from the lips of priests1 words of prophecy from oracles1 the joyful choruses and jubilations1 its sympathies and choruses of sadness1 its ramified manifold movements and counter-movements4 ,most moving of all is the procession to the altar and the songs we sing carrying our emblems4 8,having been at home in many realms of the spirit10 it is good to realise this theatre in the heart4 ,having a personal knowledge of the road to ,jerusalem and to ,america1 and of the pilgrims and tramps on the various roads of ,russia1 having even been marched six days along the road under arrest on one occasion1 it is good to realise all that is happening at one and the same time in ,russia--the flocking to ,jerusalem and to ,america1 the trickling into ,siberia and ,mongolia and ,turkestan and ,persia1 the tramping to the monasteries to find ,god1 the tramping to cities and factories to get work1 the third-class carriages of the trains crammed with people1 the uproarious taverns where is all manner of exchange of rude ideas1 the beautiful churches alight with candles and paintings1 the little theatres and cinema shows as crammed as the churches1 the bazaars and fairs1 the prisons1 the poor prisoners on the road clanking their chains4 ,every common sight is charged with significance4 ,this is the source of the ,russian spirit and the genius of ,russian literature and fine art4 ,thus1 for instance1 when you mention 8smoke0 to a ,westerner he at once thinks of factory smoke and that which pains the eyes or darkens heaven4 ,but to the ,russian smoke is always ,that which comes forth out of the censer1 the smoke of the sacrifice1 the smoke of our lives--the sighs and regrets and fears and aspirations of men and women1 our crooked smokes1 which1 in the language of ,shakespeare1 mount upwards to the gods4 ,in such an atmosphere ,russians can forget personal anger when looking at the chains on their convicts1 and they can see in those chains emblems of human destiny4 ,there is in ,russia a whole beautiful sad literature about chains and fetters4 ,hermits and holy men have even taken to wearing chains voluntarily as one of their rites of world-negation4 ,dostoieffsky could find ,siberia1 after personal experience1 to be the supreme place for the understanding of the world4 ,we are encompassed about by mystery4 ,every common sight is a rune1 a letter of the ,divine alphabet written upon all earthly things4 ,man's heart is a temple with many altars1 and it is dark to start with1 and strange4 ,but it is possible with every ordinary impression of life to light a candle in that church till it is ablaze with lights like the sky4 ,that is the functions of ordinary sights--to be candles4 ,so the night of ignorance is lit up with countless stars4 ,it is not less night but more1 more beautiful-- ,there's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st ,but in his motion like an angel sings4 ,at those places on the road where springs gush from the rocks the peasants have chalked the face of ,jesus1 so that the water seems to pour from ,his mouth4 ,at these springs stop the pilgrims1 the emigrants1 the wayfarers1 even the poor prisoners and their guards4 ,that is one of the visions of ,holy ,russia4 ,,vi ,,let ,,us ,,go ,,into ,,the ,,tavern ,,moscow1 ,march #aiad4 ,in a sense the tavern is also a theatre or a church4 ,it is a place of life4 8,i am glad you've come10 said a friend to me4 8,keep your ears open2 this is the very bottom2 everything springs from here4 ,this is the changing-house of the ideas of the common people40 ,there is no 8bar10 in the ,english sense4 ,on the long wooden counter are bottles and glasses1 and plates of sausage and ham4 ,but you do not lounge there and gossip over your glass4 ,the ,russian public-house is all tables and chairs1 like the accommodation for a smoking concert4 ,but such dirty chairs and tables6 ,you sit down2 you are attended by a waiter4 ,there is an army of waiters serving for #cjs4 a month and no tips4 ,they are in white blouses1 white trousers1 and white aprons1 and they look as if they had strayed into the filthy hall in their night attire4 ,on one wall is a square candle-lantern with the word ,,traktir printed on it in decayed brown2 on another wall is an immense gilt ikon4 ,the doors creak heavily to and fro1 admitting customers unreadily--how unlike the little swing doors of the ,american saloons1 so easy to open that you may slip in as it were by accident4 ,at almost all the tables are working-men and women drinking tea1 vodka1 or beer1 talking loudly4#d ,there are many cabmen in their round fur hats and voluminous blue cloaks2 many market-women in their cottons1 with soiled coloured kerchiefs on their heads4 ,you see twenty people drinking tea to one drinking vodka--they pour the tea into the saucers1 hold the saucers to their hairy mouths1 and guzzle at the gratifying golden drink4 ,but if you look about you will notice vodka-drinkers1 some asleep1 with their unkempt heads on the table 7looking like tramps asleep in a free library72 you see also men with red cheeks and fiery eyes not yet overcome by liquor1 but ready to bawl and make a scandal at the least provocation4 ,the atmosphere is heavy with the smoke of the vilest tobacco in the world 7makhorka74 ,a blind musician is playing the concertina1 several people are singing1 hawkers with pies1 with ,bibles1 with shirts1 with pencils1 with old clothes1 are going from table to table offering their wares4 ,there is tremendous bargaining and long-drawn-out haggling on the part of people who1 it would seem1 do not really intend to buy1 even at the last4 ,there are beggars1 cripples1 blind men1 dwarfs1 asking for alms in the name of ,christ4 ,there are drunken hooligans trying to get drinks for nothing4 ,there are antediluvian pilgrims hundreds of miles from home1 not going to a shrine1 but collecting coppers throughout all ,russia for the building of a new church in their far-away native villages4 ,you may even see upon occasion a peasant carrying a great church bell4 ,you ask him why4 ,he tells you the church of his village was by the will of ,god destroyed by a fire1 and that only the bell remains1 and he is collecting alms to build a new church and hang up the bell again4 ,throughout the whole tavern all day and almost all night is a clamour of talking and an animated scene of gesticulating1 unwashed1 ragged men and women4 ,almost all the small business of hawkers1 stall-keepers1 and little traders is accomplished over vodka or tea in the traktir1 but indeed the successful1 even the millionaire1 peasant merchant will step without a ruffle of dignity into the most miserable tavern of the city1 and not be too proud to answer the taunts or questions of ragamuffins4 ,that is part of ,russia's strength4 ,then1 the home is not all-absorbing in ,russia1 and even the poorest people like to spend the whole evening in the tavern drinking tea1 talking1 talking1 talking4 ,no one would reproach a ,russian for lingering thus away from his wife and little ones4 ,not much money is spent1 man for man4 ,in three or four hours it often happens that a man spends no more than five copecks 7a penny farthing71 and has only purchased a little teapot of tea and a big teapot of hot water1 the tavern's substitute for the samovar4 99 99 99 99 99 ,kuprin tells the tale of a tavern in ,odessa famous for one of its ragged musicians1 ,sasha4 ,he filled the public-house with the strains of the violin1 and every night the place was packed with men and women4 ,every table was occupied1 there was tea or beer or vodka everywhere1 all the men were smoking makhorka1 the windows were all shut1 and the air was of that warm1 dense1 suffocating character that the ,russian people like4 ,a din as of ,babel pervaded the hall1 and no one except those near the music could hear ,sasha's tunes1 yet every one felt that they were hearing4 ,sasha would come in in the early hours of the evening1 when people were few1 would take his first mug of beer and then begin to play1 mournfully1 melancholily4 ,his were sad1 heart-aching tunes1 full1 as it were1 of a world's sorrow4 ,he sat in his accustomed place and brooded over his violin1 seemingly uninterested in everything but the soul of music4 ,the windows of the tavern were crusted with ice or clouded with steam1 and the shadows of men and women passed incessantly1 some lingering1 some hurrying4 ,but ,sasha did not heed them1 nor notice how many came in at the dark and dirty doorway from the street4 ,only when there got to be a crowd he began to put aside his own repertory of songs1 and take up those that were suggested by the customers1 that were shouted in his ear-- 8,sasha1 play ,maroosia40 8,sasha1 play ,the ,nightingale1 play ,spring has passed by40 ,then1 till the small hours of the morning1 he would play what people wanted him to--sad songs1 gay songs1 marches1 dances1 country measures--dances1 dances1 dances1 every dance in ,russia he played1 and the tables were crushed back and a space made and the people danced4 ,every night1 every week1 every month ,sasha was there1 and the crowd and the music and the air thick with makhorka smoke4 ,not that the nights were always the same4 ,events in the town1 in ,russia1 had their echoes there4 ,in the time of the ,south ,african ,war ,sasha played twenty times a night the ,march of the ,boers4 ,during the festivities of the ,franco-,russian ,alliance he played the ,marseillaise1 which was fearfully popular with the dock-labourers4 ,when the ,japanese ,war broke out he played all those sad tunes about far ,manchuria and fighting in a strange land4 ,alas1 the ,japanese ,war made a great change in the tavern4 ,sasha was taken for a soldier and disappeared from ken4 ,for a year and a half no word was heard from him or of him4 ,he was given up for dead1 and the tavern lost its old attraction4 ,at last1 however1 one night in came ,sasha1 the same as ever1 unhurt1 untouched4 ,he had been captured by the ,japanese and held a year as a prisoner at ,nagasaki4 ,he had learned ,japanese music4 ,not that anybody wanted it4 8,play us the old tunes1 ,sasha2 play ,maroosia1 play ,to ,odessa we sailed on the sea40 ,sasha played that night all the old tunes4 ,the tavern became as of old4 ,but there was storm in the air4 ,every one was talking of revolution4 ,sasha began to play the ,marseillaise again1 and now with a different note from that in which he had played when friendship with ,france was being honoured4 ,in came the police and stopped him4 ,they forbade the playing of any ,anthems whatsoever4 ,there was a pogrom in the town2 hired ruffians appeared in the streets inciting the population to the murder of the ,jews4 ,not once or twice ,sasha himself was taken for a ,jew and attacked4 ,into the tavern came the same ruffians1 and tried to stir up the drunkards to pillage and violence4 ,sasha was playing a tune of his own fancy when suddenly one of them1 a converted ,jew1 jumped up and cried3 8,the ,national ,anthem6 ,brothers1 the ,national ,anthem in honour of our adored monarch4 ,the ,national ,anthem60 8,anthem1 ,anthem10 cried his mates4 8,no ,anthems whatsoever10 said ,sasha1 repeating the words of the police-officer4 8,what do you mean1 you don't obey1 you filthy ,jew80 answered the man4 8,and you80 said ,sasha4 8,i8 ,what do you mean80 8,i'm a filthy ,jew4 ,all right1 what are you80 8,i'm ,orthodox40 8,orthodox6 ,and for how much80 ,the whole tavern laughed4 8,brothers10 said the ruffian1 8shall we stand the blasphemy of this ,jew against ,throne and ,church any longer84440 ,there was a rush at ,sasha4 ,but he jumped up1 and lifting his fiddle in a rage1 smashed it on the head of the first who came up to him4 ,so ,sasha was arrested as a revolutionary1 and once more he disappeared4 ,this time every one thought he had gone for ever4 ,it would have seemed proper to wear mourning for him4 ,the tavern changed in atmosphere4 ,in ,sasha's place came another musician1 one of those who had sat and listened to him in the old days and learned of him4 ,one night1 however1 when they were playing the old tunes and the violin was gently crooning the song ,expectancy1 a voice from somewhere cried out nervously3 8,brothers1 ,sasha60 ,all turned1 and there stood the twice-raised ,sasha1 bearded1 gaunt1 and pallid4 ,the people flocked around him and cried to him and called on him to play4 ,but the same nervous1 frightened voice cried out again3-- 8,his arm60 ,all grew silent4 ,sasha's left arm hung broken and twisted and nerveless from his shoulder4 8,what is it1 brother80 asked one4 8,muscle dried up1 that's all10 he answered4 8,so--o40 8,then that's an end to ,chaban10 said one of the crowd1 referring to one of the most popular dances that ,sasha played4 ,but ,sasha took out of his pocket with his right hand a queer black wooden instrument which he had either made in prison or had had given to him1 and he put it to his lips and began to play4 ,then every one began to dance1 and ,sasha sat in his place1 and all was as before4 ,as ,kuprin says at the conclusion of his tale1 8,man is for ,life1 but ,art is ,for ,ever40#e 99 99 99 99 99 ,such is the orgy unrehearsed4 ,so a tavern can be a popular theatre4 ,it can also be a church1 a place of searching after ,god4 ,in ,england you sit down in church but stand in the public-house2 in ,russia you stand in the church but sit in the tavern2 it humanises it1 makes it more like a home1 makes it possible for the tavern to be upon occasion a kind of church4 ,it is a great national assembly-place4 ,in ,russia you are not allowed to hold a public meeting without the special authorisation of the police and the presence of a police-officer4 ,but in the tavern is a great informal accidental meeting2 and a great deal is enacted there that the police have no power to stop4 ,thus1 for instance1 in recent years several sects have used the tavern as the place for their prayer meetings1 and have had something equivalent to a ,salvation ,army gathering1 not 8round the corner10 but actually inside the public-house itself4 ,the religious conspirators have come as it were accidentally1 one by one1 have ordered their tea1 and have started an animated conversation into which1 sooner or later1 the whole houseful was drawn4 ,the most famous public-house in ,moscow is the 8,yama0 7,the ,pit71 in the street called ,rozhdestvensky1 a public-house which ,tolstoy much wanted to visit1 a tavern frequented not only by the common people but by scholars and seekers1 especially by those who style themselves ,bogoiskateli1 seekers after ,god4 ,here appeared at times such well-known ,russians as ,solovyov1 ,bulgakof1 ,chertkof1 ,velikanof--it was the last who asked me to the 8,yama10 and through whom ,i was able to hear a multifarious collection of the common people discuss religion and ,russia and ghosts and the eternal questions4 ,from the 8,yama0 have sprung several interesting sects1 for example1 the ,bezsmertniki1 or deathless ones4 ,their doctrines1 promulgated by a wretched consumptive who had both feet in the grave1 was that it was possible to escape death4 ,he held that health was faith in life1 and that disease was faith in death4 ,death came simply from lack of faith4 ,there were people living eternally but we did not know where to find them4 ,the ,bezsmertniki make pilgrimages to the ,east to seek those who have been living for ages4 ,alas6 the founder died before the eyes of his followers4 8,he lacked faith10 said they1 and the new religion continued4 ,one of the most ardent of them is a frequent visitor of the 8,yama10 ,alexey ,yegorovitch1 a stocking-hawker4 ,so much trouble came from the discussions in the 8,yama0 that the public-house was closed by the ,government4 ,but as in the case of ,sasha1 so in the case of the 8,yama0 and the ,god-seekers4 ,you can kill or mutilate the body1 but you cannot kill the soul1 the thing in itself4 ,the 8,yama10 crushed in one tavern1 broke out in another4 ,i visited the 8,yama0 one ,sunday4 ,it was resuscitated in the 8,bay0 public-house in ,malo-,golovinskaya by the ,candlemas ,gate4 ,we sat down in the tavern at #ab o'clock1 and over two glasses of tea talked for six hours and a half--our only other sustenance being occasional hot cabbage pies brought to us in trayfuls by a little serving-boy from the kitchen4 ,the tavern swarmed with religious characters1 home missionaries1 propagandists1 ,bible-hawkers4 ,there was a strong detachment of ,old ,believers2 an old ,baptist hawker of women's hose2 many stall-keepers from ,sukareva ,market2 ,velikanof1 a friend of ,pereplotchikof2 ,victor ,karlovitch1 greasy and fat1 who believes in evil spirits and feels attracted to ,theosophy4 ,the talk went on evil spirits and was enlivened by many stories4 ,a mad woman had been taken to the ,new ,jerusalem monastery near ,moscow1 and had had a fit in church4 ,after the fit she was found to be in her right mind1 and it was said that the unclean spirit had been caught as it came out of her1 and was now preserved in a jar of spirit and exhibited to pilgrims as one of the sights of the monastery4 ,were there evil spirits or were there not8 ,was it not said that they passed out of ,legion into the swine8 ,did not the devils cry from the bodies of the insane1 giving witness to ,christ as ,he passed them by8 ,velikanof told an amusing story of two peasants and a steam-engine4 ,one of them held that it was an unclean spirit that made the engine go foward2 the other said it was just steam1 no more1 he knew4 8,it is an unclean spirit10 the former repeated2 8,i'll bet it is an unclean spirit40 8,how will you prove that it is80 8,i'll bet you a quarter the engine won't be able to pass the ikon of ,mikhail the ,ugodnik40 8,very well2 done60 ,the ikon was brought to the railway lines4 ,presently thrum1 thrum1 thrum1 the post-train left the village railway station4 ,the first peasant stood himself on the lines and held the ikon in front of him with both hands4 ,the other stood by and watched4 ,the train came on1 but when the engine-driver saw the peasant barring the way and apparently flagging the train1 he brought his machine to a standstill and cried out to know what was the matter4 8,you see10 said the peasant1 8the engine dare not pass the ikon4 ,the quarter is mine2 let's go and have a drink40 ,another visitor to the tavern told a sort of ,ingoldsby legend of a ten-pound black cat whose favourite way of entering a house was by coming down the chimney4 ,another1 a peasant workman1 made the astonishing statement that if you make a candle from human fat and light it you can see all4 ,a long discussion was started on the difference between a man and an animal4 ,the sole criterion set by ,christ was1 8,by your fruits are ye known40 ,a man is he who can sacrifice his life to an ideal4 ,an animal hungers and at once looks about to satisfy his hunger4 ,but upon occasion a man says to his hunger1 8,no1 ,i shall fast40 ,a man feels blessed when he suffers for conscience sake1 but no animal feels blessed through suffering4 ,a contrast was drawn between ,napoleon and ,christ4 ,christ was offered the empire and crown of the world and knew that in ,himself ,he had the power to take it1 but ,he preferred to deny the world4 ,in that ,he showed ,himself the highest type of man4 ,they of the world nailed ,him upon the ,cross and cried up to ,him1 8,save yourself40 ,he could have saved ,himself1 but ,he did not4 ,he preferred to deny life4 ,but ,napoleon on the mountain fell down and worshipped ,satan1 and took for his portion the empire of the world4 ,napoleon was an animal taking what his stomach whispered to him4 ,the conversation went on--,russia's great destiny was to carry the banner of the ideal1 to sacrifice the material ends of life for the mystical4 8,directly you make a step nearer to ,god you become aware of contradictions in terms in the life you see about you2 when you get really near to ,god you enter into such a maze of contradictions and paradoxes that it is almost too much for the human brain10 said ,velikanof1 quoting from a book that was being widely discussed in ,russia1 ,the ,pillar and the ,foundation of ,truth1 by the priest ,florensky4 8,it is for ,russia to explore these contradictions and paradoxes40 8,russia has long dwelt in these paradoxes10 said another4 ,russia offers to the world glorious paradoxes3-- 8,as a substitute for success it offers failure4 8,as a substitute for fine clothes it offers rags2 and for fine mansions it offers taverns and log-cabins4 8,as a substitute for rich men it offers beggars4 8,instead of the march music of ,progress it offers the choir dance of the ,mystery4 8,instead of ,progress itself it offers ,communion40 ,i told them my belief that ,russia is the hope of ,europe1 that we are all looking to her1 that she is the living ,east1 the pole of mysticism1 in opposition to ,america1 the living ,west1 the pole of materialism4 ,this pleased the ,bogoiskateli very much4 ,they made quite sure it was not simply a compliment1 and then one of them added3-- 8,yes1 ,russia is the hope of ,europe1 and ,moscow is the hope of ,russia40 ,and another1 an ,old ,believer1 added to that3-- 8,and beyond the ,preobrazhenskaya ,zastava is the hope of ,moscow0--it is there that the ,old ,believers have a vast and important settlement4 ,at half-past six the discussion broke up in the central part of the tavern and was left to be prolonged in separate groups4 ,perhaps later it again became general4 ,i went out1 and eight who accompanied me suggested that we go to another tavern two streets off and drink another glass of tea4 ,this we did1 and the talk went on and on as it goes on every day and hour in ,russia1 in every town or village--talk about ,god and the idea of ,christ and suffering1 of what is necessary and what not4 ,russia is considered a country where speech is not free1 and1 indeed1 listening to such meetings as ours there are often plain-clothes detectives4 ,but the police could no more stop the mouths of the ,russian people or the current of popular opinion than they could drain or hide the water of the ocean4 ,in the monastery hostelry1 in the third-class waiting-rooms1 in third-class carriages1 in the muddy and crowded market-square1 in the tavern1 the ,russian is always to be found eagerly asking1 seeking1 informing1 emphasising1 making points of exclamation4 ,all priests1 policemen1 post office officials1 schoolmasters1 squires1 commercial travellers1 and ,russian-speaking foreigners will bear witness to how they have been pestered with simple ,russians asking for an explanation of passages in the ,bible1 or asking questions about ,god4 ,so ,russia shows herself alive4 ,even the taverns1 in which there is so much drunkenness and debauch1 the ,russians have made into something like free churches or open debating societies4 ,footnote #d3 ,since the ,war vodka has of course disappeared4 ,footnote #e3 ,from ,gambrinus1 ,kuprin's ,works1 vol4 iv4 ,,vii ,,in ,,the ,,church ,i have been much struck with the many ruins of abbeys in ,england4 ,there are many ruined abbeys that seem to need comparatively little restoration to make them great places of worship4 ,kirkstall ,abbey outside ,leeds1 for instance1 is a grand pile of stone1 and has room for #abjj worshippers--but it remains little more than a curiosity and a questionable adornment of industrial ,leeds4 ,in ,russia there are no such ruins4 ,throughout the wide stretch of ,russia there is not a single ,christian ruin4 ,christianity does not tolerate ruins4 ,kirkstall would never have been allowed to fall out of ,christian service unless a heathen power like ,turkey had gained possession of it4 ,russia1 for instance1 in #ahge1 coming into possession of the ruins of early ,christian churches on the newly-acquired ,caucasian shore of the ,black ,sea1 at once set to work to restore them and to build new churches on the old holy sites4 ,kirkstall was built in #aaeb2 it struck me1 looking at it1 that at their best the ,russians of to-day are not unlike the ,english ,christians of that date4 ,they have the characteristics of early ,christian fervour4 ,the most representative cathedral of ,russia is quite a modern one--that of ,st4 ,vladimir at ,kief4 ,it is much worth entering4 ,a wonderful interior painted by the marvellous ,russian painters1 ,vasnetsof and ,nesterof--medival artists alive in the present1 the eyes of the dead ,middle ,ages opening again after a thousand years' sleep4 ,all the walls and the pillars of ,st4 ,vladimir are painted by these wonderful artists4 ,at the north by the font is a vast representation of the birth of ,russian ,christianity1 the stepping of the army of ,king ,vladimir down into the waters of the ,dnieper to their first baptism4 ,and away high over the altar in a background of dark blue is painted ,vasnetsof's majestical ,mother and ,child1 whence naturally the congregation raises its eyes in adoration and aspiration4 ,in the choir at the west is painted the story of ,adam and ,eve and their sin1 and at the east is the wonderful ,crucifixion and ,resurrection1 human birth balanced by spiritual birth1 ,paradise lost by ,paradise regained4 ,on the columns of the church are immense figures of the warrior-saints of ,russia1 the champions of ,russian ,christendom4 ,when on ,easter ,eve this wonderful modern cathedral is full of all manner of ,russians1 you have a complete and national picture--another vision of ,holy ,russia4 ,it is not necessary to pray or to fall upon one's knees4 ,it is only necessary to exist in the great choric throng and to look over a thousand heads to the awful and yet altogether lovely vision of the ,virgin to feel one's heart almost stand still and one's soul become rapt in wonder1 awestruck1 thrilled4 ,you wish to stretch arms above the head and give yourself completely to the spirit of beauty1 the ,godhead4 ,you lose the sense of the ,ego1 the separated individual1 you are aware of being part of a great unity praising ,god4 ,you cease to be man and become the church1 the bride of ,christ4 ,the walls of all churches in ,russia are painted all over with immense pictures4 ,this is dimly thought by ,western people to be in bad taste4 ,but that is because the distance between the ,western and ,eastern churches of ,christ is as yet unbridged4 ,the ,russian has the child-soul1 the peasants get to heaven where we fail1 because they are 8as little children40 ,and the children like the pictures4 ,older and more staid folk would not perhaps have thought of them4 ,but they only need to go through the spiritual experience of praying in a ,russian church surrounded by the painted cloud of witnesses to wish to be such children1 and to feel that the child-idea of painting the walls with the pictures of the heavenly host is a perfect felicity4 ,the ,eastern ,church abhors dumb walls and the restriction of movement and attitude implied by pews4 ,every wall and every pillar is painted with pictures of the saints1 and of incidents recorded in ,holy ,writ4 ,walls1 blank walls1 are always in the nature of prison walls4 ,they separate us from other people4 ,but the ,russian1 by painting the walls blue and crowding them with the saints1 imparts to them a character of infinity4 ,he gives to the worship a background of eternity4 ,he paints in the spiritual landscape of the church4 ,a great interpretive ,russian writer#f thus writes of the fresco and wall-painting3-- ,in the ,west1 where the ,gothic arose1 wall-painting naturally disappeared4 ,there was no place for it on the arrowy columns and in the spaces between the windows4 ,but in orthodoxy a continuous blank wall begged to be covered with painting4 ,an ikon1 a little picture in a square frame1 was hung here and there1 but still did not cover or give voice to the senseless walls at which the eyes of the worshippers gazed4 ,in orthodoxy the wall must not be dumb1 it must speak4 ,but the wall cannot speak by texts--for which there are books4 ,the people in the church ought to see themselves surrounded by holy scenes1 pictures--of immense content and of immense dimensions4 ,such are frescoes4 ,only in orthodoxy are they possible1 and indeed without them orthodoxy is dumb1 powerless1 not expressed4 ,thirst for such pictures among the ,russian orthodox is great4 ,frescoes make the walls live4 ,the soul poured forth on the walls calls to prayer1 and says as much to the worshippers as does the reading and the singing in church1 not less4444 ,the worshippers feel around them the great background of historical ,christianity4 ,they not only hear but see--,christian history1 they not only hear but see--the story of salvation1 they not only hear but see--the exploits of the martyrs1 the suffering4444 ,they see the pageant of orthodoxy1 its splendid victories4 ,the great difference between our immense wall-paintings and mere painting on canvas1 the things that are exhibited in galleries and academies1 is that the one is national whereas the other is only personal4 ,instead of nervous shrieking pictures1 these minute creations which hang on academy walls1 we have something eternal1 everlasting1 to which may bow their heads generation after generation1 to which will pray one human family1 another human family1 another4444 ,this is an orthodox ,russian's view of one of the characteristic features of his own church4 ,to the ,russian it means so much4 ,but to one who has worshipped in both churches1 and is speaking for those who for the most part pray in churches that have dumb walls1 there is a great deal more to note and to follow up in the consideration of this most interesting new emblem in religion4 ,rozanof sets us on the highroad for a fundamental understanding of ,russian orthodoxy1 and what ,i call the ,eastern point of view in ,christianity4 ,this praying in a church whose walls are 8the great cloud of witnesses0 is a portentous matter4 ,first of all1 a word as to the service in a ,russian church--the holy scene that shows itself if you go into vespers or matins1 to a funeral or a wedding or a baptism1 or a service for the remembrance of the dead1 or any of the numerous occasions of religious gathering4 ,there are no pews1 no chairs4 ,there is always a crowd1 a promiscuity of rich and poor1 of well-dressed and tattered1 a kaleidoscopic mingling of people and colours1 people standing and praying1 people kneeling1 people prostrated1 people pushing their way to the altar1 people handing candles over one another's heads1 people pushing their way out1 churchwardens wandering about collecting alms1 no irritation at the pushing1 no anger through discomfort4 ,the lights are dim1 being mostly those of the worshippers themselves1 of the candles they have lit before votive shrines4 ,there is no organ music1 but an unearthly and spontaneous outburst of praise from the souls of the choir and the clergy and the laity worshipping together4 ,it is a strange and wonderful crowd where noble human faces1 broad shoulders1 and beautiful forms predominate rather than clothes or uniforms4 ,no ranks of pews and people1 no 8man's order10 only ,god's order1 the varying and wonderful multitude4 ,and from the back and the sides1 and from the pillars and columns look the pale faces of antiquity1 the faces of the dead who are alive looking over the shoulders of the alive who have not yet died1 all praising ,god1 enfolding in a vast choric communion the few who in the church have met on the common impulse to acknowledge the wonder and splendour of the mystery of ,god4 ,all the walls and the people and the priests are praising ,god4 ,whom do they praise8 ,whom are we all praising8 ,it is ,some ,one or ,something that has been praised for all time1 and that will be praised for ever4 ,any narrow conception is necessarily wrong4 ,it does not matter that many a worshipper has a low or superstitious idea of the ,god he worships4 ,we are all comparatively narrow--even the widest-eyed of us4 ,it does not matter that many deny intellectually that they are praising at all4 ,we at least know by what we have heard1 by bursts of universal praising borne in upon our ears1 that all there is1 is praising4 ,that is one of the reasons why frescoes touch the soul1 they remind us of a truth we know in ourselves that the face of every human being1 good or evil1 is turned towards ,god1 as the flowers turn their blossoms to the sun4 ,russia has her modern frescoes1 for she has rediscovered the art of painting on wet plaster4 ,she has also her ancient ,byzantine frescoes--the expression of the early ,church4 ,there is something in them all that expresses the idea of choric praise1 8the same yesterday1 to-day and for ever40 ,rozanof very suggestively remarks that archaeologists are poets1 in that they turn their backs on present-day reality and go to live with a time a thousand or two thousand years ago1 holding that time to be as great a reality as the present day4 ,they realise that the ,past lives4 ,we make a mistake when we talk of the dead past4 ,it is a great religious truth that all that has ever lived lives for ever4 ,we are provincial dwellers in ,time2 we are1 few of us1 explorers1 and many who do explore ,time1 explore it as moles do a field4 ,we do not scan the vast stretch of ,time from aloft4 ,we are patient plodders1 crawling on hands and knees and peering and poring over little plots of eternity4 ,few1 very few of us1 have the poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling4 ,but if we had the poet's eye and the poet's point of view we could see the time-that-was existent now1 we could see it glowing and breathing and singing4 ,we could see every event and circumstance in history--in living action1 discharging itself and yet not getting discharged1 rampant4 ,keats1 looking at the bas-relief on a ,grecian urn1 had the true poetic vision4 ,he realised the ever-living quality of a moment of life poised in a picture4 ,so he looked at the living groups on the ancient urn and sang3-- ,what men or gods are these8 ,what maidens loth8 ,what mad pursuit8 ,what struggle to escape8 ,what pipes and timbrels8 ,what wild ecstasy8 ,he looked at the ,greek shepherds with their pipes and heard the liquid melody float away1 and he cried3-- ,heard melodies are sweet1 but those unheard ,are sweeter2 therefore1 ye soft pipes1 play on4 ,what enchanted the poet was that though the sculpture was all action1 it was only a single moment4 ,he felt that all was living1 all moving1 all processional2 but that all was fixed4 ,he saw the eternity in the moment4 ,bold ,lover1 never1 never canst thou kiss 444 yet do not grieve2 ,she cannot fade 444 ,for ever wilt thou love and she be fair6 ,he sees the trees whose leaves will never fall1 and the spring which is an eternal spring4 ,a joy of art and of the eyes is the poising of a moment thus1 and the showing in a sculptured relief or a picture or a poem all that was happening in the moment--the eternal life that the moment holds1 the moment which we think passes1 but which in truth never passes but ever is4 ,we move past the landscape of ,time and deceive ourselves that it is ,time which passes us4 ,it is we who pass by ,time4 ,the ,time we have passed through remains4 ,we can keep it in our view4 ,we must go high into the heaven to see ,all-,time--nearer to ,god1 nearer to the central sun of glory4 ,it is to take cognisance of the infinite breadth of ,time1 a richer knowledge than that on which we pride ourselves1 knowledge of the length of ,time4 ,there is nothing more touching that one man can say to another than the recounting of all that is happening at one and the same time in the ,universe4 ,but speech and writing have one great lack4 ,it is that we must spend time to write and we must spend time to read4 ,we must write one word after another1 must read one word after another4 ,but1 joy of the artist6 in a picture he can give an immediate impression of many things happening at the same time4 ,the gazer at beauty has not to follow laboriously word by word and line by line and page by page to find out what all was happening at one and the same time2 he sees it at once and takes it to himself at once in the painting4 ,especially in the fresco4 ,he sees the breadth of ,time shown in the breadth of the picture1 and the multiplicity and variety in it4 ,so the sculptures and frescoes of the church touch the human soul4 ,they are fragments of the breadth of ,time1 fragments of the pictures which ,man writes on the breadth and surface of ,time1 fragments of the mystical 8,garment0 of which ,goethe speaks4 ,they are fragments of universal pictures1 fragments of the picture of the ,universe grouped about the feet of ,god4 ,they have a choric and processional aspect4 ,no matter what the figures in the fresco seem to be doing1 they have the aspect of praising ,god1 of being part of a choric universe4 ,have we not noticed this in ,nature1 of which ,art is the mirror8 ,a dead man lying in an open coffin is like a piece of a fresco framed4 ,the face of a dead man is a picture of a man going through a great gate4 ,it has a grand processional look4 ,the roll of history itself is a long strip of fresco4 ,it is only too narrow a strip4 ,it is in the breadth of history that the beauty lies4 ,if we could only see in poised moments all people and all nature praising ,god in all their various ways at one and the same time6 ,that is the full roll of history--to see the broad eternity in each moment4 ,to see that is to see the great phantasmagoria1 the infinite blending of all shapes and colours1 of all the runic and mystic manifestations which1 seen in small1 thrill us and puzzle us and perplex us in our mortal lives4 ,it is also a vision of the ,last ,judgment4 ,i often think in these days of accusing ,god and quarrelling with ,providence it will not be ,god that judges us1 but we who give our judgment about ,him4 ,when the true and full vision bursts upon us1 we shall all cry ,hosanna unto the ,highest4 ,the whole universe1 seeing itself and understanding itself1 will burst into one great cry of glory4 ,how that could come about1 or what such a cry would mean1 is beyond thoughts and words4 ,we cannot be literal about it1 and yet we have sense of it1 and are able to strike chords of the great harmony or catch glimpses of the symphonies of colour and form4 ,the strange picture is miraged for us backward through ,eternity and we catch glimpses of it4 ,so it is in the ,orthodox ,church1 in a crowd of pilgrims in a dim temple lit by the lights which the pilgrims themselves have lighted at the altars1 enfolded in the great cloud of witnesses we sing praises to the ,one1 the ,central ,one1 the ,god of ,all4 ,there is nothing more wonderful than a real crowd1 a crowd attracted by a personality or an idea4 ,at interludes throughout history we catch glimpses of gazing crowds1 the ,armies of angels that soar1 legions of demons that lurk1 ,man1 brute1 reptile1 fly--alien of end and of aim-- that rush into sight at once as you name the ineffable ,name4 ,the ,new ,testament pictures of ,jesus standing in the midst of the crowd is the symbol for all time of the ,church1 8,jesus teaching among the people1 living in ,his heart the life of every one ,he saw1 living from ,his heart in living veins over the whole earth1 the thousand people about ,him listening1 calling1 reviling1 praying1 the angelic spirits gazing at ,him rapt1 even the devils acknowledging ,him from the bodies of the possessed1 the disciples bringing sick people to and fro at the ,master's feet40#g ,this is just the same picture as the ,russian ,church presents to-day4 ,it is the idea of that wonderful modern ,russian painting1 8,holy ,russia10 where ,jesus walks out of the ikon frame and stands enhaloed above the crowd of all sorts and conditions of ,russian men and women4 ,it is the picture presented in the work of the great novelist ,dostoieffsky4 ,dostoieffsky's novels are pictures of great crowds of ,russian men and women in the presence of the mystery of ,love4 ,dostoieffsky's novel is a church1 and in the church there is room for ,raskolnikof1 the murderer1 and the little white-slave ,sonia1 room for the sick and the suffering and the lustful and the pure4 ,and even the devils cry out from the bodies of ,the ,possessed acknowledging the ,christ4 ,jerusalem of to-day1 with its thousands of poor ,russian pilgrims and its crowds1 is such a church4 ,thither come not only the good and the respectable1 but the outcast1 the criminal1 and the drunkard2 there is room for them in the presence of the ,sacred ,face4 ,the little village church of any forest-side of ,russia is also such a church4 ,all ,russia is such a church1 and the world itself also1 for every face is turned to one idea of ,god as the flowers are turned to the sun4 ,hence we sing most felicitously the ,hymn of the ,three ,children1 so popular in the early church1 the ,benedicite ,omnia ,opera3 ,o all ye ,works of the ,lord 444 ,o ye ,angels1 ,o ye ,heavens1 ye ,waters 444 ,o all ye ,powers of the ,lord 444 ,o ye winter and summer 444 ,o ye mountains and little hills 444 ,o ye children of men 444 ye priests of the ,lord1 ye servants of the ,lord1 ye spirits and souls of the righteous1 ye holy and humble men of heart1 bless ye the ,lord1 praise ,him and magnify ,him for ever4 ,footnote #f3 ,v4 ,v4 ,rozanof1 ,wall-,painting4 ,footnote #g3 8,the ,ikon not made by ,hands10 a ,russian mystical story in ,a ,vagabond in the ,caucasus4 ,,viii ,,in ,,the ,,market-,,place ,,moscow1 ,march #aiad4 ,what a divine disorder6 ,the peasants seem to have an instinctive sense for grouping4 ,no matter how much the crowd moves or how many changes are evolved in it1 it is always a beautiful whole1 a fair scene1 with balance of colour and form and sound4 ,you see not a crowd but a nation4 ,no wonder the ,russian produces a ballet which is bewilderingly beautiful when the peasants in their gait are true to themselves and to their nation4 ,what troubles the eye in a ,western crowd is the fact that every one is afraid to be himself1 to be true to personal impulses1 and to walk and dress and act as he likes4 ,stupid censure and the criterion of convention robs our crowds of life1 of diversity of colour and form4 ,we in the ,west abhor a crowd as something disorderly in itself2 we prize the drilled squad1 where each and every soldier looks as if turned out from one and the same factory4 ,one of the most wonderful pieces of stage production in ,moscow this year was ,gogol's ,fair of ,sorotchinsky1 presented at the ,new ,dramatic ,theatre1 a picture of a ,russian crowd and a market on a hill4 ,the first scene shows a highway and an ox-cart laden with village girls and young peasants coming laboriously along it4 ,they are on the way to the fair4 ,the second scene1 the fair itself1 takes one's breath away4 ,the sun is blazing with a ten o'clock in the morning full-armed effulgence1 so that the bright cottons of the peasant women1 the chestnut-coloured sheepskins of the men1 the ribbons hanging from the stalls1 the black tangles of astrakhan hats1 the trodden mud and puddles of the track1 all glitter like bunting on a ,may morning2 and the tilts of the shop-tents and stalls ascend the hill one beyond another to the sky-horizon1 so that behind the foreground1 where the action takes place1 there rises a mountain of irregularly ribbed canvas4 ,all manner of people float in and out of the colour design3 flirting village girls wearing bright beads2 stalwart yokels standing about in the mud with hay-rakes in their hands2 antediluvian monks with greasy1 tangled hair1 with wrinkled and wise countenances1 black and dirt-stained cloaks2 tired pilgrims with huge bundles on their backs1 wiping their sunburned brows with the backs of their grimy hands2 beggars1 drunkards4 ,all the talking and bargaining and singing is allowed to mingle1 and the customers stump about amongst the stalls and the piles of golden melons and brown pottery1 and ask prices and haggle4 ,and the little story of the play shows itself when the ox-cart of the first scene comes in with its burden of laughing girls and swains4 ,mardzhanof1 the producer1 does not allow the life of the fair in the background to slacken for a moment in order to emphasise the main story4 ,he lets the fair be the world1 which always goes on no matter what story is enacted upon it4 ,morning wears to noon1 noon to afternoon and evening1 and the ox-cart sets out again home4 ,necessarily there is design in the kaleidoscope of the market as shown on the stage2 but then the design is to show what a ,russian fair is like1 and this of ,sorotchinsky is a wonderful representation of the ,russian crowd4 ,every one who went to the performance was struck with the crowd1 the way each small part was played by the actor and actress who had it4 ,there was not one of the great troupe who simply walked on and filled a space2 every one was realising a separate part4 ,such individual work was necessary if the psychology of the ,russian crowd was in any way to be represented4 ,the market-place is more secular than the theatre1 the church1 or the tavern1 and yet in it you see the same wonderful national idea 7as ,chesterton wrote of a similar idea1 8,it is as if we gazed long at a design full of disconnected objects1 and suddenly they came together in a huge and staring face07--divine disorder1 the disorder of the starry sky1 instead of man's order1 instinctive mingling instead of ranks and pews1 the live crowd instead of the dead crowd2 or to translate the idea into political phraseology1 true democracy instead of collectivism1 the ballet of imagination rather than the regimental march of progress1 human destiny as a mystery play rather than a problem play1 enacted in a mysterious labyrinth rather than in a corridor of time or up and down an everlasting staircase of evolution4 ,,ix ,,the ,,russian ,,idea ,those familiar with ideas can tell at sight a ,german idea1 an ,american idea1 a ,russian idea1 a ,roman ,catholic idea1 and so on4 ,each nation has its fundamental idea1 its mother idea1 the idea of which all other characteristic ideas are children4 ,as ,dostoieffsky says3 8,no nation has ever been founded on science and reason2 it has always grown about some central idea40 ,it is a remarkable fact that1 although ,russia is a great composite empire with an enormous number of small nations and tribes under her rule1 she is not a country of mixed ideas4 ,her literature1 art1 music1 philosophy1 religion1 her theatre1 her dancing1 is something intrinsically ,russian4 ,no ,poles1 ,finns1 ,jews1 ,armenians1 ,kirghiz1 contribute to it4 ,no ,german-,russians contribute to it4 ,of all the names by which ,russia is known as a nation mighty in art and in thought1 not one belongs to the subject nations4 ,in literature--,dostoieffsky1 ,turgenief1 ,tolstoy1 ,gogol1 ,pushkin1 ,chekhof1 ,gorky1 ,balmont2 in painting--,vasnetsof1 ,nesterof1 ,verestchagin1 ,sierof2 in music--,tchaikovsky1 ,korsakof1 ,mossugorsky2 in philosophy--,solovyof2 in history--,kluchevsky1 ,karamsim2 in contemporary journalism--,rozanof1 ,menshikof1 ,doroshevitch1 ,merezhkovsky2 even in ,russian science1 which is something apart from ,european science1 ,mendeleef1 ,metchnikof1 all without exception are ,russian names1 the names of ,russian people at once ,christian and ,slavonic4 ,nothing is contributed by ,jews2 nothing is contributed by ,poles2 nothing by ,finns4 ,these people each have their own characteristic separate literature and religion and art4 ,they think in their own tongues1 pray in their own churches1 have their own characteristic ideas4 ,there is not the blending we have in ,england1 where we include in our national literature the works of1 for instance1 ,disraeli1 ,zangwill1 ,conrad1 ,hueffer1 and so forth1 proud to be ,jewish1 proud to be ,polish1 proud to be ,german in extraction and yet speaking for ,england4 ,the ,russian idea is something purely ,russian4 ,this is important not merely as a curious circumstance4 ,it indicates the fact that the fundamental ,russian idea should be something more easy to unravel1 more evident1 more mighty than other contemporary ideas4 ,how much more easy1 for instance1 to determine just what is the national ,russian conception of life than to determine ours1 obscured and complicated by so many foreign elements4 ,there is a spirit abroad to-day which calls for the thing called cosmopolitanisation1 in other words1 for that process of the mongrelising of nations and ideas that is manifest to-day in ,america4 ,it wishes the breaking down of national barriers--intermarriage4 ,the doctrine seems to be promulgated chiefly by those ,jews who have sold their priceless birthright1 who have given up the ,zionist ideal1 and settled down to think that they are no longer ,jews but ,englishmen1 ,americans1 ,germans1 what not4 ,they talk of the ,united ,states of ,europe1 as if the ,united ,states of ,america were not sufficient of a problem and a muddle4 ,russia is the strongest bond of nationality1 being the purest and clearest of the nations4 ,germany1 ,france1 and ,england also tend to shake themselves free1 and seek to find and to be themselves4 ,my quest at present is to unravel the ,russian idea1 and present ,russia as she is in her spirit and her passion4 ,by seeing ,russia in this way we have a revelation of the majesty of a national idea4 ,we obtain a notion how we should look if we could see ourselves as we really are4 ,russia and ,england are akin1 if it were only in the bond of ,christianity4 ,we have certain spiritual affinities4 ,we could know ourselves much nearer to one another1 though that depends on us rather than on ,russia4 ,she has much more to teach us than we have to teach her4 ,it is only kindness to our politicians and progressive workers that could ever suggest that ,russia was a blank sheet on which they might write what they chose4 ,russia1 alas6 may learn wrong things of us and go wrong--,dostoieffsky's nightmare4 ,the noisy middle-class ,russia of to-day does indeed tend to follow after other gods4 ,but for the moment ,i cannot pause to give actual pictures of ,russia going wrong4 ,i am in quest of the vital and fundamental idea of ,russia1 that which is the mother of her art1 literature1 music1 of her religion and her traditional national life4 ,i am tempted to say that the ,russian idea is an aspect of ,christianity4 ,hence the title of this book1 ,the ,way of ,martha and the ,way of ,mary4 ,russia is the fairest child of the ,early ,church4 ,her national idea is identified with one of the ,byzantine aspects of ,christianity4 ,but it would be impossible to deny that ,russia draws her marvellous spirit from something earlier than ,christianity4 ,there is ,nature-worship in the ,russians2 there is ,scandinavian mythology2 there is ,oriental mysticism4 ,the remote past still lends impulses of passions1 dreams1 fears1 hopes1 to the rustling and blossoming present4 ,yet all its past has been absorbed into ,russian ,christianity1 though ,russians have not yet explored and reproduced in art all the significances of that mysterious time in ,russian history4 ,we may say that the ,russian idea is a ,christian idea4 ,christianity has been great enough to include and say yes to all that was wonderful in the old4 ,what then of ,russian ideas8 ,of the ,russian idea8 ,when you first step into a ,russian novel you come across symptomatic ideas1 and when you go into ,russia you find them again in the life of the people4 ,probably the most obviously characteristic thing is the love towards the suffering1 pity4 ,russia is a remarkably tender and comforting nation4 ,she is greatly concerned with her neighbour1 and her heart is touched by his destiny4 ,as ,rozanof writes3 ,is there one page in the whole of ,russian literature where a mock is made of a girl who has been betrayed1 of a child1 of a mother1 of poverty8 ,even the thief is an honest thief4 7,dostoieffsky's ,honest ,thief47 ,russian literature is one continuous hymn to the injured and insulted4 ,and as of such people there must always be a multitude in vain and gigantically-working ,europe1 it is possible to imagine the shout of joy which breaks forth when they are shown a country1 a whole nation1 where no one ever dare offend the orphan1 the destitute1 in the moral sense never dares to look insultingly upon the person left forlorn by circumstance1 by destiny1 by the break up of life4 ,of such people there are only too many4 ,and what can the 8kings0 of ,victor ,hugo say to them1 or in general1 the manifestly artificial subjects of ,western writers8 ,russian stories can give consolation4 ,for besides being taken from the habitual common everyday life they have a tenderness4 ,the ,western man can say3 8,there is a country where ,i should not have been despised2 there is a country where ,i should not have been so coarsely insulted1 where every man would have taken my part and interceded for me1 where they would have taken me by the hand and raised me upon my feet again4 ,i am cursed1 but only in my own country1 not on the whole planet40 ,that is the effect of ,russian literature4 ,its significance is not a matter of the reviews of ,western critics1 not a matter of the noisy fame which has overtaken it2 it lies not in its material triumph1 but in a direct and absolutely unhampered affinity to the soul of the simple and universal reader4 ,to some the ,russian song is always pleasing4444 ,no1--bigger1 better4 ,there are souls to whom the ,russian song is the one thing necessary in life1 to whom it is dearer than anything else in life--as to the hurt one1 his mother2 as to the sick child1 again his mother1 perhaps neither a beautiful nor a virtuous one4 ,virtue--it is of course somewhat strange to ask virtue from ,russians4444 8,the ,troika40444 ,but one thing there always is in ,russia--sympathy1 responsiveness4 ,perhaps it sprang up in ,russia1 and became exaggerated there just because so many people were crushed by various 8troikas40 ,however that may be1 to be sung to sleep with ,russia's cradle song many wish4444 ,there is love towards the suffering one4 ,it is part of a love towards the destiny of the individual4 ,there is a remarkable absence of conventional standards4 ,you are not looked at askance because you seem poor4 ,the tramps and pilgrims on the road are never made ashamed of themselves4 ,a contrast to ,america1 where the tramp is an object of mirth1 where he is regarded almost as an enemy of society4 ,the ,russian takes the tramp in4 ,he has real hospitality1 and not only hospitality of hearth and home1 the giving of food and a night's shelter1 but also a more vital hospitality1 that of mind and heart4 ,he wants to know all about you4 ,he asks you the human questions4 ,he asks about father and mother and brothers and sisters1 about your home and your calling and your goal4 ,in return he tells you the intimate things of his life4 ,this is not only a matter of the road4 ,how often the most utter stranger1 met in a railway carriage or a post-station or at an inn1 will after a remark about the weather or the crops begin to tell you the whole story of his life4 ,he assumes the hospitality of your heart2 a sure sign that in general people's hearts are hospitable1 that in general there is a love towards destiny4 ,as a wanderer and a seeker ,i have myself experienced the ordinary material hospitality of hearth and home1 and also this of the heart1 having often been poor1 strange-looking1 and enigmatical enough4 ,russians have not looked askance2 they have been brotherly4 ,they have accepted a stranger naturally and simply as they would one near to themselves4 ,more than that1 knowing that ,i had a special quest1 there have always been those who came forward and helped me in the spiritual things4 ,mysterious beings have1 as it were1 anticipated my coming1 and have stepped out and recognised and said3 8,read this2 go to that one and talk to him2 see this ,russian picture40 ,they love to preserve the mystery too4 ,i have known people who had the aspect of having dreamed of my coming4 ,the first day ,i was in ,vladikavkaz1 an old tatterdemalion standing by the bridge over the ,terek came forward to embrace me and welcome me in the name of ,god4 ,i had never met him before2 ,i knew no one in the town4 ,when ,i left ,vladikavkaz last1 to make my long and possibly dangerous ,central ,asian tramp1 the most mysterious of my friends brought me a beautiful little copy of ,nesterof's 8,martha and ,mary0 to keep me from harm4 ,and one night1 months later1 in a remote ,moslem town on the fringe of the desert1 ,i had a strange experience of adventure and terror when1 as it seems to me1 ,i was literally saved by looking at the picture4 ,the giving of it was love towards destiny1 hospitality of the heart4 ,it might be thought1 however1 that the ,russian love stopped short with the honest1 the religious1 the seeking--that as long as a man could give a decent explanation of himself and his mode of life the ,russian was on his side4 ,but that would be to miss the real saliency of this love4 ,the ,russian loves the dishonest1 the criminal1 the despicable1 the unpleasantly strange1 the man who can give no explanation of himself1 as much as she loves the other1 even a little more than she loves the other2 she has a 8weakness0 for the prodigal4 ,half her novels are expressive of love towards 8criminals40 ,in ,english novels the plot is so adjusted that the author has scope to make a thorough out-and-out condemnation of the villain4 ,he has a few pages where he lays himself out to show how inexcusable the villain's conduct was1 what an abject scoundrel1 what a disgraceful creature he is4 ,the condition on which you may describe sin is that you condemn the sinner4 ,in life also1 as well as in literature1 we are condemnatory2 we love to pass judgment on others4 ,how different in ,russian literature6 ,you find no condemnatory spirit there4 ,the author's whole passion is to defend and explain the criminal1 to evoke the tender sympathy of the reader4 ,he makes you feel how strange1 how pathetic1 is man's destiny1 how sordid his life compared with his spirit4 ,over the portal of ,russian life and literature you might find the motto1 8,neither do ,i condemn thee40 ,russia feels that however mean1 however ugly and strange a man's life may seem1 it is nevertheless a part of his great pilgrimage4 ,he has got to go through it1 he is learning something thereby1 fulfilling something sacred thereby4 ,this is exemplified very remarkably in ,russia's legal system where1 for instance1 there is no capital punishment except under martial law4 ,a man commits a murder1 but he is not therefore condemned and hanged and turned over to ,god2 he gets merely a dozen years in ,siberia1 and he goes on with his life4 ,dostoieffsky1 when he was in ,siberia with forgers and murderers and highwaymen1 was much concerned to seek out the gold in their character2 and he remarks how a violent and dangerous man will even shed tears at the sight of a child suffering4 8,murderers are much more simple than we take them to be10 says he in another place1 8so are we all40 ,the ,russians are unashamed4 ,men and women confess voluntarily to having committed crimes or behaved abominably upon occasion4 ,the man who lives an immoral life does not do so secretly to his wife4 ,the black sheep of the family is not hidden in the background1 8never mentioned10 or subscribed for and sent to a distant colony2 he is sitting at the table and is quite cheerful1 and every one takes him for granted4 ,no one is ashamed to borrow or to be tremendously in debt2 no one horror-struck at the idea of visiting the pawn-shop4 ,all which exemplifies the love towards individuals and individual destiny4 ,this is why ,russia is so free4 ,it is almost a platitude to say that conventions determine the extent of personal freedom much more than the laws of the realm or the behaviour of the police4 ,yet it is a fact lost sight of when people talk of tyrannous government4 ,in ,russia love is towards the individual much more than towards the ,state4 ,there is indeed no particular love towards the ,state4 ,we ,british uphold the ,state2 to us the police and the police-system are almost sacred4 ,we often condemn individual behaviour in the name of the ,state4 ,we abhor 8shirkers10 8rebels10 8breakers of the peace40 ,hence our comparatively limited ,british freedom4 ,we believe in order4 ,our freedom is freedom within bounds4 ,we allow ourselves to be disciplined along definite lines4 ,in ,russia it is different4 ,there freedom often amounts to chaos4 ,even ,russian order1 poryadok1 that which comes from ,petrograd1 is something borrowed from ,germany to keep the nation together4 ,russians have no instinct for order4 ,watch our best ,british troops marching--they give you the idea that each soldier has been turned out from a factory1 and is of one and the same type and size4 ,they march like moving patterns4 ,but the ,russians march any-way2 their order is of the lowest kind4 ,it is even tolerated to have wives and mothers marching in the ranks with their husbands and sons1 carrying their bundles4 ,some men are marching2 others are running4 ,each man has his own individual expression in his countenance2 he has not merely a regimental expression4 ,russia does not care for ranks1 for blocks of houses1 for formal gardens1 for churches with pews4 ,she likes the individual to do as he pleases4 ,hence a divine disorder1 a glorious promiscuity4 ,the church perhaps shows the quickest picture of national life--the kaleidoscopic mingling of people and colours1 the wonderful crowd encompassed by the frescoed walls1 the faces of the saints1 the great cloud of witnesses4 ,the same picture1 though modified by ,western influence1 is shown in the theatre4 ,russia wishes the disenchanting of the footlights1 the participation of the public in the action of the drama1 the removing of stalls and chairs--a divine disorder in the theatre4 ,she believes in the emotional communion of the theatre--the actors inspired by the people1 the people inspired again by the actors1 the dance and interplay of human thoughts and emotions4 ,shut your eyes to the material world and you realise there are no footlights1 no separating river of light between the two worlds of stage and auditorium4 ,there is a great and wondrous ballet of thoughts and impulses1 hopes and fears1 going forward and across and backward and across again between the priests of the drama and the conspirators1 the worshippers4 ,the church service and the drama1 the church and the theatre have much in common4 ,the ,mass has much in common with the mystery play4 ,and the mystery play was originally the ,mystery--at which you did not look1 but into which you were initiated4 ,you participated in the action4 ,you were the victim sacrificed1 or the priest1 or one of the conspirators in the orgy4 ,you were made one in the sacrifice1 as in the ,mass you are made one in the sacraments of bread and wine1 symbols of the victim4 ,share is taken in the sacrifice1 we consent unto the death4 ,we are made one4 ,we get free from the idea of separation1 from space and time1 realising the everywhere-here1 the eternal present4 ,in such a form is the ,russian notion of the world and his conception of life4 ,it is such a church1 such a theatre1 such a mystery play4 ,it has its liturgies of beauty1 its many processions1 its sacrifices1 its ecstasies2 it is a great phantasmagoria of emblems4 ,nothing is without significance2 every man has his part2 by his life he divines it and fulfils it4 ,every common sight and sound is charged with mystery4 ,everything is praising1 everything is choric1 everything triumphant4 ,to recapitulate and restate this in aphorism3 ,russian life is remarkable by virtue of its love towards the suffering1 towards the individual destiny2 by the absence of condemnation2 by faith in life even if life should express itself in meanness1 sordidness1 crime2 a feeling for the pathos and wonder of life as exemplified in the individual2 no love towards 8the ,state0 or man's order1 but great love towards the individual and individual instinct2 a consequent freedom1 amounting at times to seeming chaos1 a divine disorder such as the disorder of the starry sky1 as opposed to man's order1 say the order in which stars might be classified in a book2 a disorder such as that of the flowers and shrubs of the forest1 rather than order as in a formal garden2 a belief1 then1 in instinctive genius and divination by impulse of one's place in the kaleidoscope of existence4 ,with such natural disorder comes an incapacity for 8discipline10 8efficiency10 8progress40 ,life is a mystery play4 ,whence may be inferred the following differentiation of ideas3 ,instead of the ,god of the ,ten ,commandments1 and the consequent ten condemnations1 the ,russian acknowledges the ,god whose service is perfect freedom4 ,instead of the simplification of life1 a love of its complexity4 ,the ,russian says 8yes0 to the multiplicity of doctrines2 he does not wish personal destinies to be unravelled and straightened out by the ,state1 standardised and guaranteed by the ,state4 ,he will not reduce the chess of life to the draughts of life4 ,a religious belief in pure democracy2 no belief in ,socialism4 ,instead of belief in the ,future1 belief in an eternal ,present4 ,instead of life understood as a march1 life understood as a ballet4 ,instead of life understood as ,evolution1 life understood as a marvellous phantasmagoria4 ,instead of ,time understood as a passage or corridor1 ,time as a labyrinth4 ,instead of the world-ideal of garden cities and carefully planned parks and squares1 a belief in the maze of the world4 ,instead of a belief in the coming of universal peace1 a belief in the recurrence of wars4 ,no belief in the 8making virtuous of the world and all people40 ,no belief in any explanation as sufficient4 ,no prejudice against impossibilities2 a cheerful acceptance of miracles1 infractions of the 8laws of ,nature10 of the significance of dreams and visions1 of the design of destiny hidden in apparent accident2 a predisposition towards superstition4 ,a belief that in apparent failure lies a truer destiny than in apparent success4 ,a saying 8yes0 to the mysteries of the ,birth1 ,crucifixion1 and ,resurrection of ,christ4 ,the ,west would take ,christ down from the cross1 heal ,his wounds1 and save ,him4 ,the ,east would not do that2 she knows that she must crucify ,him4 ,x ,,the ,,labyrinth ,man is a labyrinth4 ,he is masked1 and there are masks over masks4 ,when you have gone past his first surface you come to a second4 ,he is like thousands of overpainted frescoes4 ,his soul is a mystic temple with a hundred and a thousand standing-places further forward or further back4 ,his soul circulates in passages1 hides in caves or recesses1 is missed among intricacies or complexities4 ,it has the power of metamorphosis and can lurk in the by-ways of his being in strange guise4 ,it manifestly takes possession of his body1 or it dwells in dim caves and recesses1 or marches soundingly along corridors2 it creeps insidiously through secret mazes2 it dwells lingeringly in empty chambers1 makes its exit stealthily by little doors leading as it were to vast reservoirs2 or hurriedly it traverses many apartments to look from the outmost gate like a newly risen moon4 ,it is sometimes enthroned like a king or a queen1 or descending from the throne trails long robes over marble4 ,or it is abased to a slave or a prisoner and is confined in towers and dungeons serving tyrants for unknown ends2 or it lies stretched on couches1 in trances1 overcome in chambers of voluptuousness1 escaping again and again from the spell of enchantment and the stress of tyranny1 from would-be masters too weak finally to enthral4 ,there are issues of joy from many passages of pain4 ,there are processions in the temple of the soul2 and sometimes the soul is a victim bound to be sacrificed in honour of some conqueror1 or it is the priest at the altar1 or the conqueror-god to whom sacrifice is made4 ,the sense of destiny in the soul may rise to a majestic height of godhead1 or may be extinguished to the dull inanition of the worm or perverted to the fury of a devil4 ,but even lying at great depths and in great darkness it sees the eternal stars1 as the stars are seen even in the glare of the ,egyptian noonday from the innermost chambers of the pyramids4 ,it becomes upon occasion an enchanter1 an ,ariel who can summon fairies and sprites with pageants and choruses1 and make heavenly music in every passage and turn and cranny in the great labyrinth of man's being4 ,there are many labyrinths4 ,squares and circles and straight lines are in themselves lies--they are disjointed fragments of labyrinths4 ,there is no truth in them until they are pieced together4 ,a labyrinth is something which cannot be drawn by mathematical instruments1 which cannot be photographed4 ,it can be sensed1 it can be conveyed to the mind by music1 by a certain sort of impressionism in writing and painting4 ,we have knowledge of the labyrinth of the world because our body and soul and being is a labyrinth1 and part answers to part4 ,we understand such music with our whole bodies1 not only with our ears2 we see such pictures with the soul itself1 which is all eye1 rather than with the mere physical eye4 ,it is truth--heavenly harmony4 ,a paragraph of good writing is a labyrinth3 it is comprised in one breath1 and mirrors in its construction the natural stops and alleys of the body4 ,every fruit is a labyrinth4 ,all disorder is a diviner order not understood3 the order of the labyrinth1 the disorder of the starry sky1 the disorder of the forest1 the disorder of the world1 of a nation1 of the web of intricacies on the palm of a hand4 ,all astronomy1 astrology1 geography1 cosmography1 botany1 natural history1 palmistry are more or less the tracing of the lines of the labyrinth1 our playful attempts to follow out the mystical maze of natural phenomena4 ,the lines which men trace in their goings to and fro upon the world are part of the mystical tracery1 so also are the tracks of the clouds1 the outlines of coasts1 the ramifications of the lines of rocks4 ,reflections of the labyrinth are caught in many curious pictures and patterns3 in the design on butterfly's wings1 the markings on plumage1 the lines and mottling on birds' eggs1 the frosting on the window-pane4 ,all the rest of nature seems unconscious of it2 but we men are half conscious1 and pause and stare continually at what we call astonishing or curious or wonderful things4 ,our life is a life of lisping and marvelling4 ,every thrill is the accompaniment of a perception of part of the labyrinth2 death itself is our greatest thrill1 and is perhaps the necessary phenomenon of fuller initiation4 ,,ii ,,martha ,,and ,,mary ,i ,,the ,,podvig ,russian ,christianity is sharply in contrast with ,western ,christianity in the characteristic idea of denial of 8the world10 as opposed to our ,western idea of accepting the world and 8making the best of it40 ,an essential idea in ,russian ,christianity is denial of 8the world10 denial of this mortal life as real life1 denial of material force as real force1 denial of speech as real speech4 ,an act of denial is called a podvig1 and a man who does some great act of denial is called a podvizhnik4 ,the act of ,jesus on the mountain denying the road that led to the empire of the world in favour of the road that led to an ignoble death is a podvig--denial of the world4 8,turning the other cheek0 is a podvig--denial of material power4 ,going two miles with the man who forces you to go one is a podvig4 ,mary1 breaking the precious box of alabaster which might have been sold in aid of the poor1 accomplished a podvig4 ,simon ,stylites1 standing on the pillar when he might have been doing 8useful work in the world10 was a podvizhnik4 ,the hermits of the ,thebaid were all doing podvigs--renouncing the world4 ,father ,seraphim1 who took an oath of silence and was silent thirty-five years--proving in himself that silence was golden--accomplished a great podvig4 ,it is difficult in ,russia to carry on a discussion of any point of religion without coming to a consideration of this idea of the podvig4 ,for instance there is a saying in ,russia1 8,blessed is he who can escape and yet chooses to take the punishment the world would give him40 ,a story is told in ,russia that when ,jesus was stretched on the cross many of those who had accepted his doctrines were in great distress not knowing that this had got to be2 but they said among themselves1 8,you will see3 there will be a miracle4 ,i wouldn't be in the place of these stupid and brutal ,roman soldiers for worlds4 ,you will see ,he will step off the cross1 and amaze and conquer the world40 ,and in their anxiety and excitement they cried out3 8,save thyself40 ,pessimists whispered to one another sad thoughts1 8,alas1 alas6 has it not always been so in the world's history2 mankind has stoned the prophets of ,god4 ,now ,he is going to die1 to perish miserably1 and the whole new movement will be ruined4 ,people who never saw ,him work miracles will say ,he was a charlatan1 and that ,he never had any mission or any power4 ,but we who saw ,him raise the dead know ,he has the power to save ,himself40 ,but both the optimists and the pessimists were wrong4 ,they did not realise that the ,man on the cross was giving the lie to the reality of death and to the material power of the ,romans and the ,jews4 ,the giving the lie is the podvig4 ,that strange ,german fairy tale of the three sluggards is probably taken from conquered ,slavs4 ,there lies in it something of the ,russian point of view4 ,the old king gave his kingdom to the son who would not save himself from the gallows-tree1 even though a knife were put into his hand to cut himself down4 ,the ,german version is that the king gave the throne to the laziest of the three1 but in reality he gave it to the one who was most capable of denying the world4 ,dostoieffsky had a habit of saying that he was glad to have gone through penal exile in ,siberia1 and he felt that those revolutionaries who fled abroad and did not accept the worldly judgment and punishment meted out by the ,russian court were not true to ,russian ideas and not in reality helping ,russia4 ,he would have preferred that they accepted the cross which ,russia put upon them4 ,dostoieffsky constantly refers to himself as a slice from the loaf of ,russia1 a slice from the communion loaf--a share in the sacrifice4 ,those who flee from punishment are outside the communion1 they have no real portion in ,russia4 8,the religion of suffering0 does not mean 8suffering for its own sake10 but rather the religion of not avoiding suffering1 not avoiding or trying to avoid destiny4 ,the religion of the podvig4 ,a tempter once came to a hermit living in a cave1 and told him about the pain and misery and poverty of his fellow-men living in the world1 and asked him what he would do if a million of money were brought to his cave and put at his disposal4 ,the hermit crossed himself and muttered1 8,get thee behind me1 ,satan60 ,the tempter was annoyed and urged his point4 8,but what would you do80 he asked4 8,i should not alter my way of life10 said the hermit4 ,that was a podvig1 a denial of the reality of misery on earth1 a denial of the power of money to gain real happiness for man4 ,one of the most interesting of ,russian mystery plays1 ,andreief's ,anathema1 is concerned almost wholly with this idea4 ,a man after ,god's own heart succumbs to the temptation of thinking he can put the world right with money4 ,he inherits a million from a relative who has died in ,america1 and he sets to work to alleviate human suffering4 ,but the more suffering he tries to remedy the more appears before him1 till finally he is drowned in suffering1 and ,god says to ,human ,reason1 8,not by these measures shall it be measured1 nor by these numbers shall it be counted1 nor by these weights shall it be weighed1 ,o ,anathema1 dwelling among numbers and measures1 and not yet born into light60 ,this idea is so pervasive1 so characteristic1 that ,i would call it an extra letter in the alphabet of ,russian philosophy4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the history of literature is the history of ideas4 ,man first made sounds to represent elementary ideas such as hunger1 cold1 warmth1 danger1 death4 ,then he made signs to represent sounds1 and invented reading and writing4 ,the signs were systematised2 they were split up into letters and then remade as words4 ,alphabets and dictionaries were made4 ,languages grew4 ,at first people spoke only of hunger1 cold1 pain1 pleasure1 fighting1 death1 and such simple things4 ,they had perhaps only five hundred or so words4 ,but year by year they added to words as they discovered new things in the world and in themselves4 ,at first clever men1 brave warriors1 intrepid hunters gave us words2 then philosophers and astrologers and historians2 then priests and minstrels and poets4 ,they named all the things on the world and their feelings about the things2 they named the ideas for which men fought1 for which tribes and nations fought4 ,they named the things of which they were afraid1 the evil spirits in the darkness1 in the forests1 in the earthquakes and tempests4 ,last of all1 when they found and considered the great spirit of man1 the spirit in themselves1 they named the gods1 and they named the transcendental glories and sorrows of man4 ,the minstrels struck their harps and sang of the great deeds of famous men1 and then poets without harps wrote of the same deeds1 changing into words the music of the harp as well4 ,priests burned sacrifices on altars1 and the poets wrote of it and changed the smoke of the incense into words4 ,great warriors fought before ,troy1 and the poets changed their passion into words4 ,they sailed the terrible seas ten years to get home1 and the poets changed the storms into words4 ,the poets found out the assonances of mankind1 what every one admired1 and they gave to whole generations watch-words1 words that were battle-flags4 ,the poets described the gods4 ,poems were so much read that whole lines and verses were as familiar as ordinary words1 and people could quote a line of poetry and everybody would know the idea that was meant4 ,and when the name of a god or a hero was mentioned there rose at once to people's minds stories about him1 poems about him4 ,stories became like extra words in the language4 ,that is what the wonderful ,greek stories such as those of ,narcissus1 ,demeter1 and ,persephone1 and the labours of ,hercules became--extra words in the dictionary or1 better still1 extra letters4 ,for simple people took them into their lives1 and combined them with their own thoughts1 and made new words of their own4 ,people learnt to use these stories in their prayers and in all their thoughts of mankind4 ,some nations like the ,jews1 the ,egyptians1 the ,greeks1 grew to great culture1 and the peoples in their beautiful capitals struck thousands of harps and sang thousands of songs1 whilst away in the backwoods and lost places of the world the rest of mankind lived almost inarticulate1 almost like beasts1--in ,germany1 in ,gaul1 in what is now ,russia1 in ,britain4 ,but their upward movement was at hand4 ,a new idea came into the world and all the old order changed1 giving place to new4 ,the last of the stories which became a word was the story of ,christ on the cross4 8,the ,word became flesh and dwelt among us40 ,an extraordinary new letter was given to the world1 and people fitted it into their thoughts and made new words1 new languages1 new cultures4 ,the savage races of ,western ,europe came turbulently to the knowledge of the ,god-like in themselves1 and threw the world into confusion1 observing the old words and stories and culture of the ancient world4 ,they followed the word-flags of ,christianity1 the watchwords4 ,once more the making of language was first in the hands of clever artificers1 brave warriors1 intrepid hunters1 adventurous sailors4 ,it passed into the hands of medival philosophers1 alchemists1 and scholars1 to minstrels1 priests1 and poets4 ,at last they realised a wide and wondrous culture1 and they took from the ancient world all the stories and extra words and letters now called myths1 and they added them to their own stories and words1 as one might add strings to a stringed instrument4 ,they learned to praise ,god on many strings4 ,to-day we express ourselves with great orchestras as formerly1 long long ago1 man1 emerging from the animal1 the rude ,pan learned to express himself on a simple reed4 ,the discovery of words has been the history of self-expression4 ,words have no value in themselves4 ,they are symbols or tokens of ideas in us4 ,and when we find words continually adding themselves to our vocabulary and our culture1 we know ourselves increasing in the knowledge of ourselves and of the beauty and passion which lie latent in our souls4 ,education in its highest sense is the learning of words and the learning how to use them1 learning the notes of the great instrument1 learning how to play the music of the ages1 and to express with that music and with that playing the passion and the mystery of our own souls4 ,the highest of literature1 like the noblest of music1 is that wherein the great stories are used as extra letters and words4 ,rich writing is that which is full of allusions which we all understand4 ,poor literature is often that in which the author is frequently making allusions to events and stories which are known only to a few and have no strong significance4 ,to use stories as words when the majority of people do not know the stories is to write in a language that is not understood1 it is to write in words that are not in use4 ,the reality of a book that draws its allusions from the ,bible and from the ,greek myths and general ,european history is immeasurably greater than one that is constantly referring to the ,koran or the stories of the ,buddha or ,zoroaster or ,khrishna or ,confucius4 ,that is in itself an adequate defence of ,christianity as a religion for us4 ,its stories are our stories4 ,its ,word is the living ,word4 ,the other stories are not our stories4 ,christianity is our language4 ,if ever asked to defend ,christianity1 the defence lies not in the historical accuracy of ,christian documents or the verity of records4 ,christianity is the ,word4 ,all words are at our disposal for the expression of our passion and the sense of our mystery4 ,the ,christian story is the word that fits4 ,our golden deeds1 the deeds we consider as golden1 are our extra letters4 ,let the poets and musicians blend them into their music4 ,every time a golden deed is made to sound beautifully in allusion a common chord is struck in the souls of men4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and the podvig is an extra letter4 ,there are many who claim that it is the word itself2 that denial of 8the world0 is actually the logos of ,christianity4 ,even in ,russia1 where there is also the richer and grander conception of the ,church1 there are those who stand for the podvig only1 for denial of the world and material force only4 ,witness ,tolstoy and many of his followers4 ,it is even held by some that the whole of true and vital and historical ,christianity is founded on--8,if thine eye offend thee1 pluck it out2 if thy right hand offend thee1 cut it off40 ,the important sect of ,skoptsi go so far as to say that the begetting of children is sin1 and they mutilate themselves1 and in that way deny life in the name of the spiritual life4 ,,ii ,,the ,,hermitage ,,of ,,father ,,seraphim ,thinking of the podvig1 ,i made a pilgrimage to the hermitage of ,father ,seraphim1 a few hundred miles from ,moscow4 ,over treeless wastes and desolate commons1 where far-away churches on the sea of snow look like ships sailing under full canvas2 through snow-blown forests of pines1 through woods of tall birch trees2 very seldom past villages or human beings--to the holy city of ,arzamas in the ,government of ,nizhni-,novgorod4 ,a night in an inn among the many churches of ,arzamas1 and then on the road across fifty miles of desolate snow-covered moor that lie between the city and the great monastery4 ,i hear of the terrible hurricane that has swept southern ,russia1 and the flood that has drowned hundreds of poor fisher-folk and workmen on the shores of the ,azof4 ,to-day there is bad weather all over ,russia4 ,it is ten degrees colder1 it still snows1 and a high easterly gale is blowing up the fallen snow and the drift-tops and drift slopes in blinding clouds that look like engine smokes and volumes of vapour4 ,a bitter day4 ,there are no pilgrims on the way1 the weather is too heavy for them4 ,often as you stand and try to go forward over the uneven road1 the wind sets you sliding backward on the clumps of ice1 and you suddenly blunder into two feet of soft snow4 ,you come to little cottages on the ,sarof side of which stand drifts higher than the cottages themselves2 they look like cliffs1 and the snow blowing off unceasingly and tempestuously above the cottage roofs looks like long white grass going in all directions at the sport of the gale4 ,in the afternoon the snow ceases to fall from the sky1 but it still rises in smokes and sprays over the rolling plains4 ,far away on the horizon to which ,i am journeying the black line of the wolf-haunted forest is visible4 ,at night ,i sleep in a peasant's hut1 on felt spread on the floor4 ,a whole family goes to sleep in the same room1 and as ,i lie stretched flat on this primitive couch1 resting my weather-beaten limbs1 each of the others says his prayers before the many ikons4 ,there are many ikons in the room1 and besides them1 holy oleographs enough to give the idea that the bare wooden walls have been papered on some religious design4 ,chief among the pictures is a representation of the ,tsar and the ,grand ,dukes giving their shoulders to the triumphal carrying of the relics of the ,father ,seraphim1 on the occasion of the canonisation of the ,russian hermit and starets4 ,father ,seraphim was a saintly monk and ghostly counsellor of the type of ,father ,zosima1 familiar to ,english readers of ,the ,brothers ,karamazof4 ,he accomplished extraordinary holy exploits during his youth and middle age1 conquering the flesh and denying the world1 and in his old age became famous for his godly sagacity and humility4 ,when he died his body was reputed to have in it holy charm1 and thousands of peasants brought their sick and their blind1 and their sins and their sorrows to the miracle-working relics4 ,finally the ,empress1 wishing to have a male child1 abode at the monastery and prayed1 and ,father ,seraphim gave ,russia a ,tsarevitch4 ,the ,tsar named ,seraphim as a saint1 and the shrine of ,sarof1 already astonishingly sought of pilgrims1 gained a great ecclesiastical distinction4 ,hence this grand oleograph on the wall4 ,i slept as one sleeps who1 after weeks in town1 is one day surcharged with open air4 ,next morning the whole family was up before dawn1 and the samovar was on the table in the grey light of sunrise4 ,a man from the village decided to accompany me to ,sarof4 8,haven't been there for four years10 said he1 8and now ,i'm homesick to see it again4 ,i think ,i'll go and pray a little40 ,we talked of ,father ,seraphim on the way4 8,is the cell still there where he fed the bear with bread80 ,i asked4 8,yes1 it's there2 about five versts from the monastery away in the woods4 ,there is a shrine there now4 ,you'll see the stone1 too1 on which he prayed a thousand days and a thousand nights without moving away4 ,and the spring that he found4 ,many people have been cured there4 ,it's quite unusual water4 ,will you bathe80 8,perhaps10 said ,i4 8,but the weather's cold40 8,no one ever takes cold there10 said the peasant4 8,it's quite safe4 ,the water is very very cold4 ,but there's something about it4 ,you take it home1 it doesn't go bad like ordinary water40 8,he was a great saint1 this ,father ,seraphim60 8,of course2 he was a ,god-serviceable man1 he did many podvigs40 ,when we arrived at the monastery in the holy wood we were accommodated in a cell1 and a novice brought in the samovar at once4 ,no passports were required1 no charge was made4 ,we found at the monastery some two or three hundred other pilgrims1 most of whom had been there several days4 ,a pleasant collection of churches1 hostelries1 little shops1 and work-sheds set on a fair hill among ancient pines1 a peaceful shelter and sanctuary after the wild weather and desolation of the moors4 ,we wandered about the buildings in the dusk1 listened to the antique chimes1 and then returned to sleep a few hours before the midnight bell to the first service of the morrow4 ,about one in the morning we left our cells and all muffled up and mysterious followed other pilgrims across the soft new snow to the door of the ,cathedral of the ,assumption4 ,then in the witching hour of night we entered the church--such an immense church it seemed1 barely lit by the few struggling tapers1 and we such a few people in it4 ,the peasants1 however1 paid no attention to numbers1 and they stood and prayed and crossed themselves and gave the responses for hours and hours1 at last receiving the blessing of the priest1 kissing the cross in his hand1 being marked on the brow with holy water1 stepping up to the altar and kissing through a hole in some canvas a part of the remains of the saint4 ,there was nothing touching in the service except the demeanour of the pilgrims1 no music worth mentioning4 ,our leaving our beds to come and stand for hours on the cathedral floor without an inclination to shirk or go out was a podvig--an inbred part of the ,russian character now4 ,i went to a fuller service later in the day1 in a church much more alight with candles1 taken by a deacon with a deep spirit-summoning voice1 and mellowed by wonderful choral accompaniments1 a long service requiring patience from the aged folk who came to take part in it4 ,a seventy-five-year-old dame explained in one of the monastery dining-rooms1 as some twenty of us with wooden spoons sat round four huge ,russian basins of soup and helped ourselves together--8,i felt ,i might die before it ended1 but ,i prayed to the holy ,ugodnik1 ,father ,seraphim1 to ask ,god to give me strength to stay till the end of the service40 8,why not to ,god direct80 ,i asked4 8,it's not for a poor creature like me to trouble ,god to attend to me10 said she4 8,no1 ,i ask the ,ugodniki1 if they have time1 to go to ,him and ask ,him at a convenient moment44440 8,as to the ,tsar10 said some one4 8,but ,god has time for every one10 said another1 8and can attend to everything at once44440 8,pozhalui1 ,i suppose so 4440 said the old woman meekly in a cracked voice1 and went on with her soup4 ,i talked with one of the monks about ,father ,seraphim4 ,what a character the ,russian hermit was2 there is material in his life for the pen of another ,carlyle writing a new ,past and ,present4 ,he was silent all those thirty-five years1 and then opened his mouth4 ,alas6 no one could tell me the first words that he spoke4 ,he was actually silent all the time that ,napoleon was ravaging ,russia1 during the time when he was in occupation of the holy mother of ,russian cities1 ,moscow4 ,napoleon was popularly understood in ,russia as ,antichrist1 and when the news of the terrible ,french sacrilege spread over ,russia there were all manner of extravagant rumours about the end of the world4 ,by this time ,seraphim had obtained a name of great sanctity4 ,sick men had been restored to health by drinking from the hermitage well1 the leprous had discharged their disease by touching the garments of the holy but silent man4 ,so when ,napoleon came to ,moscow1 the crowd appealed to ,seraphim to work a miracle4 8,they are burning our sacred shrines10 they cried1 8they are using our cathedrals as places of execution1 they are murdering our priests and our pilgrims4 ,is it naught to thee1 ,father80 ,but ,seraphim was silent4 ,and others said1 8,he is called ,napoleon1 but he is in reality ,antichrist4 ,lead us1 ,o ,seraphim1 against him in the name of the ,lord40 ,but ,seraphim was silent4 ,his face retained unchanged its look of exaltation2 his uplifted eyes still seemed bent on some unearthly vision2 his attentive ears seemed to be listening to some other voices4 ,the old monk never spoke a word4 ,napoleon and the world had no power to shatter his vision4 ,napoleons might come and go1 but the truth to which he was a witness remained unchanging1 unchanged4 ,and if ,napoleon had come to ,sarof and pulled the hermitage down about ,seraphim's ears1 the old monk would still have prayed on in silence4 ,almost every characteristic of the ,father and every circumstance of his life had something in it that is emblematic and suggestive4 ,in his old age1 when he became so famous1 he received thousands of letters1 most of which1 however1 he answered without opening6 ,it is told how in his old age the light of sainthood shone from his brow1 and on one occasion a holy man coming to visit him in his cell found the light too strong for his eyes and shielded them with his hands4 8,what is the matter80 said ,father ,seraphim4 8,the light shines from your head1 ,o holy one40 8,do not be afraid10 said the ,father4 8,you also are bright as ,i am or you could not have seen me thus4 ,i see you also a shining one4 ,thank ,god that it has been given to miserable ,seraphim to see a manifestation of the ,holy ,spirit40 ,the ,father during his hermitage scooped out of the trunk of a lightning-stricken oak the coffin that should hold his remains when he died1 and he pulled it in at the door of his hut1 slept in it at night1 and prayed beside it by day4 ,he was an extraordinary ascetic1 and yet in the picture that you get of him in his old age1 when he relaxed his asceticism1 he is distinguished by the warmth of his love and the sweetness of his counsel4 ,the pilgrims who come to him he calls his 8joys02 before even the wicked he falls down and he kisses their feet4 ,when he gives his benediction he also gives a handful of that dried black bread1 sukaree1 with which he fed ,mishenka1 the bear which he tamed in the woods--,father ,seraphim's bread which came down from heaven1 the bread of the podvig4 ,my pilgrim acquaintance took me to the various shrines1 and we knelt and kissed the thousand-day stone still standing before the great rough-hewn cross that the saint made1 kissed the ikons1 crossed ourselves before many forest shrines1 and eventually came to the far shrine where ,seraphim spent so many years in the wilderness4 ,here an aged monk1 taking the place of the starets1 asked us our ,christian names and where we came from4 ,he had a great sack of sukaree similar to that which ,seraphim had dispensed1 and he gave us each a handful with his parting benediction4 ,at the well1 now made into an elaborate bath-house1 men one side and women the other1 my pilgrim had a bath4 ,it struck me as rather interesting that the monks of ,sarof had fitted a dozen or so taps to ,seraphim's natural spring and conducted it through pipes--that is the true ecclesiastical function1 to put taps to living water4 ,i went into the bath-house and watched some peasants stand under the frigid douche1 and when my friend had put his clothes on again--without drying himself--we took each a bottle of the water and put it in our pockets4 ,then away again from ,sarof and home over the snow4 ,i carried the sukaree and the water from the well that ,i might give them to the old grandmother at ,vladikavkaz when ,i went south--the actual sukaree with which ,father ,seraphim fed the bear6 ,some weeks later when ,i went to the ,caucasian city ,i call my ,russian home ,i took the old lady my gift from the ,father4 ,next day behold her doling out half-thimblefuls of the water to her visitors and giving them each a crumb of the comfort of ,st4 ,seraphim to eat4 ,,iii ,,tolstoy',s ,,flight ,,from ,,home ,,astapovo ,,railway ,,station4 ,from a historical figure to a contemporary figure4 ,from the simplicity of a medival choice such as ,seraphim's to the difficulty of the choice that confronts a modern4 ,nothing in ,tolstoy's life is so interesting to me as the circumstances of his death1 his flight from home to the monastery1 his perishing on a wayside station like some aged pilgrim broken down on the way to ,jerusalem4 ,the story is such a beautiful1 pathetic1 touching one that the station of ,astapovo may well be an object of pilgrimage for people who can feel in themselves the poignancies of life1 and who are interested in the destinies of mankind4 ,not a place for sightseers1 however6 ,a dreary journey at the rate of eighteen miles an hour and at the end of it all this little station on a by-line4 ,in the waiting-room are peasants in rags1 in sheepskins1 in old blouses1 peasants sleeping on forms2 bundles on the floor1 heaps of bundles1 tied-up sacks1 ancient green trunks4 ,on one side of the room is a grandfather's clock1 on the other is a little wooden chapel with ikons and votive candles4 ,from the clock to the chapel runs a long linoleum-covered bar1 and on the ikon side of it are scores of fresh loaves1 while on the clock side are vodka and wine4 ,on the top of the clock burns a paraffin lamp4 ,there is praying and disputing and tea-drinking1 children crying1 bundles1 boxes1 pointsmen with dim lanterns1 a mouldy-looking gendarme1 and it is five o'clock in the morning4 ,out of the lingering train they brought ,tolstoy into just such a room and to such a scene4 8,they brought him through here10 says the heavy bearded man behind the bar1 8and they put him first in the woman's room and then took him to a room in the stationmaster's house40 ,the man behind the bar has trained his whiskers to look like those of ,tolstoy1 and is vain enough to ask me3 8,did you not take me for ,tolstoy's double8 ,some are frightened when they see me and think ,i am ,tolstoy's ghost4 ,am ,i not like him80 8,did you look as like him then8 ,what did ,tolstoy's friends think of your appearance80 8,they laughed40 8,did you have many people here80 8,not many strangers1 fifteen of the family1 twenty correspondents1 a general from ,petrograd1 two doctors4444 ,i put them all up and fed them40 ,a gruff1 astonishing old fellow1 this double of ,tolstoy4 ,a strange coincidence that ,tolstoy should die at his station4 ,he is heavy1 awkward1 unpleasant-looking1 like a ,guy ,fawkes effigy of ,tolstoy2 and as you watch him cross the waiting-room it seems as if his hair might fall off and prove to be a wig1 and as if one might pull his beard and whiskers away4 ,but he is quite obliging to me1 and shows me the marble tablet in the stationmaster's wooden wall1 and directs me to the room in which everything stands just as it did then1 which is being preserved so for all time--if ,time spares ,tolstoy's memory4 ,the first ,i ever heard of ,tolstoy was the discrediting whisper1 8,his wife banks his money2 everything is in his wife's name40 ,and later on1 when ,i came to ,russia1 coupled with national pride in ,leo ,nikolaevitch was always the rumour3 8,when he wants to go to ,moscow he travels first-class2 he does not go on foot as he advises others to do4 ,he counsels us to live simply while he himself lives in style at ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,he disbelieves in doctors1 but when the least thing is the matter with him doctors are in attendance40 ,i suppose no one really put these things in the balance against ,tolstoy's sincerity--unless1 perhaps1 it was ,tolstoy himself4 ,tolstoy was evidently heavily oppressed by the worldly life in which he seemed to share and which he seemed to countenance4 ,it was mirrored in his soul as the everyday reflection of life1 the luxury1 feasting1 drinking1 trivial conversation1 and vulgar pride of his home4 ,some time in his life1 perhaps several times1 ,tolstoy must have been on the point of running away4 ,in order to make his personal life correspond to his teaching1 it would have been necessary to give up his wife and family and the life they insisted on living4 ,he ought to have gone out into the wilderness and become a hermit or a pilgrim4 ,so he would have made his personality and doctrine into one great snow-crowned mountain and holy landmark in the national life of ,russia4 ,tolstoy failed to do this1 not through weakness1 but because he felt he would lift a heavier cross and would be truer to his own ideal if he continued to lead his life in 8the world10 in the midst of the frivolities and luxuries which did not pertain to him4 ,he would live his personal life against the background of this stupidity1 his flesh nailed to that cross4 ,his life will not stand out in relief till some one writes the evangel of his life4 ,as yet ,tolstoy is merely a great man1 the author of ,anna ,karenina and ,war and ,peace4 ,few know the real significance of his life4 ,but certainly it may be said of him1 despite calumnies and appearances1 8,he had no possessions on earth2 he always confessed to being a stranger and a pilgrim here4 ,he did not believe that machinery or medicine or law were of any value to the soul of man4 ,and though he lived in the midst of wealth he lived very simply40 ,a very brilliant old man at ,yasnaya ,polyana4 ,you went away impressed with his brilliance1 and even if you were inclined to scoff you still acknowledged he was great4 ,but greatness was not much to ,tolstoy2 it was surely nothing to him that he remained great to the end4 ,the chief fact about him was that for many years he was really old and confused in spirit1 troubled4 ,in his heart of hearts he was not sure that he was living the true life4 ,he felt a doubt that the emptiness and vanity around him were his own emptiness and vanity4 ,the world was too much with him2 the vision forsook him4 ,in the blaze up of the candle before death he saw his way and sought sanctuary from the world1 fled4444 ,and he perished on the road1 with his back to ,yasnaya ,polyana and the 8world40 ,in the room where he died are the poor two-foot-six by five-foot-six iron bedstead1 the table with medicine bottles1 a chair1 the enamel basin they washed him in4 ,it is all to remain as it was on the day that he died4 ,pleasant symbolism6 ,the world will also remain the same3 it will remove his body to ,yasnaya ,polyana1 and quarrel over the prayer to be said over the grave2 it will quarrel over the rights in his autograph manuscripts2 it will publish the old man's love-letters2 it will rig up in ,moscow a facsimile of ,astapovo ,station and the room where he died2 it will arrange ten-year jubilees1 fifty-year jubilees1 centenaries2 build statues 4442 but those who seek to know the true ,tolstoy1 the real man who had this strange life-journey1 will hear the whisper1 8,be of good cheer2 ,i have overcome the world40 ,,iv ,,back ,,to ,,moscow ,the ,russians are considerably more interested in religion and religious ideas than other nations4 ,perhaps that is due to the greater national growth and greater national changes3 questions about destiny rise to the surface of each man's mind4 ,the appetite for religious discussion is robust and eager4 ,you go to a debate which begins at eight in the evening4 ,some one reads a lecture which lasts three hours and then there is a three hours' general discussion4 ,the room is packed1 no windows are open1 but every one is keen4 ,a roar of general conversation ensues at the ten-minutes interval every hour and a half4 ,a curious story enacted itself whilst ,i was in ,moscow this spring4 ,a journalist discovered a group of ,hindu philosophers doing a turn at a smart cabaret restaurant4 ,in the midst of a vulgar music-hall programme they were performing rather beautifully on their native instruments4 ,they seemed somewhat out of place2 and the journalist1 knowing ,english1 sought them out and entered into conversation with them--as you can at the cabaret1 where performers mix pretty freely with those who have come to eat and be amused4 ,two days later the story of the ,hindus appeared in one of the ,moscow newspapers4 ,their leader was the chosen missionary of ,sufism1 and was going through all the world preaching a new gospel4 ,he had had a considerable fashionable success in ,london and ,paris1 and at the latter city a ,russian hearing his music--which was in itself an illustration of ,sufism--had said1 8,come to ,russia2 ,i'll arrange everything for you40 8,i'd like to10 said the ,hindu2 8,i have long wished to go there40 ,the ,russian brought a form of contract and engaged the missionary and his fellows to play every night for six months in cabaret restaurants and music-halls in ,russia4 ,but the ,hindu averred that he thought he was signing an agreement for a lecturing tour4 ,readers of this story in the morning newspapers were much touched1 and a lady whom ,i know sought out ,x---- at his hotel1 questioned him1 and found that he was indeed a serious religious man1 desirous of spreading the gospel of ,sufism in ,russia4 ,and she promised to rescue his mission4 ,in a week or so she had arranged a meeting for him1 and ,x---- came with his fellow-,hindus and their instruments and gave a lecture and rendered some music4 ,several of the most cultured people in ,moscow were present4 ,mme4 ,ivanova1 the wife of ,viacheslaf ,ivanof1 interpreted for him sentence by sentence1 and afterwards question by question1 and answer by answer4 ,the lecture amounted briefly to this3 8,first there was the ,one and then all was peace1 happiness1 bliss4 ,then the ,one became the many1 and there will never be peace1 happiness1 bliss again until the many becomes the ,one4 ,therefore we should strive towards the ,one and get rid of the sense of the many40 ,the lecture lasted about an hour1 and the ,russians were pleased1 curious1 earnest4 ,they took the ,hindu seriously1 and questioned and cross-questioned without mercy4 ,the gentle prophet gave the sweetest replies1 delicately evading1 politely agreeing1 playfully turning simplicities into paradoxes and back again1 and all his terms of speech were definite and simple4 ,he never took refuge in anything vague or emotional1 treated the infinities and the immensities like little toys or bits of toys4 ,everything was clear to him1 everything simple2 he was above all things playful4 ,but the ,russians sent question after question and would not take evasion or smile at playfulness1 till at last at half-past eleven the gentle ,eastern begged to be excused if he did not answer any more questions as he was tired4 ,indeed he seemed worn out4 ,but the ,russians had a feeling of disappointment4 ,for them the evening was only beginning4 ,the question of the many and the ,one1 the world or the cell1 the many cares of ,martha or the one devotion of ,mary1 would keep any ,russian audience speculating for an indefinite length of time4 ,in ,moscow in ,march ,i met again ,mme4 ,odintseva4 ,a great change had come over her life4 ,her husband had been killed1 her fortune lost1 and she had changed her religion4 ,when ,i met her first she was a ,theosophist1 a modern ,hypatia whose home was a temple1 an elegant woman surrounded by pictures and volumes of poetry1 her own especial rooms all scented with rose de ,shiraz4 ,now all was changed in her life2 no pictures1 no poets1 no perfume1 no elegance1 and she had exchanged ,theosophy for evangelical ,christianity4 ,the particulars of her husband's death had evidently been a terrible shock to her4 ,he had been in the habit of paying blackmail to a band of revolutionaries or depraved police1 and one night he either failed to bring the money demanded of him1 or he quarrelled with his persecutors1 or he got tired of life and committed suicide4 ,he was found shot dead1 in a lonely spot a mile from his home4 ,a note appointing the rendezvous was found1 but the writer was never traced4 ,his wife necessarily does not tell what she went through in mind and soul1 but the astonishing result was visible in her new life and home in ,moscow4 ,all was in disorder1 everything had become coarser1 harder4 ,she herself was much stouter1 had given up vegetarianism1 dressed very simply1 read only volumes of sermons and the ,new ,testament1 referred all questions to texts in the ,gospels1 and went to prayer-meetings every other night4 ,i accompanied her on one occasion4 ,we went to what may be styled the lowest sort of ,evangelical meeting in ,moscow4 ,there is no ,salvation ,army there4 ,this was something in the nature of a slum shelter meeting4 ,the preacher was an enthusiastic barber4 ,there were five or six hundred men and women present at the meeting1 and a gendarme stood at the back to see that nothing objectionable was said4 8,we have converted three gendarmes10 said ,mme4 ,odintseva in my ear4 ,we sat on forms at one side of the room1 and could survey the whole meeting without turning our heads4 ,the men present were straight from toil1 grimy1 unkempt1 wild-looking4 ,a few years ago the same type of workman grasped a revolver in his pocket and thought of barricades and revolutions4 ,now he has a ,new ,testament and sings hymns in dark rooms1 the tears stealing down his face the while4 ,as they sat waiting the opening of the service they looked a stolid1 heavy1 unemotional crowd1 the pale broad-browed women with shawls on their heads1 the heavy1 unshaven1 clumsy men in ill-fitting clothes heavy with dirt4 ,but they all changed under the influence of religious feeling4 ,there was a consciousness of unanimity in this low1 vast1 irregular room4 ,something not to be put down in words communicated itself from man to man4 ,no one had come there to sleep through the sermon or1 like ,yourgis at ,chicago1 to get out of the cold4 ,there was attention to the reading of the ,scriptures1 a communion of melancholy love and passion in the singing of the simple hymns1 testifying and confessing with sobs and gesticulations in the midst of the prayers1 happy cries of pain and anguish from people whose sole confession was1 8,i am unworthy1 ,lord1 an unworthy one2 ,o ,lord1 have mercy60 ,the barber's sermon was simple and sweet4 8,read the ,gospel1 brothers2 the whole sense of your lives is in the ,gospel4 ,if you are in doubt which way to act turn to the ,gospel2 do not ask other people1 do not try to remember what other people have done1 but be guided directly by the words of ,god4 ,and if you have sinned1 and if your past life has become unbearable to you1 do not despair1 turn to the ,testament2 it is just one big forgiveness from beginning to end40 ,mme4 ,odintseva was anxious that ,i should like the barber2 he was a favourite of hers4 ,frequently during his sermon she whispered in my ear1 and called my attention to points she considered good4 ,yes1 the barber was interesting2 he was giving a new criterion to the people1 a new touchstone for good and evil4 ,after his sermon we concluded with ten minutes' private prayer and a last hymn4 ,in ,england the private prayer would have been silent1 and there would have been that strange surcharged silence which suggests to the mind that there might be an explosion if one were to light a match4 ,but in ,russia though they had borrowed the idea they had understood its practice differently4 ,the prayer was not silent4 ,we all stood up to pray1 and as we stood there began a murmuring and a mumbling and a calling1 a general muttering and a crying1 a sonorous clamour1 hands waving1 faces thrown upward toward heaven1 faces drooping and sobbing1 every one saying his own prayer1 and every one saying different4 ,it was a music1 a symphony of pain and anguish from an orchestra of human hearts4 ,i did not pray1 but looked about me and saw the people swaying as if a wind were blowing among them4 ,there seemed to be no silent lips1 and the barber-pastor prayed with the rest1 indistinctly and personally and yet vocally4 ,far away1 beyond the low roof of the meeting-room1 a mysterious and understanding ,god heard each4 ,v ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,suffering ,nietzsche wrote of religion disparagingly as an intoxicant1 and yet by his own religion he was intoxicated4 ,no one ever acted more strangely or became more excited under the influence of personal religion than ,nietzsche4 ,it is no reproach to religion that it changes reasonable beings to emotional beings4 ,and yet there is associated with religion a false emotionalism and sentimentalism that we call morbidity1 a desire to be miserable and to make other people miserable1 a wearing of weeds on festival days1 pessimism and 8,god grant we may all be as well two months hence10 a living with death and a loving of the gruesome4 ,gloominess is a danger for the ,slav soul as with us it is for the ,celtic4 ,the bright energy of the ,teuton is lacking4 ,it is not worth while making things or working for position4 ,the mind is free and questioning4 ,there is no sense of-- ,who sweeps a room as for ,thy laws ,makes that and the action fine1 or of ,the trivial round1 the common task1 ,will furnish all we ought to ask4 ,nature is 8vainly sweet10 and the eye looks out on the recurring pageant of the seasons with unutterable ennui and sadness4 ,and in life the petty circumstances1 if congenial1 are but playfully pleasant1 but if uncongenial1 seem surcharged with malice4 ,the river that runs through life is easily dammed1 floods the whole being of a man1 and becomes stagnant1 whilst poisonous mists lower over him4 ,the joyful current ceases4 ,it is a common disaster in ,russia1 the falling into a morbid state4 ,a ,russian poet writes3 ,all earthly perishes1 thy mother and thy boyhood4 ,thy wife betrays thee1 yea1 and friends forsake2 ,but learn1 my friend1 to taste a different sweetness ,looking to the cold and ,arctic seas4 ,get in thy ship1 set sail for the far ,pole1 ,and live midst walls of ice4 ,gently forget ,how there you loved and struggled2 ,forget the passions of the land behind thee2 ,and to the shudderings of gradual cold ,accustom thy tired soul1 ,so that of all she left behind her here ,she craveth nought whatever1 ,when thence to thee floods forth the beams of light celestial1 which is a beautiful poem written for those who have become morbid4 ,it is a beloved poem1 and you may come across it written laboriously and exquisitely on tinted paper4 ,but those who read it and love it will never 8step into the ship1 set sail for the far ,pole02 it is not an invitation to join ,shackleton1 not even figuratively4 ,it is for those who love and nurse their sorrows4 ,they have not the power nor the wish to move4 ,they are transfixed by mournful ideas1 ideas that sing through the air as they come1 like arrows1 and yet console as with music4 ,as another poet 7,brussof7 writes3 ,on a lingering fire you burn and burn away1 ,o my soul1 ,on a lingering fire you burn and burn away ,with sweet moan4 ,you stand like ,sebastin shot through with arrows1 ,without strength to breathe1 ,you stand like ,sebastin shot through with arrows ,in shoulder and breast4 ,your enemies around you look on with mirth ,bending the bow1 ,your enemies around you look on with mirth ,increasing the woe4 ,so burns the funeral pyre1 the arrows stinging gently ,in the eventide1 ,so burns the funeral pyre1 the arrows stinging gently ,for the last time1 which indicates a favourite mood in ,russian poetry4 ,students say such poetry over to one another in their rooms of an evening1 teachers in provincial towns say such verses to their women friends1 local journalists talk of them1 gentle souls of either sex take down the book from the shelf and turn to the familiar page and live with the poet's pain4 ,such is the melancholy of the cultured1 a morbid yet touching melancholy4 ,it is refined4 ,the thoughts are scented1 and it is literature and not life which is lending some one expression4 ,but lower down in society1 where there is less reading1 life itself gives the terms of this outlook4 ,so the coffin-maker in ,tchekhof's story--8,rothschild's ,fiddle0--has a ledger in which he notes down at the end of each day the losses of the day4 ,all life expresses itself to him in losses1 terrible1 terrible losses4 ,smerdyakof1 ,dostoieffsky's most morbid conception1 catches cats and hangs them at midnight with a ceremony and ritual of his own invention4 ,the old beggar pilgrim sings with cracked voice as he trudges through wind and rain3 ,i will go up on the hi-igh mounta-ain ,and look into the mi-ighty de-ep1 ,a-and see about me a-all the earth ,where ,i fre-et and ve-ex my soul4 ,ah1 ,eternity1 it is but ,the-e ,i se-ek1 ,little gra-ave1 my little gra-a-a-a-ve1 ,you are my e-everla-asting ho-ome4 ,yellow sand my be-ed1 ,stones my ne-eigh-bours1 ,wo-orms my fri-ends1 ,the da-amp earth my mo-other1 ,mo-other1 my mo-other4 ,take me to e-e-ternal re-est4 ,o ,lord have me-e-e-e-ercy6#h ,indeed1 many such examples might be adduced to show the pre-occupation of the ,russian with the idea of death4 ,the funeral service music is favourite popular music4 ,in the procession of moods in the soul of the young man he comes comparatively rapidly to 8worms my neighbours40 ,the excessive number of suicides in ,russia may be explained by the extraordinary liability of the ,russian soul to falling into a morbid state4 ,but we are all of us1 even the merriest hearts that 8go all the way10 subject to morbid moods1 to fits of depression1 black hours when we are ready to deny the world1 our ambition in it1 our own life1 our greatest happiness1 and live wilfully in an atmosphere of grief and pessimism1 loving sorrow for its own sake1 lamenting for the sake of lamentation4 ,we love what ,dostoieffsky calls self-laceration4 ,we must every month or so deliver ourselves up to ,giant ,despair and be cudgelled4 ,the darker the night the clearer the stars1 ,the deeper the sorrow the nearer to ,god1 says a ,russian proverb1 but these recurrent moods are not really sorrow1 they are a being morbid4 ,they have nothing in common with the suffering that comes from destiny itself1 nothing of the circumstances of going into the wilderness1 or taking the road with the burden on one's back1 nothing of the pangs of new birth1 of the podvig4 ,who never ate his bread in sorrow1 ,who never spent the midnight hours ,toiling and waiting for the morrow1 ,he knows you not1 ye ,heavenly ,powers4 --,who never ate his bread in real sorrow4 ,life is of this sort1 that if you will stake all of it for a new life you will get the new life4 ,but when you really do give up all the old and dear1 that is a dark and terrible hour1 the hour of renunciation1 of the podvig4 ,and on the road of life itself there is a great gulf between the vigorous and ,teutonic 8,welcome each rebuff that turns earth smoothness rough0 and the morbid and ,oscar ,wildean 8living with sorrow10 a great gulf between ,father ,seraphim kneeling a thousand days on a rock1 and the sad 8intelligent0 who reads to himself in the evening hour3 ,to stand like ,sebastin shot through with arrows1 ,without strength to breathe1 ,to stand like ,sebastin shot through with arrows ,in shoulder and breast4 ,tolstoy in his later years was morbid4 ,i suppose if the psychology of ,tolstoy's life were to be followed out we should be surprised at the frequent recurrence of morbid and despondent moods4 ,nothing seems more characteristic of his later years than fruitless quarreling with the life of ,yasnaya ,polyana1 threatening to run away1 lamentations1 self-lacerations4 ,but now and again in relief ,tolstoy did actually flee4 ,he took the road to ,moscow to live like a simple artisan and earn his living by carpentering1 or he set off for a monastery where some famous monk lived in his cell1 and sought relief by confession and ,christian intercourse4 ,that going forth on the road1 a-seeking new life1 is characteristic4 ,at times one would think half ,russia is on the road4 ,utility has been flung aside1 the chances of gain have been passed over1 the so-called duty to work and fulfil your place in the state has been flung to the winds1 and the ,russian is out on the dusty road1 wearing out his boots1 thinking1 trudging1 praying1 recognising--finding what his soul desires4 ,that is not morbidity1 but a noble form of life4 ,and many promise themselves wholly to ,god and enter monasteries or convents1 and there find happiness1 the bright ray of destiny they sought with their eyes in a dark world4 ,every morning1 noon1 and night ,praise ,god6 says ,theocrite --that is not a morbid life1 though a life of denial4 ,it does not mean that every one who would live well should enter a monastery or a convent1 it only means that some one whose soul craved such a life has found his way4 ,how we have suffered in ,england from the difficulty of giving one's soul to ,god in that way4 ,those who would have been monks and sisters have had to give themselves in other ways4 ,there are thousands of other ways4 ,every one who is living well has found a way4 ,the way meant renunciation1 hardship1 sorrow--but not morbid sorrow1 the sorrow which leaves you as you were1 as the cloud of gnats wailing by the tree and the stream leave the tree1 leave the stream1 just as they were1 just what they were4 ,the differentiation between morbid sorrow and real sorrow1 between self-laceration and the tribulation that comes of destiny1 is important if we would understand aright what the ,russian means by the 8,religion of ,suffering40 ,the religion of suffering1 of which so much is said1 is a term easily misunderstood1 meaning differently in the mouths of different people4 ,the political propagandist holds that the ,russian people are melancholy because their institutions are so bad1 and that the religion of suffering is the religion of revolution1 a growing resentment against the government4 ,the morbid ,russian will say that the religion of suffering is the knowledge of the truth that only in suffering and near to death can you understand anything about life4 ,he will deny that anything else can teach you4 ,the peasant pilgrim will interpret it as the religion of taking to the road and bearing the cross2 being a beggar for ,christ's sake2 refusing a lift on the road to the ,sepulchre1 holding that where ,christ walked it is not for them to ride4 ,another will say it is the religion that helps you to face suffering1 and point to ,tolstoy's story of the death of ,ivan ,ilyitch4 ,ivan ,ilyitch was a man who had no religion1 and had never faced suffering in his life1 an ordinary bourgeois of the type of lower intelligentsia1 jovial1 selfish1 cynical1 fond of cards and of his dinner1 and having no other particular interest in life except an ambition to make more money4 ,suddenly he is stricken with cancer1 and lives for years in increasing pain till at last he dies in agony4 ,he has no spiritual comfort2 pain quite o'ercrows his spirit4 ,the truth is1 no pain really conquers the spirit1 the spirit always triumphs at the last1 even if the body is rendered useless by the struggle4 ,but this truth is lost in the irreligion of ,ivan ,ilyitch4 ,it would seem it would have been better if he had lived a more regular and healthy life in his youth1 but that is a false moral4 ,the fact is he had never faced the solemn mystery of life1 never taken his ordinary human share in suffering1 and so was lost in the hour of pain4 ,but perhaps there were more spiritual gleams in the end of ,ivan ,ilyitch than ,tolstoy tells us of4 ,tolstoy was a moralist4 ,but in any case ,ivan ,ilyitch presents a contrast to a religious ,russian on his death-bed1 in his last agony1 gripping tight in his hand a little wooden cross1 his eyes upon the ikon of his patron saint before which the candle is burning4 ,another will say1 the religion of suffering is that which helps you to face life1 which is perhaps another way of saying that it is the religion which helps you to face death 444 the religion which prompts you to take risks and will face no dangers4 ,he is losing his soul4 ,in a great war he wakens up and offers himself--and saves his soul4 ,or in the ordinary course of things1 in the 8weak piping times of peace10 he resolves to make a leap in the dark and get life1 he gives up the old for the new--he saves his soul1 and out of his sufferings springs a glory4 ,still it is not for every one to make this leap in the dark4 ,villagers1 the peasants of a countryside1 have obviously no call that way1 or seldom a call that way4 ,they have not the need that the townsman has1 they have satisfying visions of truth1 from nature1 in their way of life1 in their traditional customs4 ,brand was probably wrong trying to lead his village flock up among the glaciers and avalanches to make a church of ice4 ,he should have preached such sermons and made such appeals in towns4 ,he would have led people from the towns4 ,nevertheless there has been a cult of ,brand in ,russia1 especially since ,ibsen's long drama was produced at the ,theatre of ,art1 and many divinity students and young priests have been touched by his vigorous onslaught on the quiet lives of simple folk4 ,on the other hand1 there have not been wanting vigorous opponents to ,brand and the 8,god of the ,heights10 and ,i have even seen the scientist working to relieve pain put in opposition to ,brand working to increase the pain and sorrow in the world4 ,but in that opposition lies a misconception4 ,crucifixion under chloroform does not conquer death and sin1 and there is no sleeping-draught for the young man on the threshold of life who has got to dare and suffer and die many times before he emerges at his noblest and richest4 ,dostoieffsky voiced the religion of suffering for ,russia1 he suffered himself1 and in his personal suffering discovered the national passion4 ,he sanctified ,siberia1 redeeming the notion of it from that of a foul prison and place of punishment to a place of redemption1 and finding one's own soul4 ,he did not find ,siberia an evil place1 but on the contrary1 found it holy ground4 ,these men came face to face with reality who had lived till then in an atmosphere of unreality4 ,the roads of ,siberia were roads of pilgrimage4 ,dostoieffsky sent successively his two most interesting heroes to tread those roads--,raskolnikof and ,dmitri ,karamazof4 ,tolstoy develops and materialises the idea in the story of ,katya and ,neludof4 ,then in his novels ,dostoieffsky generally shows the suffering ones1 never suggesting the idea that the suffering should be removed4 ,he has no interest in the non-suffering normal person4 ,he prefers a man who is torn1 whose soul is disclosed and bare4 ,he feels that such a man knows more1 and that his life can show more of the true pathos of man's destiny4 ,such people think1 dream1 pray1 hope1 they are infinitely lovable1 they are clearly mortal4 ,hence a pre-occupation with suffering1 a saying yes to suffering when the obvious answer seems to be no1 and ,let this cup pass from me4 ,it is perhaps because the ,west has taken it for granted that suffering is an evil thing1 and has set itself consciously the task of eliminating suffering from the world that the ,east has emphasised its acceptance of suffering4 ,nietzsche noted what he called the watchword of ,western ,europe--8,we wish that there may be nothing more to fear40 ,he despised that wish4 ,the ,east does not despise the wish1 but finds it necessary to affirm its own belief more vigorously4 ,it accepts many things which the ,west considers wrong in themselves--,war1 ,disease1 ,pain1 ,death4 ,footnote #h3 ,cited by the priest ,florensky1 who copied down the song as he heard it 7,the ,pillar and ,foundation of ,truth74 ,,vi ,,the ,,two ,,hermits ,although self-laceration and being wilfully gloomy are frequent in ,russian life the idea of repentance is not popular1 there being no particular passion for righteousness and consequently no insistence on sin as something deadly in itself4 ,in ,russia you never hear that the wages of sin is death4 ,the man who sins is even thought to be nearer to grace than he who never sins1 the prodigal nearer than his elder brother4 8,sin committed is nothing to grieve over4 ,what is done can't be helped4 ,hurry on and do something else1 don't waste time in penance or repentance40 ,there is no idea of penance in connection with the ,russian ,church1 and consequently no 8indulgences40 ,russia has escaped the evil of thinking that it is possible to pay for past actions and neutralise their effect4 ,even in asceticism the ,russian has no idea of paying for sins by fasting and praying and mortifying the flesh4 ,and he who sets out on pilgrimage does not do so as a penance for sin1 he is not trying in any way to make up to ,god for sin4 ,his act is an act of praise1 a promise1 his asceticism is a denial of this world in honour of the world to come1 a denial of the world's peace in praise of the peace which passeth understanding1 a denial of the world's truth in allegiance to the ,holy ,ghost1 a showing forth in symbolic act of the glory of man's heavenly destiny4 ,the story of two hermits given by the ,russian philosopher ,solovyof gives a ,russian point of view4 ,in the desert in ,egypt two hermits were saving their souls4 ,their caves were quite near one another but they never entered into conversation unless it were to sing psalms at one another or call one another by name now and then4 ,in this way of life they passed many years1 and the fame of their sanctity spread beyond ,egypt and into many lands4 ,but in course of time the devil1 mortified by their holiness1 succeeded in tempting them4 ,he snared them both at the same time1 and1 not saying a word to one another1 they gathered the baskets and pallets which in their long spare time they had plaited from grasses and palm leaves1 and they set off together for ,alexandria4 ,there they sold their work1 and on the money they got for it they spent three gay days and nights with drunkards and sinners1 and on the fourth morning1 having spent everything1 they returned to their cells in the desert4 ,one of them wept bitterly and howled aloud4 ,the other walked at his side with bright morning face and sang psalms joyfully to himself4 ,the first cried3 8,accursed that ,i am1 now am ,i lost for ever4 ,i shall never out-pray my hideous sin1 never1 never4 ,all my fasts and hymns and prayers have been in vain4 ,i might as well have sinned all the time2 all lost in one foul moment6 ,alas6 alas60 ,but the other hermit went on singing1 quietly1 joyfully4 8,what60 cried the first hermit4 8,have you gone out of your mind80 8,why80 asked the joyful one4 8,why don't you repent80 8,what is there for me to repent of80 asked the joyful one4 8,and ,alexandria1 have you forgotten it80 asked his companion4 8,what of ,alexandria8 ,glory be to the ,almighty who preserves that famous and honourable town60 8,but what did we do in ,alexandria80 8,what did we do8 ,why we sold our baskets of course1 prayed upon the ikon of holy ,st4 ,mark1 visited several churches1 walked a little in the town hall1 conversed with the virtuous and ,christly ,leonila44440 ,the repentant hermit stared at the other in pale stupefaction4 8,and the house of ill-fame in which we spent the night 4440 said he4 8,god preserve us60 said the other4 8,the evening and night we spent in the guest-house of the patriarch40 8,holy martyrs6 ,god has already blasted his reason10 cried the repentant hermit4 8,and with whom did we get drunk on ,tuesday night8 ,tell me that40 8,we partook of wine and viands in the refectory of the patriarchate1 ,tuesday being the festival of the ,presentation of the most ,blessed ,mother of ,god40 8,poor fellow6 ,and whom did we kiss1 eh80 8,we were honoured at parting with a holy kiss from that father of fathers1 the most blessed ,archbishop of the great city of ,alexandria and of all ,egypt1 yes and of ,libya1 and of ,pentapolis1 and of ,kur-,timothee with its spiritual court1 and with all the fathers and brothers of his divinely appointed clergy40 8,ah1 why do you make a mock of me8 ,does it mean that after yesterday's abominations the devil has entered into possession of you4 ,you embraced sinners1 you accursed one40 8,i can't say in whom the devil has found a home1 in me or in you10 said the other1 8in me when ,i rejoice in the ,god's gifts and ,his holy will1 when ,i praise the ,creator and all ,his works1 or in you who rave and call the house of our most blessed father and pastor a house of ill-fame1 and defame the ,god-loving clergy1 calling them sinners as it were40 8,ah1 you heretic60 screamed the repentant hermit4 8,arian monster6 ,thrice accursed lips of the abominable ,appollonion60 ,and the repentant hermit threw himself upon his companion and tried to kill him4 ,but failing to do that he grew tired of his efforts1 and the two resumed their journey to their caves4 ,the repentant one beat his head on the rock all night and tore his hair and made the desert echo with his howls and shrieks4 ,the other calmly and joyfully went on singing psalms4 ,in the morning the repentant hermit made the following reflections3 8,just think of it4 ,i had earned from ,heaven especial blessings and holy power by my fasts and my podvigs4#i ,this has already become evident by the miracles and wonders ,i have lately been enabled to perform1 but after this that has happened1 all is lost4 ,by giving myself up to fleshly abomination ,i have sinned against the ,holy ,ghost1 and that sin1 according to the word of ,god1 will be forgiven me neither in this life nor in the life to come4 ,i have thrown the pearl of heavenly purity to be trampled under feet by swine1 by devils4 ,the devils have taken my pearl1 and1 no doubt1 having stamped it into the mire1 they will come after me and tear me4 ,well1 well1 if ,i am irrecoverably lost whatever is there for me to do out here in the desert80 ,and he returned to ,alexandria and gave himself up to a life of debauch4 ,eventually1 on one occasion when he was hard up he conspired with other vagabonds1 fell upon a rich merchant1 killed him1 and robbed him4 ,he was tracked down1 caught and tried in the courts4 ,the judge condemned him to death and he died without repentance4 ,but his old companion continued his holy life1 his podvizhnitchestvo#aj attained a high degree of sanctity and became famous through the many miracles wrought at his cave-mouth4 ,at a word from his holy lips a woman past the age of child-bearing yet conceived and brought forth a male child4 ,when at last the good man died1 his shrivelled and worn-out body1 suddenly as it were1 blossomed in beauty and youth1 becoming translucent and filling the air with a heavenly perfume4 ,over his holy relics a monastery was built1 and his name went forth from the church of ,alexandria to ,byzantium and thence to the shrines of ,kief and ,moscow4 ,the lesson of this story is1 according to ,varsonophy1 who told it1 that there are no sins of any importance except despondency4 ,did not both these hermits sin alike and yet but one of them was lost1 namely1 he who desponded8 ,varsonophy was a pilgrim from ,mount ,athos1 who used to say1 8,eh1 eh1 don't grieve about your sins1 be done with them1 they don't count4 ,sin #eci times in a day but don't grieve about it1 that's the chief thing4 ,if to sin is evil1 then to remember sin is evil4 ,there is nothing worse than to call to mind one's own sins4444 ,there is only one deadly sin and that is despondency1 from despondency comes despair1 that is more than sin1 it is spiritual death40 ,footnote #i3 ,podvig is a ,russian word for holy exploits and victories1 especially for those consisting in a denial of the world4 ,see ,chapter on podvigs1 page #aaa4 ,footnote #aj3 ,podvizhnitchestvo the life of going on doing podvigs1 the continuance of denial of the world4 ,,vii ,,at ,,the ,,convent ,,of ,,martha ,,and ,,mary ,one ,sunday ,i went to the convent of ,st4 ,martha and ,st4 ,mary in the ,bolshaya ,ordinka on the other side of the ,moscow river4 ,it is a wonderful institution1 belonging to the new ,russia and yet being part of the old1 a young dainty stem with leaves sprung from the rugged many-wintered tree of the ,russian ,church4 ,like ,st4 ,vladimir's ,cathedral at ,kief1 its beauty lies not in any antiquity or ruin4 ,it is a new institution2 it is served by young people2 and has new life1 new interest1 and ideals4 ,it is the convent of which the ,grand ,duchess ,elizaveta ,federovna1 the widow of the ,grand ,duke ,sergius1 whose murder was contrived by ,azef the ,jewish agent-provocateur during the revolutionary period1 is the abbess4 ,the remains of the ,grand ,duke were deposited at the shrine of ,st4 ,alexey1 and praying there1 the grief-stricken widow promised herself1 her life1 and her estate to ,god4 ,the beautiful sister of the ,empress found her way from desolation and the tomb to a bright and spacious and yet devoted life1 and she was consecrated and took the veil4 ,one of the first deeds of her new life was to purchase a building site in one of the poorer parts of the city1 and to have it consecrated for the building of a convent and churches4 ,a temporary church was put up and services took place from the first4 ,the first plans were realised in #aijg2 the sisterhood was already formed and had begun work by ,february #aiji4 ,the ,grand ,duchess is the abbess and there are about a hundred sisters4 ,every one is young1 every one is active4 ,no woman over forty can enter the sisterhood1 no one also who is weak physically or likely to be unable to perform the arduous labours for and among the poor which the sisters impose upon themselves4 ,the convent combines in its ideal the imitation of both ,martha and ,mary4 ,each sister dedicates herself to 8,god and her neighbour40 ,she would sit at ,jesus' feet like ,mary1 and be occupied with many things like ,martha4 ,but certainly the idea of ,martha and service stands first in their minds4 ,their religion is the religion of good deeds4 ,they visit1 clothe1 comfort1 heal the poor1 and all but work miracles1 flowers springing in their footsteps where they go4 ,they receive and consider thousands of letters and beggars4 ,they perform work which is often left to the municipalities and ,care committees in the ,west1 but the work is much more fruitful since it is done in the ,name of ,christ rather than in the name of reason4 ,in some convents the sisters are divided into ,marthas and ,marys1 and there is a question when a new one takes her place--a ,martha or a ,mary8 ,but in the ,martha ,marinskaya all have to be ,marthas4 ,each sister has a specific calling and name1 e4g4 the letter-writer1 the purchaser1 the guest-receiver3 there are medical sisters1 church sisters1 kitchen sisters1 and so on4 ,the service in the convent church is open and free4 ,all and sundry may go in4 ,and yet necessarily one is in a way a guest1 a visitor4 ,it is a very gentle and delicate experience to stand on the stone flags of the wide church beside fifty or sixty maidens in white and avow allegiance to the same emblems1 praise the same splendid ,creator and ,god4 ,i came to the service1 but ,i also wished to satisfy a desire to see the frescoes and wall-paintings by ,nesterof4 ,the rood-screen1 the apse1 and the sides have been painted by that great artist1 and two or three of his most beautiful pictures are the surface of the walls4 ,there is a large picture1 the whole width of the church1 a presentment of ,holy ,russia at the margin of a birch forest2 plains and folding valleys and uplands and broad acres in the distance4 ,in the foreground bright green grass thick with purple labiate and yellow rattray1 an opening in the forest1 delicate silver birches on each side and tiny pine trees1 seedlings of pine-trees4 ,in the opening all manner of characteristic ,russian 8poor folk0 gazing1 praying1 kneeling1 crying4 ,for a haloed ,christ stands among the birch trees and receives all who will come to ,him4 ,the ,russian peasant believes that ,christ wanders on his roads-- the heavenly ,king ,our mother ,russia came to bless ,and through our land went wandering2 and he is quite right1 believing that4 ,the thought1 almost by itself1 constitutes the idea of 8,holy ,russia40 ,the most beautiful picture in the church is the dedicatory ,martha and ,mary--8,the ,master is here and calleth thee0#aa--;a panel in front of which stood a sister all in white like a statue1 little candles in front of her1 a stout six-feet wax candle beside her4 ,a tall and portly priest with long hair1 whimsical and gentle1 took the service--,father ,mitrophan2 and he walked to and fro1 now with the people1 now behind the sacred gates4 ,a score of sisters in black veils and with black crowns on their heads sang in the choir4 ,a sister stood at a counter by the door and sold candles4 ,a congregation of sisters1 fashionable visitors1 peasants1 working-people1 and beggars grouped themselves miscellaneously in the wide1 open1 light-filled body of the church4 ,of course there were no seats4 ,it was pleasant to be there2 there was good air1 a fragrance occasionally of flowers1 and a sense of young women in a certain mood towards ,god4 ,we sang1 assented1 crossed ourselves1 bowed4 ,the sixty sisters all in white prostrated themselves1 and there was a billowy flood of white linen on the floor4 ,and the black choir sang1 gently1 pitifully1 sweetly1 exaltedly1 with pale voices4 ,it was their church1 their temple4 ,they expressed themselves there as a maid expresses herself in her private room at home4 ,the gentle ,nesterof paintings pertained to them specially4 ,they were chosen by them4 ,in the midst of the service in come the convent waifs1 children of the childless1 two dozen little boys in green blouses1 two dozen little girls in blue frocks and drab pinafores4 ,and they stand in the midst of the church4 ,they are so small1 they might be the children of dwarfs4 ,father ,mitrophan comes out to deliver his sermon1 and we all move up closer towards the altar rails so as to hear him4 ,he is higher than we1 and looks a shepherd with a flock about him4 ,a gentle sermon3 8,you have parents in the flesh1 you have also parents in the ,spirit4 ,there are earthly families1 there are also spiritual families2 worldly intercourse and heavenly intercourse4 ,our parents bore us and then as soon as convenient brought us to the font to give us back to ,god4 ,the parents were not present at the baptism because they were only parents of the flesh1 but the guardian angels were present because they were parents of the ,spirit4 ,to-day is the day of ,st4 ,afanasief and of ,st4 ,sergey1 spiritual fathers1 to whom we must look for guidance and love4 ,what do they teach us8 ,why1 first of all1 to do things1 to work4 ,what a worker was ,st4 ,paul1 for instance1 writing fourteen epistles4 ,we mustn't be lazy6 ,we shan't get anything without making effort4 ,fast day comes2 we say it doesn't matter much1 we'll eat ordinary fare4 ,it's time to go to church2 you say to yourself1 #8,no1 no1 don't need to1' and you take a stool and a book of church verses and sing to yourself pleasantly and comfortably4 ,no1 no1 it won't do4 ,the ,fathers of the ,church didn't go lazy like that1 or where should we be44440 ,and so on1 in a sententious manner and sing-song tone1 nodding his head and pronouncing many of his dicta in a colloquial tone of voice like an old woman saying proverbs4 ,he had an ,orthodox voice4 ,there is such a thing in ,russia1 a voice and manner in which the ,church and the ,church service are reflected4 ,it communicates itself to the worshipper and is often a superadded grace of personality in a man or woman1 a certain ,byzantinism in expression1 a holding oneself like a figure in a fresco4 ,amen6 ,a crossing of ourselves2 the sermon is ended4 ,the crowd about the altar breaks up1 and we spread ourselves out in the fresher spaces of the church once more1 and the pale singing of the black-robed choir recommences as the conclusion of the liturgy is sung4 ,the sixty sisters prostrate themselves together in a billowy mass once more4 ,worshippers cross themselves before the altar and go out4 ,the ,communion bread is taken and the service is over4 ,the waifs march out2 we all come out4 ,it is good to have been at prayers with the sisters1 just as if one had spent a few hours in perfect mood in a garden4 ,it took my mind back to a morning in an immense ,london church when ,i came in late and was taken up and put in a seat just underneath a picture of the ,virgin4 ,at the ,virgin's feet were armfuls of lilies4 ,i had a sense1 ,i have it now--all flowers are flowers at the feet of the ,virgin4 ,footnote #aa3 ,the ,frontispiece of this book4 ,,viii ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,martha ,the way of ,russia is more the way of ,mary1 and yet no people are more given to working for their neighbours and being actively kind than the ,russians4 ,there are many ,marthas among them4 ,they visit the poor1 bring food to the hungry1 clothe the wretched4 ,they work for the suffering people around them4 ,almost every cultured ,russian of grace or character has some social or personal responsibility or care1 the passion to put right the affairs of some unhappy family1 the will to raise drunkards and law-breakers from spiritual death4 ,it is national and natural1 and it is strange that this should be the characteristic of a people who also have a passion for going into the desert and saving their souls4 ,but it is impossible for every one to go into the desert or take to a cell1 and indeed the impulse to go away does not come to every one1 and when it does come it is seldom sufficiently strong to break down the ties of everyday life and make a road of the affections--the narrow road that leads away from the world4 ,even among a mystical people the great majority remain behind in 8the world0 and have the normal life1 serve man as well as ,god1 marry1 have children1 work as well as pray1 and live through six everydays to one of incense and song4 ,the ,church has its two aspects1 that of ,martha and of ,mary1 and it is with the way of ,martha that we are generally more familiar1 though many may look lingeringly towards the wilderness1 feeling that perhaps after all the better part is to be found out there4 ,the way of ,martha has come into some discredit in the ,west owing to the organisation of charity1 the reliance on parliaments and philanthropical societies and committees rather than on individual volition4 ,as a substitute for love towards one's fellow-man have appeared many things--voting for a candidate1 appeals to policemen and to magistrates1 prison1 sending a young man to the ,colonies1 trusting to the court-missionary 444 that is the way of 8the world0 and not the way of the individual4 ,however much 8organisation0 there may be1 there will always remain as a fundamental idea of the ,church personal love towards one's neighbour and care for him4 ,such love when seen is something that convinces in itself1 like the action of the good ,samaritan4 ,there is a family ,i know in ,russia1 the ,v's4 ,to come into touch with them is to touch something that works miracles like the hem of the sacred garment4 ,yet all in the family are ,marthas1 they are all of the spirit of good deeds3 there is nothing particularly contemplative about any of them4 ,most interesting of all is the youngest of the children1 ,lena4 ,she is being brought up in an atmosphere of altruism4 ,she is only twelve years old1 and is like a plant springing up in a flower-garden2 one can watch her growing more beautiful from day to day4 ,she is gentle1 quick1 and tender4 ,she has many desires and is eager1 but when ,julia her eldest sister tells her to do one thing or another1 perfectly obedient and submissive4 ,she is slender and wistful like a girl in one of ,nesterof's pictures4 ,she has the intense pleasure of a child1 and when we read ,alice in ,wonderland together ,i wondered at the gladness of the little girl4 ,grown-up humans are often so constrained and polite when you read a paragraph to them4 ,you can never be quite sure that they are not secretly bored4 ,on her birthday ,lena gives presents to her sisters instead of receiving them1 and has been brought up to feel that it is a joy and privilege to give4 ,when distant relatives or friends from far away come to visit the family1 ,lena gives them presents4 ,one day she was debating what was the very biggest present she could make to a lady who was staying at the house1 and she decided to give away one of her little pet tortoises4 ,once ,vassily ,vassilitch brought her a present1 a big book with pictures4 ,how vexed ,julia seemed6 8,you spoil the child bringing her presents without any special reason60 said she4 ,she was sorry that he should be giving1 and not ,lena or she herself4 ,julia is so self-denying that some years she goes without a greatcoat even for the coldest winter weather4 ,all her money goes to other people4 ,but she is not at all proud of her good works4 ,she is just simple and cheerful1 a quiet though impulsive woman4 ,you never hear her laugh loudly1 but there is always a sort of kind warmth and cheerfulness in her face4 ,she will give up a book1 her time1 her means of making a living1 her pleasure1 to whatever appeals to her2 and the whole house in which she lives is founded on altruism4 ,occasionally there comes to visit them a friend who is also extremely unselfish and altruistic4 ,then sometimes there are some amusing1 even absurd scenes--contests in altruism4 ,the family is vegetarian1 for no one in it would cause any animal pain4 ,they have even scruples about killing flies and troublesome insects1 and rather catch them and put them out of the window than destroy them4 ,one day ,julia showed me with horror an article from the ,russian ,word on the fate of lost dogs4 ,the ,state voted a certain amount of money for poison to destroy ownerless dogs1 but the police1 instead of killing them with poison in a humane way as intended1 hired the worst type of criminals in the town gaols to beat them to death for a few copecks in order that they might peculate the greater part of the money voted4 8,such ugly things are part of the background of our everyday life10 said ,i4 8,they are hidden from us1 but they are always there1 none the less40 ,julia could not believe it4 ,one summer ,i spent some days with the family in a big country-house in the province of ,kaluga4 ,the estate was an island in a loop of a little river4 ,i spent one morning watching the fish which swarmed in the water of the river1 and ,i longed for a rod and a line4 ,not that ,i ever caught many fish in that way4 ,but when ,i was seven years old some one gave me ,izaak ,walton and a fishing-rod1 and ,i slept with ,the ,compleat ,angler under my pillow4 ,i had visions of great captures of fish4 ,the one thing wanting was a grasshopper4 ,izaak was always talking of grasshoppers1 and ,i had lost faith in worms and paste4 ,but though ,i heard grasshoppers in many country banks ,i could never find one4 ,here at ,dietchino were both grasshoppers and fish in manifest abundance4 ,in the little river were perch and gudgeon and chub1 minnows1 pike4 ,i watched the sinister shadows of the pike4 ,they moved about like sharks1 and every now and then there would be a splash as if a branch had dropped into the water1 and ,i would see six or seven little fish jumping bodily out of the water as a murderous pike rushed at them1 and they fled in terror4 ,the fish seemed pretty hungry4 ,i caught several grasshoppers and rather cruelly threw them on to the surface of the lake and watched the perch snatch them away4 ,a sad end for the grasshoppers1 but a better luncheon for the fish4 ,lena and her next sister1 ,olya1 were much horrified at my action1 though they were too kind and well-trained to say more than 8,oh60 when ,i mentioned it4 ,later ,olya told me how one evening she had seen that on one of the lines left by the village boys a fish was caught and struggling1 and how she came next morning and the fish was still on the hook and not taken in1 and she thought it so cruel1 and wrote a letter to the boy and pinned it on a tree near by4 ,some time after that we went out one day and watched the fish4 ,little ,lena had three biscuits in her coat pocket in case she should be hungry4 ,but she broke up two of them and threw the bits to the fish1 and we saw them come and eat the fragments with as much avidity as they had taken the grasshoppers ,i provided4 ,we were out for a walk2 ,lena and ,i went on1 and she kept one remaining biscuit in case she should be hungry4 ,presently along the road came a familiar dog and fawned around us ingratiatingly4 8,poor dog60 said ,lena1 8it's just had puppies1 it is very hungry10 and she took out her last biscuit and gave it to the dog4 ,the little girl has an almost perfect character1 and the fact that she will never do or think anything unkind has a constraining effect on elders in her presence2 and yet she is an open-air little girl1 and rows and bathes and plays games and goes long walks1 as any boy might wish his sister to do4 ,each of the four sisters has inherited consumption1 and though not actually in consumption they have all a certain fragility and slenderness4 ,their only brother died of consumption1 a clever boy1 who never for a moment permitted grief to enter the hearts of those who were tending him4 ,all was mirth and laughter at his death-bed4 ,joke after joke1 idea after idea put forward4 ,all agreed that it would be absurd to wear black for such a one4 ,and the sisters and near friends went to the funeral in bright summer dresses4 ,they were of those who hope all things1 believe all things4 ,this winter ,julia was chiefly engaged arranging popular lectures on the ,oriental religions--8in order to give an interest in religion to those who had fallen away from ,orthodoxy and had now no religion at all40 ,she had set a room apart for meetings and given it the atmosphere of a church1 and there was a library of several hundred volumes to which visitors referred frequently4 ,she kept open house1 and ,i have often been there in the evening when there were more than a dozen visitors sitting at the long table of the dining-room having tea4 ,there would be all sorts of people1 some real seekers1 others of a friendly gossipy type4 ,many of them were really foreign to ,julia's nature and temperament1 wrapped up in themselves and consequently not able to realise what a sweet and wise and wonderful woman their hostess was4 ,but all were welcome4 ,julia's grandmother1 a very gentle and simple old lady of eighty1 always presided on these occasions1 and if she were not drinking tea1 a space would be cleared on the tablecloth and patience would be laid out4 ,she is always in black1 has large eyes and fine brow and a magnificent ,roman nose1 regards the cards intently1 and puts them one upon another deliberately and solemnly as if she knew all their secrets and were the ,queen of ,spades herself4 ,but she listens to all that is said1 and can repeat almost the whole of the conversation after the people are gone4 ,she is of the old ,orthodox ,russian type and dwells under the ikons4 ,no meal is ever begun without her grace being said4 ,and she also has the gentle spirit of altruism4 ,every other ,sunday night a rather obstinate old lady who belongs to the ,evangelical ,christians comes and sits beside her and reads in a loud distinct voice a volume of ,spurgeon's sermons in translation4 ,and the old lady asks no questions1 always seems to be pleased1 and goes on putting out her cards and making up her patience pack in sympathetic silence4 99 99 99 99 99 ,julia has lived in ,france and ,england1 and she especially likes the ,english4 8,they have learned to be so kind10 she would say4 8,they take care not to injure people's feelings when they talk4 ,they are gentle1 and they are not unjust1 they are fair4 ,they are centuries in front of us ,russians in that way40 ,that observation struck me very forcibly when ,i heard it2 for ,julia has herself an ,english manner4 ,she is like an ,english lady of quality of the best type4 ,she has that something which she admires in us expressed in herself4 ,it is good that the standard notion of an ,englishman which one finds in ,russia is something which corresponds to this praise which ,julia gave us4 ,the ,russians see us at our best1 that is1 as we really are1 and they admire us4 ,they like our quiet kindness and fairness4 ,they admire our passion for social reform and 8putting the world right40 ,julia also is 8helping to build the kingdom of heaven upon earth10 helping to make the world really ready for the ,master when ,he comes again4 ,she is an ,eager-,heart1 who would even give up her chance of sheltering the heavenly ,babe and wondrous ,mother in order to take in a human babe and earthly mother homeless in the snow4 ,that is the way of ,martha1 the finding of ,christ in the suffering human being in the world1 the realisation of 8,inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these ye did it unto ,me0 as contrasted with the way of ,mary--the denial of the world and of the reality of the suffering in it1 the pouring of the ointment on the feet of ,christ instead of selling it and giving the proceeds to the poor4 ,the way of ,martha implies a great number of workers and the consequent necessary organisation--a church4 ,it has its priests1 its temples and buildings1 its ceremonies and sermons4 ,the hermit needs no church1 no temple or priest1 but the worker in the world needs everything4 ,hence the pomp and splendour of the ,church is associated with the way of ,martha4 ,its faith is carried like a great banner wherein is depicted a world set free1 a kingdom of heaven upon earth4 ,the ranks of the world are understood as grades of authority in the great business of well-doing1 and kings and men are consecrated with solemn rites to the service of ,god4 ,we are enrolled as soldiers of the heavenly ,king and need a religious music which is military1 and appeals of sound and colour which stir the heart4 ,so in ,nesterof's picture of ,martha and ,mary1#ab ,martha is painted in resplendent rose and is in the forefront1 whilst the mystical-faced ,mary is darkly robed and stands behind her sister4 ,so in ,christianity all that is visibly and obviously splendid is associated with the way of ,martha--the wonderful cathedrals1 the soul-stirring processions1 holy wars1 solemn rites and pageants4 ,martha is always to the fore and splendid1 and goes to meet ,christ1 whilst her sister ,mary remains in the background at home in faith4 ,footnote #ab3 ,the frontispiece of this book4 ,,ix ,,martha',s ,,true ,,way ,the view ,i take of the miracles is this1 that no one met ,jesus or saw ,him who was not miraculously affected in some way or other4 ,the deaf began to hear1 those who had never spoken in their lives had their lips unsealed1 the cripples found out that they had the souls of men1 the sick were as if they were well1 scales fell from the eyes of the blind1 and he who never saw anything in his life was suddenly awake to beauty4 ,the outcast and the vile learned to believe in themselves2 even the dead became alive4 ,when ,john asked1 8,art thou ,he who should come1 or do we look for another80 it was sufficient to answer1 8,the blind see1 the lame walk1 the lepers are cleansed1 the deaf hear1 the dead are raised1 to the poor the gospel is preached40 ,and the miracles never cease4 ,as they happened two thousand years ago1 so they happen to-day4 ,we have the vision1 and our infirmities fall away3 we see1 we hear1 we praise4 ,christ is 444 ,the subtle alchemist who in a trice ,life's barren metal into gold transmutes4 ,there is much of the ,gospel written by men who had not the vision1 or by politic priests4 ,many ecclesiastics of the early ,church could not understand the mystic story1 and misunderstanding it they yet strove to defend by every means in their power the authenticity of their misreadings4 ,explanations1 local colour1 even absolute inventions were interpolated in the sacred writings in order to prove that certain dogmas were right1 in order to prove that other dogmas were wrong4 ,they actually raised ,lazarus materially from death1 instead of leaving what was probably the original story1 the fact that ,jesus convinced ,martha and ,mary that ,lazarus was still alive in the presence of ,god4 ,not that the ,gospels are the worse1 or that we would have them otherwise4 ,there is an added poetry in the marks which time and life make on any living thing4 ,and the ,gospels have been crucified as ,he of whom the ,gospels were written was crucified before them4 ,most explanations of the miracles are true1 but inadequate4 ,they often lead to confusion of thought and the emphasis on the material facts and outward manifestation rather than on the spiritual facts and inner reality4 ,it is true that ,christ 8went about the world doing good10 and that ,he is to us 8an ensample of godly life10 but the good that ,he did was spiritual good4 ,the works of our ,marthas get a great deal of their inspiration from the healing of the sick and the ministry to the suffering4 ,progress itself1 the whole modern reform movement as far as it associates itself consciously and verbally with ,christianity1 identifies its inspiration with that touching of ,christ's soul which did not permit ,him to pass one suffering man without healing him4 ,but it is often forgotten that the good which ,he did was spiritual good4 ,the true way of ,martha is not so much giving money to the penniless1 clothes to the ragged1 medicine to the sick1 homes to the houseless1 decent dwellings to those who live in slums1 as it is to make the poor know that all these things are nothing and of no account2 as it is to touch their hearts and give them a new outlook upon life4 ,martha has also to make the blind see1 make the deaf hear1 the mute speak1 and to raise the dead4 ,as it is1 it frequently happens that the poor1 receiving 8charity10 are left angry1 and so become poorer thereby1 and the blind find themselves in a greater darkness1 and the deaf in a more deathly silence4 ,we look on our fellow-creatures with dull eyes1 and our personal character and spiritual beauty is not sufficient to lighten up the landscape and the faces of the people around us4 ,there is no light about our heads1 and people touching the hem of our garments feel no contact with mystery4 ,so we do not reveal ,christ to men4 ,though all is within our power4 ,martha's ordeal is as great a one as ,mary's1 her consecration as vital4 ,we cannot go out carelessly and minister to the poor1 for if we do1 we perform no miracles4 ,and without miracles the poor are not satisfied4 ,the true ,martha has the wishing heart1 and her fingers are full of virtue4 ,she is an argument in herself1 and her presence without words works true miracles1 revealing the mystic meaning of ,christ in herself1 and causing every one who meets or sees her to be miraculously affected in some way or other4 99 99 99 99 99 ,obviously the service of ,martha is always personal4 ,therefore nothing anonymous is ,christian1 and philanthropical societies1 parliaments1 reform movements1 and the like are doomed to failure unless they are served by men and women with ,christ-faces4 ,x ,,making ,,west ,,east 444 who made ,west ,east ,and gave to ,man ,a new heaven and a new earth1 ,as ,holy ,john hath prophesied of ,me4 ,the ,west seems to have the tradition of the way of ,martha1 ,england especially4 ,our ,victorian era1 of which the popular teachers were ,kingsley1 ,carlyle1 ,ruskin1 was essentially an era of work and deeds rather than of faith4 ,as children1 we in our prime to-day were brought up on the gospel of work4 ,thoughts about one's soul were considered rather ignoble3 they were smoke that we had to consume ourselves4 ,we were urged to forget the question of our souls and work4 ,the whole world was working1 all the factories of ,england sang together4 ,every man in ,england1 from the highest to the lowest1 knew when he wakened each morning that he had that day some real and indispensable work to do4 ,the child must learn his lesson in that light4 8,if ,i hear of an artist of promise10 says ,ruskin1 8the first question ,i ask is1 #8,does he work8'0 ,ruskin dismissed ,whistler1 who painted rather in the way of ,mary1 because he obviously did not work4 ,all great men whatsoever worked4 ,the heights by great men reached and kept ,were not attained by sudden flight1 ,but they1 while their companions slept1 ,were toiling upward in the night4 ,if you want to be a ,knox or a ,luther or a ,cromwell or a ,frederick or a ,bismarck you must work4 ,the spirit of industry seemed to be ,christianity itself4 ,in reading ,froude's history one seemed to gain the idea that the ,reformation meant getting rid of idleness and monks and abbeys1 and substituting noble labour1 honest craftsmen1 and factories4 ,it is a modern misapprehension4 ,there was a time when we used to sing a hymn extravagantly opposed to the gospel of work-- ,doing is a deadly thing1 ,doing ends in death4 ,we have a reputation for work4 ,most ,russians would be incredulous if told that ,englishmen had ever sung such words4 ,yet they have1 and we know that we are not like the ants who have always been working and always will work4 ,we have been out of love with work before and will be again4 ,during the ,victorian era every ,englishman had his coat off and was working for all he was worth1 perspiration on his brow1 grime on his body1 the clangour of machinery in his ear4 ,carlyle found his generation working1 and gave it his blessing in effective phrase1 and was so obsessed by his own message that he gave up his own quest1 his own seeking1 and lived in the ,british ,museum1 pondering1 grubbing1 scratching1 and turning forth volume after volume of dull ,frederick1 and he forgot his own soul and the man who wrote ,sartor ,resartus and ,the ,heroes4 ,and although this work1 work for work's sake1 is not a ,christian thing1 it is associated in the mind with what ,i call the 8way of ,martha40 ,it is an exaggeration of her sweet serviceableness1 a supposition that she had gone crazy and had not only become cumbered about with many things1 but was so cumbered that she could never in all her life spare a moment to come to the ,master4 ,be that as it may1 ,england had a fairly clear and simple notion of her creed4 ,work pleased her4 ,popular opinion was on the side1 not of the parson who did nought1 but of the old farmer 8who stubbed ,thornaby ,waaste40 ,tennyson sang work and the goal of work--8,all diseases cured by science10 8the ,parliament of the ,world10 8the rule of the meek upon earth40 ,we gave our shoulders and our hearts and our lips to the work1 though indeed not much of the last1 for in those days silence was golden4 ,now silence is golden only for those who do not know what to say4 ,a change has come about1 is coming about4 ,work has ceased to be holy4 8,to labour is to pray40 8,do the duty which lies nearest to you1 that which is doablest40 8,do noble things1 not dream them1 all day long 4440 such was the message of ,victorian literature4 ,and yet in that literature there was a note of discord1 and that was the voice of ,browning1 the first of the moderns1 and he wrote3 ,not on the vulgar mass ,called 8work10 must sentence pass4 ,and again3 ,thoughts hardly to be packed ,into a narrow act1 ,fancies that broke through language and escaped2 ,all ,i could never be1 ,all1 men ignored in me1 ,this1 ,i was worth to ,god1 whose wheel the pitcher shaped4 ,and again3 ,he fixed thee midst this dance ,of plastic circumstance1 ,this ,present1 thou1 forsooth1 wouldst fain arrest3 ,machinery just meant ,to give thy soul its bent1 ,try thee and turn thee forth1 sufficiently impressed4 ,the way of ,martha had given place to the way of ,mary4 ,my elders read ,rabbi ,ben ,ezra to comfort one another3 ,grow old along with me6 ,the best is yet to be1 ,the last of life1 for which the first was made2 and they read it because of a secret sense of failure4 ,but the poem1 and the message of ,browning in general1 came to those of my generation with a different force4 ,when ,i was twenty ,i lived with the poem1 as did those ,i loved2 ,i carried it with me wherever ,i went2 it burned1 it blazed in my mind4 ,it was a triumphant song4 ,all the beauty of the time seemed to radiate from it1 and as ,i recall it to-day and write the old words down1 it brings back to me the fields1 the hills1 the roads1 lime blossoms1 roses1 faces of the summer when its meaning was first absolutely and clearly mine4 ,what was it in the poem8 ,it was the modern movement4 ,it was good b'ye to the old4 ,it was a sight of one's own immortality and ,psyche herself1 the ever-lovely one4 ,but necessarily ,i cannot write down what it meant4 ,suffice it that ,i can remember how a boy of this time reacted to the touch of ,browning4 ,browning was a wonderful turn in ,english thought4 ,it was not simply one poem of ,browning that broke away from ,victorianism4 ,we had held that there was no greater satisfaction than that of the craftsman in the work of his own hands4 ,his was the real ,imitatio ,christi when he made something with his hands and saw that it was good4 ,then we read ,andrea del ,sarto1 despising ,this low-pulsed craftsman's hand of mine1 knowing that the artists who failed reached a heaven denied to him4 ,from ,browning's day on we have been moving away from ,martha and coming to ,mary4 ,the note-books of those young ones who loved thoughts began to be filled with verses1 sayings1 apothegms of a new character1 and many of the elder ones to whom we read what we had found were blind and deaf to the new ideas4 ,i remember one old literary man and artist who used always to say1 8,i take my stand with ,jim0--meaning that he held with ,st4 ,james that faith without works is barren4 ,he belonged to the old4 ,i admit we were not sober in our judgments4 ,we went to see ,ibsen and ,bernard ,shaw1 and it was easy to agree that ,nora was right when she fled from her home and her husband to save her soul1 and we thought that the immoral and unprincipled ,dubedat was sooner to be saved than the hard-working slum doctor4 ,we saw in ,solveig1 who stayed in the background and prayed1 the true type of womanhood1 and understood how ,peer ,gynt through her could be saved4 ,we read ,nietzsche1 that mad ,christian1 a sort of ,mary who hated her sister ,martha1 calling out in anger that man had ceased to be man and had become merely neighbour4 ,we entered the domain of ,russian literature1 and read ,dostoieffsky and ,chekhof and ,gorky1 and so fell under the spell of ,eastern ,christianity1 where we remain to-day4 ,the taste of ,england has been steadily changing this last ten years1 and the current becoming deeper and broader4 ,russia and the ,east have been coming steadily nearer1 and more and more of us have turned our backs on work and service and that ,divine materialism--the raising of the poor4 ,not that we are on the way to becoming a philosophic and reflective or ascetic nation1 or even in the way of singing again 8,doing is a deadly thing02 but more and more of our nation is attempting to take to itself and re-express the other aspect of ,christianity--the way of ,mary4 ,even in the ,north of ,england1 where the land is devoted to work and the towns are little more than barracks of workmen1 there is a noticeable and1 even from a capitalist's point of view1 an alarming change of spirit4 ,the 8workers0 are rebellious4 ,it is not that they want more money or lighter hours or better conditions4 ,they simply don't want to work4 ,the rising generation is disinclined to settle down1 and the time is coming when there will be difficulty in getting labouring hands1 when it will be difficult to buy them4 ,the gloom of our industrialism is destined to be broken4 ,as yet1 however1 those who represent us in politics1 literature1 and art belong to the old4 ,mr4 ,lloyd ,george with his care for the poor is a ,martha4 ,mr4 ,bonar ,law is a ,martha also4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells1 with his ,world set ,free1 and his rooms with rounded instead of squared corners to help the women to sweep1 is a ,martha4 ,our poets are not ,marys1 and it is necessary to go to ,francis ,thompson or ,rossetti to find a mystic poet4 ,our painters1 ,peter ,graham1 ,farquharson1 ,leader1 and others whose works deck ,academy walls1 are occupied with the outward appearances of things rather than the transcendental4 ,and since ,watts is dead we have not even a mystical portrait painter1 but all admire the gift to show in the face money1 importance1 style1 meat4 ,our people are worth painting1 but there is no one to paint them4 ,we need an ,english ,serof to show the true kindred and spiritual relationship of faces4 ,on the stage we admire ,russian opera and ,russian ways4 ,we show ,the ,dynasts in the same way as it would have been shown in ,moscow1 or nearly so4 ,there first of all the new tendency is showing4 ,unfortunately we have a long battle against ,american humour and vulgarity1 ,american materialism and the capital that would exploit our stage4 ,otherwise our stage would change at a greater speed4 ,still the difference in the way ,shakespeare is produced in ,england is an index of the change4 ,when we produce ,hamlet as it is produced at the ,theatre of ,art1 ,moscow1 we shall have traversed the whole distance between the way of ,martha and the way of ,mary as far as the stage is concerned4 ,,xi ,,the ,,ecclesiastical ,,church ,,and ,,the ,,living ,,church ,strange that there should be a feud between the ,church and the ,theatre6 ,they were originally one and the same1 and as it is the ,church remains a holy theatre where day after day is enacted the same holy mystery4 ,in passing3 how much nearer the ,theatre is brought to the ,church by the constant repetition of the great classical and mystical dramas such as ,hamlet4 ,the reason for the religious distrust of the ,theatre which exists in all countries1--in ,england in the ,free ,churches2 in ,russia in the ,orthodox ,church1--lies in the degradation of the ,theatre1 the making it a show of wild beasts1 a stage for indecent dances and comic songs1 an arena for combats of athletes4 ,the common townspeople are not and never can be the pupils of ,hypatia4 ,they will have their indecencies and vulgarities1 wild beasts1 acrobats1 invitation to sin4 ,the showman has usurped the place of the mystagogue1 and money-making has replaced religious service or service to art and culture as a motive of theatrical production4 ,the ,theatre to-day1 even if it aspire to be serious1 has unclean hands1 and the ,church not unfairly regards it as part of the stock-in-trade of the evil one4 ,an interesting exemplification of the relation of ,church and ,stage is furnished by ,oscar ,wilde's ,salome4 ,to the ,christian1 to look at the dance of ,salome is to glance into the charnel-house where all is decay and worms and death1 and to see there the head of one of the saints with celestial aureole4 ,but the dramatist has turned the interest to the dance itself and made you say that it is interesting3 he has dwelt on the jewels1 the crimsons1 the thick lips1 the luscious movements4 ,every effort is made to make you agree with ,herod1 and the best way to do that is to suggest to your body and soul the same feelings towards the dancer on the stage as ,herod felt towards the daughter of his brother's wife--so that you would give her anything1 even the pure body of the saint that is in your keeping4 ,he would give you a place with the worms and the spirit of decay1 and let you end as ,herod ended1 eaten by the worms at the last4 ,no aureole for you6 ,but the ,church suggests the aureole for you1 and if ,salome were presented as a mystery-play the whole interest of the populace would be directed towards the sainthood of ,john the ,baptist4 ,when ,oscar ,wilde's ,salome was produced at ,petrograd1 ,russia made short work of it4 ,on the first night1 at the first public performance1 some one stood up in the middle of a scene and shouted in a bass voice3 8,spustee zanavess60 8,lower the curtain60 and the curtain was lowered2 and ,salome has not been repeated there from that day to this4 ,who it was said this is rather a mystery1 but it was doubtless some one who had the voice or the ear of ,orthodoxy4 ,russia probably gained by this prohibition4 ,a pity1 however1 that many other plays quite as injurious are allowed their way to the perversion of private morals and the corruption of public taste4 ,indeed it would be a gain to ,russia if the ,church would cease looking at the ,stage from a merely ecclesiastical point of view4 ,the fault of the clergy is their pride in their own order and their institutions4 ,the clergy1 ministers of the living ,church of ,christ1 should in nature be the humblest of people1 so humble in fact1 so meek and unresentful1 that it would be necessary occasionally to protect them from the enmity of the secular world4 ,as it is1 in their pomp1 they are proud4 ,they despise the ,stage and often prohibit plays on quite wrong grounds1 incidentally depriving not only the theatre and the public1 but the ,church also1 of something helpful to the cause of ,eastern ,christianity and of all real ,russian values4 ,the prohibition of ,andreef's ,anathema1 performed at the ,theatre of ,art in ,moscow1 is an example4 ,though this prohibition was at the instance of the ,archbishop of ,moscow the play was in essential teaching profoundly helpful to ,eastern ,christianity4 ,it was written by a man who belonged to the revolutionary movement1 but it was only the more remarkable and the more powerful thereby4 ,it was in substance a refutation of ,westernism and the ideals after which secularist ,russia was striving4 ,a pious and philanthropic ,jew inheriting immense wealth1 millions of ,american dollars1 resolved in his simplicity to save the world1 feeding the hungry1 clothing the ragged1 giving money to the needy1 medical aid to the suffering4 ,the drama shows the futility of this dream1 and at the end the mob of enraged and suffering humanity stone the philanthropist to death4 ,not by material but by spiritual things could their sufferings be assuaged4 ,the archbishop who stopped it was probably never in a theatre in his life1 and no doubt condemned it on hearsay1 and from a complete misapprehension of the significance of the drama4 ,the ,church of the future in ,england1 and probably in ,russia1 will have to come into alliance with what may be called the right side of the theatre4 ,for occasionally in the theatre people worship as much as others do in the ,church4 ,many young people whose families have lapsed from the ,church find their religious life functionised in the book1 the drama1 the opera1 the symphony4 ,they are not communicants in the literal sense1 they are outside the church walls and the shut church doors1 but they are inside the living ,church4 ,they have a common word with people inside church walls4 ,their chorus of praise swells from the other side of the walls1 and in some countries the secular chorus of praise to ,god has considerably more volume than the official ecclesiastical chorus4 ,somehow in church one rather resents the choir1 especially in the ,te ,deum1 when they are singing it to some 8,god-forsaken0 curious tune that a pedant musician has chosen4 ,it is good when the whole church can lift one great voice4 ,and outside the church the greater congregation rather resents the church-goers4 ,they would sing ,te ,deum also4 ,the relation of ,church and ,stage exhibits the confusion of religious values at present existing4 ,the same confusion exists with regard to the ,church and ,literature--many of the great classics of ,russian literature1 like ,gogol's ,dead ,souls1 the monks would regard it a sin to read4 ,the ecclesiastical ,church takes no useful stand with regard to what is helpful1 what harmful1 in past and present literature2 it is left for the living ,church to find out for itself and do what it can without organisation4 ,even in the domain of ,holy ,writ there is a confusion of what the living ,church believes1 and what mere ecclesiasticism lays down4 ,at least one fundamental idea in ,christianity has been overlaid1 and1 as it were1 frustrated by the ,church itself--the idea of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the ,holy ,ghost has been conventionalised and made terrible4 ,it has become the most inscrutable and awe-inspiring aspect of the ,trinity1 whereas it should be the most familiar and consoling1 ,christ saying good-bye to his disciples in that last long sweet talk where ,he calls them friends1 tells them that after ,he is gone away from them there will come a new consolation1 the vision of ,truth4 8,i will pray the ,father and he shall give you another ,comforter that he may abide with you for ever2 even the ,spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive1 444 the ,comforter which is the ,holy ,ghost1 whom the ,father will send in my name1 ,he shall teach you all things1 and bring all things to your remembrance1 whatsoever ,i have said unto you4 ,peace ,i leave with you1 my peace ,i give unto you3 not as the world giveth1 give ,i unto you4 ,let not your heart be troubled1 neither let it be afraid4444 ,if the world hate you1 ye know that it hated me before it hated you4 ,if ye were of the world the world would love his own3 but because ye are not of the world1 but ,i have chosen you out of the world1 therefore the world hateth you4444 ,when the ,comforter is come1 whom ,i will send unto you from the ,father1 even the ,spirit of truth1 which proceedeth from the ,father1 ,he shall testify of me3 ,and ye also shall bear witness1 because ye have been with me from the beginning40 ,and in the cross-examination before ,pilate1 ,jesus said1 8,my kingdom is not of this world3 if my kingdom were of this world1 then would my servants fight1 that ,i should not be delivered to the ,jews4444 ,to this end was ,i born1 and for this cause came ,i into the world1 that ,i should bear witness unto the truth40 ,therein lies the true idea of the ,holy ,ghost1 the ,holy ,spirit--it is the vision of ,heavenly ,truth that gives the lie to worldly values1 worldly truth4 ,by virtue of this ,holy ,spirit the blind see1 though they have no eyes1 the deaf hear1 the dumb speak1 the dead live1 mortality itself is disproved4 ,the mysteries of the ,pentecostal mitres1 of the gift of tongues1 and the conventionalised notion of what is called the 8sin against the ,holy ,ghost10 have stood in the way of the simple and beautiful conception of the comforting vision of ,truth4 ,the ,church1 with its keys of heaven and hell1 and its arrogation of the power of anathema and excommunication1 has preferred to lay its emphasis on those texts which may seem to imply the dreadfulness of offence against a certain more inscrutable aspect of the ,trinity4 ,there is nothing in the ,gospels but love of man1 forgiveness of man1 and nothing is more pitiful than the man who1 having a glimpse of the ,truth1 yet denies it or wilfully confuses it with magic or unclean power4 ,but the ,filioque clause of the ,creed is alone sufficient to exemplify the confusion of ecclesiasticism and the living ,church4 ,there are many who think that the two ,churches of ,england and ,russia are kept apart by this clause alone4 ,england holds that the ,holy ,ghost1 the ,holy ,spirit1 proceeds from the ,father and from the ,son1 ,russia that it proceeds from the ,father alone4 ,russia's basis is ,st4 ,john1 ,,xv4 #bf1 8444 the ,spirit of truth1 which proceedeth from the ,father1 he shall testify of me40 8,what does it matter how it is put80 cries the living ,church4 ,but ecclesiastical pedantry is strongly entrenched1 and whenever the question of the intercommunion of the two ,churches is mentioned there arises that fatal phrase--8,filioque--and from the ,son40 8,does not one of your ,thirty-nine ,articles lay down that the ,holy ,ghost proceeds from the ,father and from the ,son8 ,and is not assent to the ,thirty-nine ,articles obligatory upon your clergy8 ,why1 then44440 ,to which one can only answer in one's heart3 ,thirty-nine ,articles1 ,ye precious little particles1 ,and did ,god really make the world by you8 ,the same confusion exists with regard to the ,church and ,life4 ,that which the living ,church of ,christ possesses is a spiritual communion1 not a set of dogmas or a set of points of ecclesiastical law4 ,if a man is really touched to go to church1 if he has the impulse from the heart1 it is not in order that he may hear dogma4 ,he goes to blend his voice and his thoughts with the voice and the thoughts of humanity in hymn and prayer4 ,but to-day many misconceptions arise4 ,carlyle could not go to church because the sermon bored him4 ,many stay away from churches because they can't stand so-and-so's sermon4 ,as if the sermon were part of the service6 ,in old days the sermons were often delivered outside the churches after the service was done4 ,the priest came through the worshippers1 went out into the church square1 and rising to a platform or 8outside pulpit0 harangued the everyday crowd4 ,the function of the ,church service is not to be a frame to a sermon1 even a clever or profound or inspiring sermon4 ,its function is praise4 ,a ,jew writing for an important ,russian newspaper about the state of the ,church of ,england remarks that 8dogmas make many leave the ,church1 and those who stay remain to preach ethics10 and he goes on to praise ethics as the function of the ,church1 leaving out of account1 and evidently having no notion of1 the ,church as a temple of religion1 a place of communion and aspiration4 ,surely the preaching ethics is a work begun by parents and confirmed by the schoolmaster4 ,christ did not die on the cross or forgive the thief who recognised ,him in order to preach 8,thou shalt not steal60 ,yet such a confusion of ideas remains in the mind even of the cultured4 ,still1 the whole world and the universe is an orchestra praising ,god1 and1 remembering that1 it is impossible to say there is real confusion or final confusion4 ,it is as impossible to classify and show series of like things1 for the imagination tells you that every instrument in the orchestra is diverse4 ,hence ,i am open to misconception when ,i write of confusion or when ,i classify1 as for instance when ,i talk of ,marthas and ,marys4 ,there is confusion and there is order4 ,nothing is fixed1 all is in motion1 the kaleidoscope is ever moving4 ,so it would be wrong to say that all who were in the way of ,martha were in towns working for the poor1 or that all in the way of ,mary were away in the desert saving their souls at the feet of the ,master1 or that the priests in their orders and vestments with their processions and grandeur were all in the way of ,martha1 or that the hermits of the desert did not upon occasion come like ,paphnutius to ,alexandria to save ,thas1 the dancing-girl4 ,the sisters love one another2 and though it is not written in the ,gospels1 there were certainly occasions when ,mary might have been seen cumbered about with many things whilst ,martha sat with her ,lord4 ,,xii ,,witness ,,unto ,,the ,,truth ,the purely ,eastern aspect of the ,church is the way of ,mary1 the spiritual1 meditative1 introspective1 mystical way1 and this is ever the strength of the whole ,church4 ,it is even the strength of the ,protestant churches1 though there the spiritual life is more private4 ,in ,orthodoxy the voice speaks from the desert right into the ears of the everyday mundane crowd4 ,the people are enjoined against sloth in the name of the fathers of the desert4 ,they sing their hymns in praise of those who have overcome4 ,they are encompassed round about with 8the crowd of witnesses10 the ikon faces and frescoed saints of the church walls1 the thousands of those who have died in the ,lord looking on whilst we run with patience the race that is set before us4 ,our work is in the world1 our passion is for the realisation of good worldly hopes4 ,we pray for the ,king1 the ,emperor2 we own a true allegiance to a ,god-guided ,csar1 and are ready to render to such a ,csar the things that are his4 ,we pray for the administrative bodies and for ,parliament1 may they go forward to the raising of the poor1 the healing of the sick1 the raising to a life of knowledge those who are dead in ignorance4 ,we pray for our fellow-man and for ourselves4 ,we band ourselves in a ,christian order1 and confirm in ourselves the resolve to fight against sin1 ugliness1 unhappiness4 ,we promise to give time1 to give money1 to work for the ,cause4 ,this is all in the way of ,martha4 ,but these thoughts and prayers are made in a temple where the light is the light of candles placed before shrines of the ,unseen4 ,a vision accompanies the ,christian man4 ,though his passion is towards the things of this world he is encompassed and enveloped by the atmosphere of another world4 ,the remembrance remains his that ,csar is not ,god1 nor ,csar's officers the angels of ,god1 nor this world the real world1 that the poor we have always with us1 that our true citizenship is of another realm4 ,the work of ,martha fails1 fails again2 the poor multiply1 sickness becomes a plague and scourge from ,god1 the ignorant increase1 peace becomes war1 the progressive work of centuries topples down like ,babel1 kings or emperors become killed1 allegiances of millions are changed1 famous ,christian workers and organisers who have given their whole life to the ,cause go out to death with grey hairs1 all their life-work made as nought before their eyes4 ,the passionate soldier-saint goes out in failure4 ,the lukewarm mediocre man and the cheerful happy-go-lucky mortals1 the ordinary folk1 the witty ones1 the dull ones1 the run of mankind as we call them1 also go out1 looking at the failure of ideas to which they have vaguely or earnestly given assent4 ,but ,christianity does not fail4 ,thousands of years hence this young religion of ,christianity will be more triumphant1 splendid1 vital1 than it is to-day4 ,and this by virtue of the mystical and transcendental aspect of the word4 ,the service of the ,church is more than a consecration of duty4 ,it is a bearing witness to the ,truth1 a watching till ,he come1 an expectancy1 a getting into position for a great procession1 a carrying of banners and emblems1 a joining in a universal hymn sung not only by ourselves but by all the dead4 ,the light of the ,church is the light of transfiguration1 not the light of common day1 it is the light of the halo round the saint's head4 ,you enter a church1 such a temple1 for instance1 as the ,cathedral of the ,assumption in ,moscow4 ,at a step you are in the precincts of a different world4 ,you have overstepped a frontier line1 and the language has changed1 just as when in ,europe you cross a boundary and the language changes1 say from ,german to ,russian4 ,the people are looking a different way1 not ,westward as to the ,emperor but ,eastward as to ,god4 ,you are in a new kingdom2 but as your thoughts go back to the street you left you realise that the kingdom is not from thence4 ,the faces in the ikons are not the faces of men4 ,the figures are twisted and strange4 ,one asks3 8,why did not the ,byzantine painters paint the truth8 ,there never were men looking as these men4 ,why these copper-coloured and flame-coloured faces8 ,why the unearthly expression in eyebrows and eyes8 ,men never looked like that40 ,the answer is3 the early ,christian painters did not wish to paint earthly truth4 ,their object was to indicate the unearthly nature of man1 his citizenship of another world4 ,they wrote into the features of every saint1 8,be of good cheer1 ,i have overcome the world40 ,this was one of the earliest traditions in the ,christian ,church1 and has been handed down from generation to generation in the books of ikonopis or ikon-painting4 ,there is a way to paint a ,christian saint1 and that way has to be followed in the ,eastern churches4 ,he must be represented as a witness unto the ,truth1 a face that at least at last owns no allegiance to the monarch in the ,west1 but only to the ,god in the ,east1 the face of an archangel or of one who sings continuously1 8,holy1 holy1 holy1 ,lord ,god ,almighty1 which was and is and is to come40 ,one may belong to a mighty empire1 but the citizenship of those within the ,church is of a mightier and grander and vaster empire4 ,the thrill of the new national hymn is the greater1 the characteristic uniforms and robes have the more reverence in their associations4 ,the vestments of the priests astonish one4 ,they are gorgeous past belief4 ,whence comes that gold brocade8 ,it was cut in another world4 ,at least1 that is its intention1 that is what it would signify4 ,who are they in white robes8 ,why do the priests at the altar walk so stately8 ,what is that new tempo to which they have learned to move and to swing the censer8 ,and the voice of the clergy1 that unearthly bass1 that profound groaning and seeking of notes that man does not utter1 that voice as of ,jesus commanding the soul of the dead ,lazarus to return to the awful and dreadful corpse8 ,the service in the ,slavonic tongue1 not in the everyday tongue4444 ,all these things bear witness unto the ,truth and are the emblems of our allegiance to the kingdom of ,christ1 marks of our other citizenship1 the visible emblems and symbols of our hope1 our love and passion4 ,hence it is possible to sing with angels and archangels4 ,failure in the work of ,martha loses significance as failure4 ,failure is even good1 it is one more sign1 an involuntary ritual1 telling of our truer destiny4 ,so though the way of ,mary is consummated in the desert1 in the cell1 in giving up the world1 in pilgrimaging1 praying1 fasting1 and only a few can necessarily take to that way1 yet it is that way which speaks triumphantly in the ,church4 ,the great majority of human beings must always remain behind 8cumbered about with many things10 though loved by the ,master they will not be able to sell everything1 take up the ,cross and follow to the place of the ,skull4 ,they will keep the commandments of ,christ and enter on set occasions the temples we have set up4 ,they will receive confirmation in their life and in the love of the ,lord1 they will pray for what they will1 and confess themselves4 ,they will praise and be in communion4 ,they will recognise that they belong to another kingdom1 and their hearts will swell with the triumphant and passionate affirmation of the ,godhead which each finds in his poor conditional existence as man4 ,the way of ,martha and the way of ,mary4 ,,xiii ,,the ,,festival ,,of ,,the ,,dead ,at ,easter ,i was at my old home1 ,vladikavkaz1 and on the second ,tuesday after ,easter ,sunday went through one of the most characteristic of ,russian holidays--,krasnagorka4 ,it is half-,christian1 half-pagan--a festival of spring and of new life1 but celebrated almost entirely in graveyards and cemeteries4 ,at ,krasnagorka almost the whole population of the town goes on an outing or a picnic--to the cemetery4 ,early in the morning ,i received a message from a ,russian friend1 8,come to our church2 you'll see an interesting sight40 ,the church was crowded1 but ,i got in1 for nobody objects to your pushing4 ,it was an unusual service4 ,the whole centre of the floor of the church1 a space of some twenty feet by seven1 was covered with napkins in which lay lumps of cake1 brightly coloured eggs1 basins of rice and strawberry jam1 basins of rice and raisins4 ,in each basin1 and there were some hundreds of them1 a lighted wax candle was stuck in the rice and gave a little flame1 and beside each lay the little red book in which the peasant records the names of his relatives as they die4 8,what is it all for80 ,i asked4 8,it is the food for the dead10 my friend answered4 ,a priest and a deacon were standing at the near end of the spread of illuminated food1 and they read aloud from sheaves of papers the names of dead persons whom members of the church had wished to have remembered4 ,each person who had brought in food for sanctification brought also a slip of paper with the names of his dead4 ,it took hours to read them all out1 and when at last the task was finished1 the deacon took a smoking censer1 and walking round the feast flung incense over it1 the chains of the censer rattling as he made the ,sign of the ,cross4 ,we sang once more the festal hymn of ,easter1 ,christos voskrese iz mertvikh--8,christ is risen from the dead10--sung at every service until ,ascension1 and then1 after kissing the cross in the priest's hand1 each person sought out his special basin of rice and pieces of cake and bowl of coloured eggs and moved out of the church4 ,at the door of the church stood many beggars1 six or seven bearded1 tattered1 and dirty old men1 and a score or so of women and children4 ,all the old men had their mouths open1 and each worshipper1 as he made his exit1 helped a beggar liberally to rice and jam1 scooping out great spoonfuls with wooden spoons and poking them into the open1 waiting mouths4 ,many beggars had cotton bags hanging from their necks1 and into these were promiscuously flung spoonfuls of rice and raisins1 eggs1 biscuit1 cake4 ,the beggars were told to eat what was given them in the name of the dead4 ,my friend fed at least ten beggars before she left the church1 and gave eggs and bits of cake1 but she did not give all that she had4 ,a great quantity was reserved for a spread in the graveyard4 ,many cabs were waiting at the church door1 and the worshippers stepped into them with their napkins of sanctified food1 and drove to the cemeteries of the town4 ,from ten o'clock in the morning until sunset1 the cemeteries were as thronged with people as ,hampstead ,heath on ,whit-,monday4 ,nearly every grave in a ,russian churchyard has seats round it1 and it is possible to go to the family grave and sit down and think a little1 or pray a little when you wish4 ,i went to the graveyard where my friend's sister lies buried1 an acre of cypress and pine and gentle mounds1 where the dank earth seems like bed-clothes laid over the dead4 ,to-day this wide melancholy collection of green mounds and wooden crosses was alive with the laughter and songs of children4 ,on the heaps of mouldering earth samovars were humming1 and little candles gleamed against a background of lilac blossoms and spring flowers4 ,my friend and ,i sat down4 ,the mother of the dead one came1 deep in crape and laden with gifts4 ,we planted our candles1 and on this grave as on all the others round about the wan flames flickered4 ,we took bright-coloured eggs--our ,easter eggs dyed purple and crimson and brown1--dug holes in the mould with our fingers1 buried the eggs1 covered their brightness over with mould again4 ,then we put down slices of ,easter cake on the grave1 and emptied there saucers of rice--that the dead one might share in4 ,we sat on the crazy wooden seats around1 and looked at the earth and were silent4 ,the mother went away to find a priest1 and presently brought a purple-cloaked greybeard to sing over the grave and burn incense4 ,his red and wrinkled face was all red and fresh from the open air1 for he had been in the graveyard all day singing over the graves4 ,he was tired1 but he raised his head and his voice and called forth his little memorial prayer in an antique musical bass3 8,grant to her who has passed away1 ,o ,christ1 to obtain ,thy unspeakable glory4444 ,give rest1 ,o ,christ1 to the soul of ,thy servant44440 ,we all stood around1 silent and awe-stricken1 and listened and crossed ourselves1 and kissed the cross in the priest's hand4 ,he received a rouble1 then went away to another grave2 beggars besought us2 and as if they had not been satisfied at the church door1 but were taking enough to last them a whole year1 they received helping after helping of rice and cake and eggs4 ,this1 ,i felt1 was the great beggars' day in the year4 ,they were important people4 ,they were necessary to the feast4 ,strange that they should appear as proxies for the dead and eat for them4 ,a beautiful reminder that in the living we find all our dead again4 ,we had stood to meet the priest and to give the beggars the food we had brought1 so now that the beggars had eaten all the rice and raisins and rice and jam and had gone farther to eat at other graves1 we sat down again in the still presence of the green mound and we talked of the virtues of the dead one1 of how old she would have been and how beloved she was1 and of how often she had been remembered1 and how soon we should join her4 ,evidently the mother assumed that what she said was heard by her whose body lay in the earth4 ,we were all quietly joyful--not sad4 ,we had the spirit of children making believe2 we had also the calm faith and knowledge of elders--that there is no death1 that those who have passed out of sight have not ceased but are alive for evermore4 ,i felt the ,russians1 and indeed mankind altogether1 to be very dear at this festival2 they were doing things that must touch those invisible ones who know more than we do and look on1 bring tears to the eyes of angels1 and not as often in man's history and the spectacle of his civilisation and abomination call down the wrath of higher powers4 ,we talked 444 and then as we became silent again we heard the music of man's life1 and listened with our souls4 ,at some graves there was boisterous jollity1 at others terrible anguish and grief4 ,near where we sat a woman lay moaning on the grave of her husband1 her red tear-washed cheeks and her lips on the earth2 and she called to him with sobs1 telling him all that had happened during the year1 how the children were1 how often they had thought of him4 ,it was heart-rending to listen to her4 ,and yet1 mingled with her terrible lament1 came the sound of mumbling priests1 the buzz of conversation1 the laughter of children wrestling among the graves and gambling in the eggs that had been given them1 the tinkle of the guitar and of light songs1 the strains of the concertina4 ,we walked by winding ways across the graveyard and saw many an old man and woman knocking at the door of the earth they would soon enter1 dropping placid tears and thinking what it would be like some years hence when they would be under the earth and this festive crowd of live beings above1 candle-lighting1 feasting1 singing1 thinking1 praying4 ,and there were young men and women walking arm-in-arm1 looking brightly into one another's eyes1 strengthening their bonds of love and of life4 ,there were also little children1 boys and girls1 thoughtless1 indifferent to death and to the dead1 waiting for the older people to go away1 so that they might forage among the graves and dig up again the red and blue eggs that had been buried there4 8,are they allowed to do that80 ,i asked in horror4 8,yes10 said the sister4 8,every one knows that directly evening comes and we elders go home the poor children will come and dig up the eggs and take them away1 and take also the wild flowers we have brought4 ,let them6 ,it is quite good that they should4 ,you know it is the festival of spring and of life40 ,i realised that she was right4 ,it is the way to give to the dead--give to the beggars and to the children4 ,the dead get what we send them1 surely4 99 99 99 99 99 ,strange to notice in this acre of ,god some graves that had not been visited this day--old graves4 ,i reflected on many a country walk in ,england1 culminating in a visit to an old church and graveyard1 and the tracing of the names and dates of people long since passed away4 ,it is somewhat strange4 ,when we are in an old graveyard and looking at the graves of people who have died centuries ago we feel1 instead of grief1 a sort of quiet satisfaction1 and that even when those whose burial is recorded are of our own name and family4 ,we dare not even contrast our feeling with the poignancy that is attached to a new grave--with its garish stone1 fresh clods1 and wilted flowers4 ,i often wonder where the dead are4 ,neither in heaven nor hell1 ,i suppose1 nor waiting for a last day and dreadful judgment1 nor going through the circles of purgatory1 nor just simply under the earth4444 ,we know that they exist and are alive1 and the knowledge is of that more certain kind that does not spring from our mentality but is felt in our bodies4 ,the grief we have when sons or daughters or fathers or mothers die is a physical anguish1 and is akin to the pains of birth4 ,some one has been cut off1 deceased--cut off from us4 ,even in a dream to lose one of those nearest to us is to suffer a sort of physical mortification1 to weep senselessly1 lose control of nerves1 and be prostrated4 ,the fact is we are all one4 ,even the death of some one who is quite remote jars upon the soul4 ,we were talking one evening of death and some one said to me3 8444 to die and go we know not where1 ,to lie in cold obstruction and to rot1 --that is what ,i fear in death4 ,they tell me ,i am a pagan1 but ,i feel the dead are under the earth4 ,i hate to think of lying in a damp churchyard and decaying all alone1 through days and nights and spring rains1 summer storms1 autumn winds1 winter snows4 ,the rain must be terrible for the dead--to be all wet and old like a fallen leaf40 ,another said he did not mind the idea of lying under the earth in the rain and changing into mould4 ,it was gentle and restful4 ,and it was beautiful too1 for flowers would rise from where the body slept4 ,one recalled the lines3 ,oh1 never blows the rose so red ,as where some buried ,caesar lies2 and another1 the beautiful lines of ,nash3 ,worms feed on ,hector brave1 ,dust hath closed ,helen's eyes4 ,but to my mind came some words said to me by ,algernon ,blackwood the first day we met3 8,you know we all came out of the earth2 somehow or other we have got to get back to her4 ,the ,earth is not dead1 she is living40 99 99 99 99 99 ,he was right4 ,and the dead under the earth are in living care4 ,all that is is ,one and is beautiful4 ,life and death make a unity4 ,everything in the world and without it1 in the past and in the future1 is to me a unity1 and ,i am calm and happy in it4 ,in me1 in you1 are all the dead--they crowd behind my eyes and look out1 one above another's shoulders like the people at a great spectacle4 ,there are myriads of them--,i hold them4 ,in this sense they are under the earth1 in that you and ,i are earth1 and they are in us1 and look out of us4 ,we are all windows through which there glance at times faces of each of all there ever have been4 ,,iii ,,the ,,desert ,,and ,,the ,,world ,i ,a ,,chain ,,of ,,happenings ,winter changing to summer ,i gave up life in towns and set off upon a new adventure4 ,in ,may ,i was looking at ,bokhara and the gay-coloured meditative ,mohammedan world4 ,in ,june ,i was tramping across ,russian ,central ,asia the way the pioneers go to find new land and new life4 ,my road companions were people who had given up the old and were seeking the new--not farther ,west but farther ,east4 ,by ,july ,i had crossed to southern ,siberia1 and was away on the ,altai ,mountains when the ,war with ,germany broke out4 ,in the autumn ,i returned in the wake of the mobilised ,russian army1 and was in ,moscow during the first month of its enthusiasm1 then at ,libau and ,vilna and ,warsaw1 at ,petrograd1 and home to ,england4 ,i wrote my book on the ,war4 ,all the winter ,i wrote and spoke for ,russia4 ,life resolved itself into lectures1 speeches1 addresses1 meetings1 and all with the view of making ,russia and especially ,russian ,christianity better known in ,england4 ,time flies in such a way1 and very quickly it was ,may again and time to set out upon a new adventure4 ,so ,i took up my quest of ,martha and ,mary once more and set out for ,egypt1 hoping to be able to go from ,egypt to ,russia the way ,christianity came to her4 ,for a great deal of ,russian ,christianity came from the ,egyptian deserts and had its source in the life led there by the hermits during the first five centuries after ,christ4 ,doubtless the quiet life of the hermit saints had more power to change the world than all the clangorous wars of their time1 than the talk and the gossip and the cheering and the hooting1 than the foes laid low or tyrants raised to power4 ,there is a beautiful passage of ,nietzsche--8,the thoughts that change the world come on doves' feet4 ,the world revolves round the inventors of new values2 noiselessly it revolves40 ,so if we would know what sort of a ,europe is going to be1 or of ,russia what sort of an ,east she will be-- ,oh6 ,russia1 what sort of an ,east will you be1 ,the ,east of ,xerxes or of ,christ8 it is necessary to seek the ideas of to-morrow in the quiet places where they lurk unseen1 not in the clash of the ,great ,war4 ,the trenches are pungent with fumes1 the earth itself deaf from the sound of artillery1 both ,nature and ,man's work lie blasted and ruined along a long but narrow stretch of land--that is the front1 the ,war1 the biggest and only thing in the world4 ,but ,i must leave it and go southward and eastward to the places where ideas are born4 ,in ,may when ,i left ,england the streets of ,london were flocking with merry crowds2 there was a vigorous popular optimism in the air4 ,at night the ,soho restaurants were packed1 the theatres ablaze with the glamour of success4 ,paris was different4 ,one ,european capital was bright2 another silent1 vigilant1 and clad in serious garb4 ,the enemy was encamped and militant and near4 ,south to ,marseilles1 to the vivacious1 light-hearted1 southern port6 ,the ship by which ,i sailed for ,egypt was painted an austere leaden colour to resemble a man-of-war or armed merchantman1 and so deceive the enemy lurking under the waves--a masked ship4 ,we were delayed a week in the port through lack of labouring hands2 for every one had gone to the ,war4 ,we watched liner after liner go out of the harbour laden with young soldiers going to fight the ,turk and win ,constantinople4 ,my slow ship left the land and slipped away through the night as it should1 towards ,egypt1 unhasting1 unresting1 over the calm shadowy ,mediterranean 444 an almost fourth-dimensional progress1 a mysterious magical journey4 ,the stars looked through soft vigils and possessed a mystery2 they dreamed over us as we went4 ,we disturbed nothing2 we went on4 ,i sat up in the prow of the vessel and looked forward--the eye of the boat4 444 ,everything is akin to me ,that dwells in the land of mystery4 ,the ship is masked2 its colour is the colour of the waves at night4 ,the ship is pleased4 ,a shadowy blue-grey ship going forward calmly1 equably1 yet triumphantly1 ever gently forward1 towards the unknown1 the mysterious4444 ,,ii ,,the ,,hermits ,the first effort of the ,apostles towards the establishment of ,christianity was along the way of ,martha--the sharing out of the money and the starting of a sort of ,christian-socialist state4 ,but life taught them that this was impracticable1 and they and all the early ,christians soon found themselves working and living and praying in an altogether different way--driven into the wilderness1 stoned out of cities1 hounded into gaol1 faced with the horrors of torture or barbarous execution4 ,there were soon more ,christians in the desert places of the earth1 living in caves and in forests1 than there were in the towns and villages4 ,some fled from persecution1 others were driven by the ,spirit2 and no doubt all1 when they found themselves cut off from the world1 began to share in the meditative idea of ,christianity4 ,they obtained the consolation of wanderers1 and found a new significance in the promise of the ,comforter4 ,they had visions2 they met the resurrected spirits of those who had died in the ,lord4 ,the strange life they had to live brought a romantic mystery into the possibilities of the road and the outside world1 so that when one met a stranger there was the doubt that he might be an angel1 that he might even be the risen ,lord ,himself4 ,the heavens opened1 and sweet music accompanied the vision of the ,grail4 ,the stigmata appeared on the hands and bodies of those who had attained to unity with ,christ4 ,yet those who went out into the wilderness1 alike those who fled persecution and those who went out voluntarily to seek and be alone with ,god1 were tempted 8of the devil0 as they phrased it4 ,the town and the world which they wished to overcome tempted them back4 ,they had left behind in 8the world0 fathers1 mothers1 brides1 children1 friends1 money1 position1 pleasure4 ,they lived on locusts and wild honey and grains and roots--and they longed for the good meat of the city4 ,they were ragged1 unwashed1 bruised1 unkempt--they longed for the freshness of the bath1 white linen1 and clean clothes4 ,their bones ached and they were tired--they longed for soft beds4 ,they were solitary and longed for company1 longed especially for the company of women4 ,and the devil who tempted them was a dragon that could never be killed1 which1 slain1 but changed to a different shape4 ,the temptation was put forward in new guise1 and the lure of sin more subtly baited4 ,they entered into the temptation of ,jesus as they entered also into his sufferings4 ,they drew men unto them4 ,all those whose minds were troubled by the monstrous woman--,babylon--thought of the ,christian solitude in the desert4 ,it became a not infrequent phenomenon--the going into the desert 8to save one's soul40 ,the wild places of the earth began to have names and fame4 ,hermits lived in places where no one had ever lived before1 and the curious came out to see them4 ,by their spiritual virtues they made the desert1 which was barren in the material sense1 blossom as the rose4 ,the caves in the mountains by the ,dead ,sea filled with anchorites1 and the holy men looked upon the dead salt lake that had once been the gay world of ,sodom and ,gomorrah4 ,the mountain supposed to be the mountain of ,christ's temptations became honeycombed with the abodes of world-forsakers4 8,if a man does not say to himself in his innermost heart1 ,god and ,i1 we are alone in the world2 he will never find rest10 said one1 and betook himself to ,mount ,sinai4 ,the ,virgin ,mary sailing in a boat with ,st4 ,thomas and ,st4 ,john was wrecked off the coast of ,macedonia and miraculously washed ashore on the mountain of ,athos2 and in due course there appeared on the strange uninhabited mountain an antique ,greek1 lean1 long-haired1 unutterably devout1 and he lived in a cave and meditated on the ,mother of ,god4 ,another followed and another1 till a laura was founded4 ,the hermits gave ,christianity a new bias4 ,one has only to compare an ascetic's dream1 the majesty and the mystery of the ,revelation of ,st4 ,john1 with the sweet reasonableness of the ,gospels 444 8,a sower went forth to sow10 and the like 444 to see how great is the change in the spirit of the ,church under the influence of the anchorites4 ,such a sentence as--8,to him that overcometh ,i will give of the hidden manna1 and will give him a white stone1 and in the stone a new name written1 which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it10 comes straight from the desert and is part and parcel of the spiritual fervour of the early ,church4 ,the hermit based his life on ,christ's wanderings in the wilderness and ,his denial of the world1 on the idea of bearing the ,cross1 and on the promised second coming of ,christ4 ,as ,christ renounced the power of changing stones into bread1 so they renounced the power of bread1 the feeding of the hungry1 i4e4 service in the world1 the way of ,martha4 ,as ,christ refused the throne of ,caesar when the devil was ready to show him the way to obtain it1 so they refused to try to establish ,christ's kingdom in a material form4 ,they denied all material power--denied that the power of ,caesar was real power1 that physical force had power1 that money had power4 ,st4 ,arsenius1 the anchorite1 was offered all the revenues of ,egypt by the ,emperor ,arcadius and asked to use them for the help of the poor1 the hermits1 and the monks2 but ,arsenius refused1 saying that such work would be worldly and was not for him4 ,the same ,arsenius inherited a great fortune1 his cousin's estate1 but refused it4 8,when did my cousin die80 8,two months ago10 he was told4 8,oh1 then the estate is not mine1 for ,i died long before that10 said ,arsenius4 ,he had died to the world1 and to money among other worldly things4 ,the hermits also denied the physical senses--our ordinary sight1 hearing1 touching4444 8,grieve not that thou art without what even flies and gnats possess10 said ,antony1 the father of ,egyptian hermits1 to blind ,didymus2 8rejoice that through thy physical blindness thy spiritual sight has become more clear40 ,the hermits took upon themselves oaths of silence1 went into remote places where was the most abject barrenness of earth1 the utter negation of all physical life and material power4 ,not content with the privations of the ,sahara they went into abominable marshes like the soda swamps of ,nitria1 where they mortified even the most innocent of the senses1 the sense of smell4 ,they strove to be as it were dead in all the physical body and limbs1 and in the physical senses4 8,unless a man imagines to himself that he has been lying for three years in the grave and under the earth1 he will never die to himself10 said ,moses the ,ethiopian1 a simple negro anchorite1 who though he seemed black in the body was all white in the soul4 ,in this denial they did things which seem fantastic to the modern world4 ,they dug their graves in advance and lived in them till they died4 ,they stood on one leg1 the foot of the other leg on their knee1 their arms outstretched as if crucified to the air2 they climbed to the height of ancient pillars and remained there praying for years4 ,pachomius is said to have prayed for days together1 standing with outstretched arms as immovably as if his body had been fastened to a cross4 ,his eyes were lifted upward at a strange angle and were full of light1 he gazed in fixed rapture as if his eyes were resting on a celestial vision4 ,in this ,pachomius praying thus an artist might show a picture of what the hermit stood for4 ,these hermits were not foolish2 they were mighty and wonderful like the living word of ,god itself4 ,they were living hieroglyphics4 ,it must be remembered that ,christianity had to overcome a world of philosophy1 had to absorb all that lay in the philosophy of the ,east1 in the religions of ,egypt and ,greece1 and of the ,jews4 ,thanks to the hermits1 ,christianity took to itself all that was vital in all extant ideas4 ,by the life and death of ,jesus the seed of ,christianity was sown1 thrown into the spiritual life of the world1 and instead of springing up immediately and bearing fruit1 it sent its strength downward like the seed of a mighty tree2 it grew deeper into the spiritual world rather than higher1 became more mysterious and secret rather than manifest and clear4 ,to-day ,christianity is of different portent4 ,but in those days the enthusiasts1 visionaries1 and saints did not clearly know what ,christianity was3 ,christianity was not clear to them2 they sensed it1 it had possession of them1 they were in a state of exaltation because of it4 ,christianity was growing through them1 growing deeper4 ,their intellectual conceptions of what ,christianity was and was not were often quite mistaken--but the vision they could not express was authentic4 ,the new idea was in the air4 ,hence1 for instance1 the gift of tongues4 ,people listening to the apostles were caught by the idea1 even though the language spoken was foreign to them4 ,christianity was imparted by enthusiasm alone1 by the gait1 the gesture1 the expression of countenance of the believer1 the living hieroglyphic2 and it did not matter that the apostles spoke one language and the listener another4 ,the spirit of truth sat in the faces of the apostles like tongues of fire and spoke for them4 ,in those days many who had never seen an apostle dreamed and became ,christians1 heard a voice from heaven1 were struck blind by the heavenly vision like ,saul1 whose mind on the way to ,damascus was far from ,christianity1 but whose soul was so near that even at the stoning of ,stephen there could have been but the thinnest partition between him and the great splendour4 ,many people in those days went about in strange apprehension--as if the world were coming to an end1 and quite truly a world1 that of the ,romans1 was coming to an end--and suddenly they were aware of the mystery1 and without a word of proselytism gave up everything and went to the desert4 ,needless to say1 the number of ,christians grew1 and the reputation of the ,christians grew4 ,persecution soon ceased1 and presently it became such a mark of distinction to be a ,christian that all the mundane crowd came in and called itself ,christian4 ,some of them were ,christian in name only1 and their children in superstitious obedience4 ,even till to-day ,christianity is cumbered about with the descendants of this mass of people1 the great crowd who vaguely assent to the term ,christian but have only a remote conception of what ,christianity really is4 ,the riotous and lascivious population of ,alexandria supporting worldly ,cyril1 though ,christian in name1 was nothing less than an obstacle to ,christianity1 an opaque mass between the light shining in the desert and the north whither the light should shine4 ,still1 when 8the world0 came in and called itself ,christian there were a great many who took their conversion seriously1 and of these1 many went to the desert and schooled themselves to become hermits1 tried the life to see what it was like4 ,ammon and his bride were dressed1 ready for their nuptial festivities1 when the revelation came to them1 and on their wedding-day they resolved to forego the worldly tie of marriage and live in the desert as holy bachelor and virgin4 ,they dwelt in ,nitria and entertained thousands of young men and women of the rich and cultured world and meditated on the hermit's life1 ,ammon receiving the men at his cell1 his bride the women at hers4 ,after some time ,ammon1 who was rich1 founded a monastery1 and he and his bride agreed to part1 she going to a distant place to continue her work1 he remaining to establish his4 ,ammon became abbot of the monastery1 and under him were four thousand monks2 this was in the evil-smelling swamp of ,nitria1 on the fringe of the ,sahara1 some forty miles west of what is now the ,alexandria-,soudan railway4 ,people began to flock to the desert4 ,there were tens of thousands of hermits and monks and consecrated virgins waiting for the coming of the ,bridegroom of the ,church4 ,these ,christian converts gave to the desert the largest human population it has ever had4 ,there were four hundred monasteries in the desert of ,nitria alone4 ,it was possible to invent such an anecdote about the younger ,macarius the anchorite as that some one gave him a bunch of grapes and he1 being so altruistic1 took it to a neighbouring anchorite1 that anchorite to another1 and so on1 till the grapes had made the whole circuit of the ,sahara and came back to ,macarius again1 preserved all the way by the virtue of the self-denying hermits4 ,the desert had an atmosphere of ,christianity4 ,many aged solitaries like ,arsenius and ,paphnutius took to the road with sacred missions4 ,the hermit's life was not always continuous cave-dwelling4 ,st4 ,arsenius1 a gracious genius1 went to the councils of ,emperors2 we read of men like ,paphnutius returning to 8the world0 at the obedience of the heavenly vision and saving people whom the ,lord needed4 ,thas1 the courtesan of ,alexandria1 was taken from the midst of her gay life and brought to a cell in the desert4 ,the anchorites found for her this beautiful prayer1 8,thou who formed'st me have mercy10 and ,thas was saved1 though she died4 ,and she was numbered among the ,marys4 ,no hermit setting out upon the road took away money with him or had thought for the morrow4 ,that was a golden rule in their ways2 money counted for nothing4 ,serapion the ,sindonite sold himself as a slave in order that he might save those who were slaves of the world2 and he put the money he received as the price of himself in a pit and covered it with earth4 ,he was a perfect servant1 and by his humility and sweetness touched the heart of his master and mistress1 who soon learned to say the ,lord's ,prayer with him and were converted to ,christianity4 ,one day they said to ,serapion3 8,we are unworthy that you should be our servant and slave1 take back1 we pray you1 your freedom60 ,serapion replied that he thanked ,god for the day when his mission was accomplished1 and thanked his master and mistress for his freedom4 ,then he went to the pit where the purchase money was buried and brought it to his two converted friends4 ,they were much astonished1 and implored ,serapion to keep the money4 ,but he refused though they wept1 and he set off for the desert once more1 cared for by the ,lord4 ,nothing counted in ,egypt except ,christianity4 ,monasteries and churches sprang up all over the land4 ,the rich women who gave up all for ,christ's sake gave their jewels to the adornment of the screens and altars in the desert churches1 and it was thought to be the best place for jewels1 fruitlessly sacrificed to the spiritual4 ,the wealthy bequeathed their estates to the ,church1 hoping thereby to find grace in heaven2 and the ,church employed the wealth so gained for the building of new monasteries and the employment of ,byzantine painters and metal workers1 for the upkeep of their institutions1 and for alms4 ,it seems the new wealth did not altogether spoil the life in the desert4 ,egypt was particularly suited to be the mysterious source of contemplative ,christianity and its spiritual power--the greatest deserts in the world1 the emptiest landscape1 the incomprehensible ,nile coming out of the depths of mysterious and untrodden ,africa1 the ancient monuments of religion1 the ,sphinx1 the pyramids1 the obelisks 444 the oldest domain of man1 a land of tombs4 ,but for the ,mohammedan hordes ,egypt must have remained the true holy land of ,christianity4 ,as it is1 the life lived in ,egypt at that time is certainly the spiritual inspiration of the ,eastern ,church till this day4 ,it is somewhat astonishing to reflect that in the early centuries of our era ,christianity in ,egypt was alone with the ancient monuments of ,egypt1 and that those monuments were in a considerably greater state of grandeur that they are to-day4 ,there was very little robbing of the tombs and destruction of old buildings before the coming of ,saracens--those terrible robbers and destroyers4 ,egypt has now become associated with ,mohammedanism in a secondary way4 ,but in the days of the hermits there were none of those mosques which guides delight to show one now as part of the interest of ,egypt--the alabaster mosque1 the mosque of ,sultan ,hassan1 all built with stolen stones4 ,but ,christianity and the worship of ,isis were side by side1 the ,egyptian religion of death side by side with the ,christian religion of death to the world4 ,no wonder that the early ,christians embalmed their dead1 and that they painted the faces on wood as the ,egyptians had painted the faces of the dead on the cases of the mummies1 or that regarding hieroglyphics they began to paint ,christian hieroglyphics--the frescoes peculiar to the ,eastern ,church4 ,paphnutius flinging a stone at the ,sphinx learned his mistake when he saw a look of sadness come over the face1 and the lips seemed to murmur to him the name of ,christ4 ,the influence of ,egypt went northward4 ,as the gospel is read facing the north1 and the belfries of ,eastern ,churches calling the people to worship are put northward of the holy building1 so the whole ,church looked northward4 ,constantinople was the capital of the ,eastern ,world4 ,the embalmed bodies of the saints who had died in the desert were taken thither1 the faces of the dead were painted into the fresco and the ikon4 ,hermits appeared in all the desolate mountains and rocks of ,greece and ,bulgaria and ,asia ,minor4 ,christianity crossed the ,black ,sea1 and hermits appeared in the ,caucasus1 and stately cathedrals were built on the shores of the sea4 ,christianity sailed up the ,russian rivers and hid in the ,russian forests4 ,only in the year #ihh was ,russia officially converted to ,christianity1 but long before that the ,christian hermits and missionaries had appeared4 ,st4 ,andrew himself is said to have been the first to come to ,russia4 ,the religion that came in was the religion of the hermit1 and the faces on the ikons were the faces of anchorites who had died in ,egypt or ,asia ,minor4 ,christianity took various aspects1 but its vital source was the spiritual life of the hermit in the wilderness4 ,anon1 ,egypt was overrun by the ,turks4 ,the jewels were plucked from the screens and ikon-frames1 the monasteries and churches were pulled down1 the monks and hermits put to the sword1 and practically the whole material evidence of the existence of ,christianity was swept away as if a storm of the dead sand itself had come over it4 ,one year the desert was a-tinkle with ,christian bells1 choric with ,christian psalms2 the next year all was desolation1 and when an ancient hermit missed by the ,arabs came to ,nitria he found not one human being there1 and he lived amongst the ruins of monasteries and chapels as if the place were the remotest and most solitary in which a world-forsaker could dwell4 ,in its turn1 also1 ,constantinople fell1 and the ,hellespont and ,bosphorus1 the issue to ,russia1 became ,mohammedan4 ,eastern ,christianity receded to ,greece1 was shut away in ,russia4 ,and ,greece and ,russia1 and especially ,russia1 have preserved the direct traditions of the early ,church and what ,christianity originally meant4 ,with them has remained the spiritual fervour of the hermits4 ,,iii ,,in ,,the ,,desert ,between the ,nile and the ,red ,sea lay the desert of the ,thebaid1 and the remote monastery of ,st4 ,anthony is now reached after two days' camel ride from the station ,beni ,suef4 ,the desert of ,scete where ,arsenius lived--the desert where ,philammon the hero of 8,hypatia0 learned to be a monk--is on the ,upper ,nile4 ,what was ,nitria is now ,wadi el ,natrun1 and is reached by three days' camel ride from the ,pyramids1 or via ,khatadba1 one of the stations on a loop of the ,cairo-,alexandria railway4 ,the shrines of the hermits are in the hands of the ,copts1 a simple ,christian people1 said to be the lineal descendants of the ancient ,egyptians4 ,the ,coptic ,church is an ,eastern one1 and it is the lineal descendant of the ,church of ,egypt that flourished in the first centuries of ,christianity4 ,only whereas the ,church of ,egypt was a brightly living church1 the ,coptic ,church is going on in a tradition4 ,what is valuable in the ,coptic ,church to-day is that it has slept through many centuries unchanging1 that it has never been rich and pompous1 never erudite1 never pleasure-loving4 ,it has withstood the ,arabs through dwelling in the wilderness and fortifying its churches and monastery walls and being hard4 ,it has never had the opportunity to thrive4 ,so it has preserved the traditions and something of the spirit of early ,christianity1 and in the half-ruined temples of the desert you may see the stigmata of ,christ4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i had some difficulty finding out about the monasteries3 no one goes to ,egypt to visit ,christian shrines1 so my desire to know where the ancient hermits had lived sounded strange and unwonted in the ears of most people4 ,but at length1 through the ,bishop of ,jerusalem and ,marcus ,bey ,simaika1 the leader of the ,coptic community in ,cairo1 ,i got a letter from the ,patriarch and full directions as to how to reach the desert shrines4 ,i chose to go to ,nitria4 99 99 99 99 99 ,out of sight of the grey triangles of the ,pyramids1 out of sight of everything1 and over the even1 empty desert1 white1 yellow1 burning1 rose-lined on the horizon1 glaring 444 heat and light beat upward from the sand on which and into which the terrible and splendid sun drives its armies all day4 ,the air is so dry and light that one seems to have lost weight4 ,there is a feeling of unusual exhilaration4 ,i came on horseback to an oasis1 not a bountiful and delectable oasis with shade of palm trees1 fruit to pluck above the head1 and cold water bubbling from a spring below1 but a poisonous marsh overgrown with reeds full of reptiles and blood-sucking flies4 ,there are good and evil oases4 ,this was the marsh that gave its name to ,nitria--the soda marsh4 ,the hermits chose it because it was even worse than the desert4 ,my black horse prances along on somewhat doubtful turf1 and then once more to the loose and heavy sand blown into waves and undulating like the sea4 ,on the horizon lies the strange blunt silhouette of the first of the monasteries1 and without a trace to follow1 we plunge through the sand towards it4 ,we come up to it at last1 an enigmatical-looking building which has the shapelessness and silence of a ruin4 ,how silent it is6 ,what a deathly and unearthly silence6 ,it seems hardly possible that human beings are living there4 ,the cream-coloured walls are lined1 patched1 broken1 gigantic4 ,it is a rectangular fortress4 ,there is but one entrance1 and that is a small one and heavily barred4 ,there are no steps in the sand2 if yesterday had any footfalls the wind has smoothed them away1 and the breathless silence is one which it seems almost possible to hold in one's hand4 ,from the high yellow battlement an old loose rope hangs down1 and is evidently connected with a bell4 ,jingle-jangle-jangle6 ,i ring the bell and wait expectantly4 ,there is a long silence and ,i ring again1 jingle-jangle1 jangle-jangle-jangle6 ,then some one comes and laboriously undoes the little door1 and a dishevelled1 bare-footed monk appears4 ,i present the letter which ,i bear from the ,patriarch1 and am admitted4 ,the monks are pleased2 all shake hands4 ,i sit on one divan1 and five of them on another4 ,one novice washes my hands1 another brings me a glass of a brown-coloured drink--it is medlar juice and water1 and is full of the fibre of the fruit4 ,this finished1 he brings me a glass of pink sugar water1 then coffee all round1 thimble-fulls of sweet coffee4 ,the abbot1 a fine-looking fellow with regular features1 broad face1 black moustache and beard1 and with an open space showing the freshness of the lower lip1 is talkative4 ,he has a towel wrapped round his brows for turban1 and fingers black beads as he talks4 ,next to him is a comfortable-looking monk in a blue smock and white knitted skull-cap on his head4 ,next to him1 an old fellow with wizened bare legs and feet1 old yellow rags on his grizzled head1 ragged black cassock over his grey underclothes4 8,what do you do all day80 ,i asked4 8,pray1 read1 sing10 they answered4 8,what do you think of the war80 8,the war does not touch us4 ,if they come and kill us1 we don't mind1 but we pray each day that ,god will bring it soon to a close40 8,if the ,arabs come1 what will you do80 8,if they shoot at us we will throw bread to them1 that will be our reply40 8,do you have many visitors80 8,not many40 8,do the ,russian pilgrims come here to pray80 8,yes1 some40 8,are you content to live out here in the ,sahara whilst all sorts of great events are happening in the world1 and content to have no news and never mix with the people of the city8 ,in ,england we're too busy1 one couldn't escape to a place like this even if one wanted to40 ,the abbot gave me a remarkable reply3 8,i think there is room for everybody3 one seeks money1 that is his way2 another prays1 that is his way2 another does his duty and ploughs1 that is his way4 ,there are many ways4 ,you know of ,martha and ,mary4 ,martha was right1 but ,mary's good part was right also40 ,how touching it was for me to get this true reply in this remote monastery1 and to hear of ,martha and ,mary in the first half-hour of conversation with the monks4 ,my mind was preoccupied with the ideas of ,martha and ,mary1 and here was this simple ,coptic abbot using almost the same terms to express himself as ,i might use myself4 ,there were in this monastery about sixteen monks1 and in the desert altogether there may be about one hundred and fifty4 ,once there were thousands of holy men and hundreds of monasteries4 ,there was gold in the monasteries1 there were jewels and pictures4 ,not an inch of the little desert temples but was covered with ,byzantine fresco4 ,but the ,saracen came and murdered the cultured clergy1 and tore away the jewels1 as was fit1 and rolled down many a wall1 wrecked many an altar4 ,there was a sixty years' gap in the ,christian history of the desert4 ,then a wilder type of ,christian took possession1 ,arabs who had been converted1 or enslaved ,copts who had forgotten their own language and learned that of their masters4 ,they brought ,arabic gospels and liturgies4 ,they repaired some of the ruins of the old monasteries and churches1 and they put up ,arabic inscriptions and painted out the old ,coptic frescoes and hieroglyphics with frescoes of their own conception4 ,they built round their temples impregnable fortress walls with draw-bridges at a height of forty feet above the level of the desert4 ,they withstood sieges and persisted 444 to this day4 ,the abbot showed me round the monastery4 ,the buildings were all a patchwork of ruins and repairs and changes4 ,the frescoes had been white-washed out in nearly every part4 ,the old stained glass1 broken and shapeless1 was mortared in with new glass4 ,and yet there was a real odour of antiquity in the place4 ,the patterns in the ikons were but dust patterns1 and the face of the ,virgin crumbled away as the abbot took the picture down to show me4 ,in a niche here and there left by accident were the original frescoes in wonderful purple and crimson1 pictures of the choric saints1 their faces and bodies all of that unearthly and mystical shape and colour by which the early ,christians loved to represent citizenship of heaven and denial of the world4 ,the lectern had a nail on which to fix the candle4 ,the communion cup was swathed in the oldest vestments of the monastery4 ,in an ordinary cupboard with easy-swinging wooden door ,i was shown the mummies of the sixteen ,patriarchs of the ,coptic ,church4 ,sixteen ,patriarchs in a cupboard1 each wrapped in his robes and tied up compactly6 ,the ,abbot unwrapped one a little and showed me the dried brown flesh4 ,the seventeenth ,patriarch1 he from whom ,i had my letter1 will find a place in this cupboard in his turn4 ,in one of the churches ,i was shown the box with the sacred remains of ,macarius1 the primitive hermit in whose name the monastery had been founded4 ,they showed me the books from which the service is read1 all hand-copied volumes4 ,i wondered especially at a copy of the ,new ,testament1 written ages ago in ,coptic and now spattered on every page and every paragraph with new and ancient spots of candle grease4 ,from the vault of one of the churches hang seven old dusty ostrich eggs by long strings4 ,a monk explained to me that as the ostrich looks to its egg as the most precious thing in life1 so they look to ,god in their prayers--at least1 the egg is to remind them4 ,we went into the fortress church1 the only entrance to which is at a height of forty feet by a bridge from the outer rampart4 ,they showed me how the bridge could be drawn in and the monks be secure from assault of arms4 ,up on the ramparts a novice had his duty beside a pile of bread and a stoup of water4 ,when ,bedouin beggars ring the monastery bell1 he lowers them bread and water in a basket4 8,we give away twice as much as we eat ourselves10 said the ,abbot1 showing me the bakery4 ,here were hundreds of wheaten loaves in long stone receptacles1 good bread1 but made dirty so that the monks should not get to prize it4 ,they showed me illuminated books a thousand years old1 showed me the scrivener's cell where among many quills a monk still copies the ,scriptures day by day4 ,they showed me one chapel the whole floor of which was covered with chillies drying1 showed me the long room where every evening all the monks gather about the ,abbot to read the gospel and discuss its meanings1 showed me the massive doors1 two feet thick1 of wood and iron1 meant to resist the ,arab4 ,in one room was a small cask1 and the ,abbot took a tin mug and drew me a little wine--communion wine4 ,i drank half2 he finished4 ,the monks were most kind1 simple and loving4 ,it was an amusing spectacle at lunch4 ,i lunched2 every one else waited on me4 ,a beautiful ,abyssinian boy washed my hands1 two monks shelled eggs all the time and filled my plate1 two others stripped cucumbers for me1 another kept helping me to hot milk soup in which slabs of sugar were dissolving4 ,the ,abbot stood above me with a feather-brush waving the flies off me4 ,every one was talking4 ,there was especial interest in the questions which the ,abyssinian boy who had washed my hands was continually trying to put4 ,he was a beautiful stripling who could have been posed for ,christ ,himself1 but for the fact that he was black4 ,he was tall and gentle1 with large liquid eyes4 ,he was not a monk1 but a pilgrim stranded in the desert4 ,he had been on his way to ,jerusalem1 and had been turned back from ,port ,said because of the ,war4 ,he was anxious to hear from me whether ,i knew of any way of getting to ,jerusalem now4 ,the ,abbot was the only one who knew ,abyssinian1 and he interpreted4 ,alas6 ,i could give him no hope of getting through to the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,i lunched1 and slept a little1 and the brethren of the monastery slept4 ,then my horse was brought out to me and ,i rode away across the sand4 ,before going1 ,i went to the western side of the monastery and looked out over the ,desert4 ,thousands of miles it went on1 level1 empty1 burning1 and yet mysterious4 ,some ,coptic hermits have wandered forth into its mystery and are living the antique life of the anchorite out there4 ,at least1 so the ,abbot told me1 though he couldn't say where they are or how they live4 ,only now and again1 at rare intervals1 some one of them comes back to the monastery to communion and then disappears once more4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i rode away to ,bir ,hooker1 where ,i stayed the night4 ,that is on the other side of the salt marshes4 ,there an enterprising ,british company is producing thousands of tons of caustic soda annually4 ,the antique hermits chose this spot in the ,desert because of the death-dealing odours which intensified their denial of the world1 but in another era1 behold ,british business men doing in the way of trade and worldly gain or duty what these others do in the name of denial of the world4 ,as the ,abbot said3 ,there are various ways of serving ,god1 the way of ,martha and the way of ,mary4 ,still1 the manager of the caustic soda works1 a shrewd and circumspect ,scotsman of ,protestant temperament1 would like to have the sixteen ,patriarchs buried decently and1 if he could1 spend three days in each of the monasteries tidying up4 8,it's not showing due respect to the dead10 said he1 8nor is it sanitary1 nor decent4 ,i've nothing to say against the monks2 they are simple and kind and hospitable4 ,but they're just wasting their lives4 ,they're doing nothing1 making nothing40 ,the manager would show the monks how they ought to keep house4 ,but better still1 he would clear them all out4 ,they are very good1 very kind1 there is nothing against them1 but what are they doing1 he asks4 ,their lives are pure waste4 ,they don't produce caustic soda4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i go to my room to sleep1 and then at midnight come out again to see the full moon flooding the vast plain of sand with light1 and to realise once more the breathless and perfect stillness of the desert4 ,,iv ,,the ,,world ,from the ,desert back to the town1 to 8the world10 to the hurly-burly of ,cairo and the flesh-pots of ,egypt6 ,it is war-time1 the summer of #aiae1 the ,turks are being fought on the ,peninsula of ,gallipoli4 ,the city is full of soldiers1 sunburned ,australians and ,new ,zealanders who have not yet been in action but are being kept lest the ,arabs should come out of the ,desert and strive to efface the ,english and ,french civilisation of the banks of the lower ,nile and so add more ruins to the ruins of ,egypt4 ,the city is majestical with its broad streets1 white stone palaces and stately mansions1 its wondrous river and its mighty bridges4 ,the dryness1 cleanness1 and whiteness of a city that knows no rain2 the city gleams in a vast supply of sunshine4 ,the wind blows all the time from the ,desert1 and wafts heat in the face as from a furnace4 ,a city of life and gay energy4 ,the fountain of life plays rapidly and brilliantly all the time1 throwing up all colours1 forms1 faces4 ,there is a sense of resplendent and tremendous gaiety4 ,no one comes to ,cairo to be an ascetic and mortify the flesh4 ,but every building1 every sight and sound1 says1 8,life1 life1 life40 ,all around is death--the ,desert which is death itself1 the ,pyramids which are tombs1 the old cities and ruins which are the bodies of ancient civilisations passed away4 ,but every sight and sound in the oasis of the great city says--,live1 be gay1 let the pulse beat fast1 let the heart go and be glad1 let the eyes sparkle and burn1 let the lips form words of passion and pleasure4 ,there is a sense of an immense antiquity which in contrast with the little second of the present moment makes the latter less important1 less holy4 ,there is a subtle smell in the air1 an odour that makes the head a little dizzy and the hands a little feverish as you walk2 it is the actual odour of antiquity1 a finest dust in suspension in the wind1 the dust of decay from past ages4 ,all that dies in ,egypt becomes dry1 and only after centuries turns to dust and loses form4 ,that which rots away in a year in our northern clime keeps its semblance for a thousand years in ,egypt4 ,the stones of the houses of native ,cairo were many of them quarried by the ancients2 the wooden beams and joists have lasted from the days of the ,pharaohs1 and only now are gently crumbling4 ,here the very stones can be used to manure the fields4 ,subtly1 secretly1 the seventh foundation is always crumbling away and passing in dust into the ,desert air4 ,the smell in the air is partly the fine dust of mummies1 of the bodies that were once erect and nervous and vivid1 gay and felicitous and moving1 the mysterious flocking humans of thousands of years ago4 ,the streets roll forward with flocking crowds--dark faces1 brown faces1 sallow faces2 red caps and straw hats and little turbans and smocks and burnous2 negroes1 ,copts1 ,arabs1 women in white veils1 women with dark veils2 ,europeans1 soldiers1 hawkers1 mendicants1 post-card sellers1 newspaper vendors4 ,along the centre of the broad sun-swept roadways crash the electric trams2 the rubber-tyred cabs and wide-hooded victorias follow pleasantly2 the motor-cars proceed2 the military auto-cycles pant2 and the heavy ox and buffalo carts of the natives blunder along at the sides4 ,there is doing everywhere1 happening1 being4 ,voluminous and promiscuous action floods and surges through the city with the traffic4 ,it is life everywhere4 ,and yet mingled with life there is death4 ,there is plague in ,cairo1 and every now and then the eyes rest on a native funeral procession1 one procession1 two processions1 five processions1 ten processions all following one another4 ,they are in every street1 and they go past with their strange pomp of death1 with the body and the mourners and the keeners and professional howlers4 ,the brightly living crowd on the footways each side of the road pause a moment and think1 8,some one has died10 and pass on1 oblivious1 intent on life4 ,in luxurious hotels gentle and beautiful ,nubians are handing out delicate fare1 rich dishes cooked and served in that sought-out and magnificent style that ,egypt has inherited from ages of epicurism4 ,and a wonderful assembly of officers and ladies1 rich pleasure-seekers and tourists from the ,mediterranean shores1 invalids1 receives--sitting at flower-decked tables in great halls4 ,many restless souls fall into the rhythm of ,egypt and feel themselves part of a great and satisfying grandeur4 ,it is borne in upon the mind that the rich have always lived in a certain way in ,egypt1 and that the grandeur of ,pharaoh and of ,antony and ,cleopatra are one and the same with the grandeur of to-day4 ,a living thread of crimson and gold runs through the centuries of ,egypt and is caught to-day1 unbroken4 ,cairo is the capital of the ,desert1 and yet ,i do not know4 ,it seems to me even at midday1 when the sun glares over the stones1 that somehow the ,desert does not exist1 or that it is in profound darkness1 and that ,cairo is a city all lamps1 an island of effulgent light encompassed on all sides with darkness4 ,it is barely credible that the sun of ,cairo is the terrible sun of the ,sahara1 the sun whose monstrous arms clasp thousands of miles of scorched sand and wasted world1 that the sun may not even notice ,cairo as it looks on the ,desert4 ,but those who live in the cities of ,egypt are enough unto themselves4 ,a strange impression1 in the afternoon1 to go down side streets and observe the throngs of young men1 unsteady on their feet but bright-eyed and thirsty-lipped1 greedy1 eager2 the strong-limbed sun-burnt ,colonial soldiers dancing with ,arab girls1 the caf-chantants1 shooting-saloons1 bars1 bad houses1 the barrel-organs1 the smell of the air4 ,one can spare a questioning thought as to the homes of the soldiers4 ,they come to ,egypt from a fresh ,colonial country1 from good homes1 pure women who are their mothers1 gentle and innocent girls who are their brides4 ,they nobly offer themselves to fight for their race against a false idea and a predatory nation4 ,tears fall at their departure4 ,prayers accompany them4 ,but though bound for ,france and ,england they suddenly find their destination changed to ,turkey1 and they are put down1 for convenience1 in ,egypt4 ,they are dumped upon this mysterious and astonishing country as if one bit of dry land were just the same as any other1 and without any notion of the spiritual significance of being stranded here4 ,no blame to any one4 ,providence directs the destinies of men and women4 ,the first army that came were the wildest1 boldest1 and they plunged right away into the sin and gaiety and dangerous pleasures of the city1 conducted by the money-grubbing but ingenious and smiling ,arabs to the gambling dens1 dancing-houses1 and strange parlours of the back streets4 ,they were cheated1 swindled1 robbed whilst drunk1 robbed whilst asleep1 but they saw strange sights and tasted unusual pleasures1 sating the new eyes and lips which ,egypt had given them4 ,at last1 the time drawing nigh for their departure for the ,dardanelles1 they resolved to get back part of what they had lost in the back streets of the city--certain things they could never get back--and they went down in force and sacked the houses and rushed the ,arabs and ,arab women to the streets and took back what they could find4 ,there was a great riot4 ,the native police were called out1 and they fired at the screaming mob4 ,such scenes were enacted in the city that brought to mind the continuous street-rioting in ,alexandria in the old early-,christian days4 ,but what is most significant in the sight of these fine young men in the city is the realisation of the impure strain they take back with them from ,egypt to the women and the children of ,australia and ,new ,zealand4 99 99 99 99 99 ,night comes over the stately city1 and the ,europeans in their white clothes come in greater numbers into the streets4 ,the great remote staring moon stands over the broad highway and arched bridges4 ,heat seems to be generated through the haze in the sky1 but a light dry breeze is ever blowing1 and the pungent sweetish odour of the city is in the nostrils4 ,in the contrast of darkness and night silence the clangour of ,eastern music is more stirring4 ,it stirs the body1 not the soul1 and is like the sensuous music of ,nebuchadnezzar1 the music of cornet1 flute1 harp1 sackbut1 psaltery1 and dulcimer4 ,dark women with gold ornaments hang out from curtainless windows or lurk just inside doorways and dark passages1 ready to coil snake-like upon a prey4 ,in the roadways a shouting1 calling crowd4 ,in the taverns they are singing 8,tipperary0 and 8,we won't go home till morning02 some men are standing on the tables1 others are trying to put gawky ,arab girls through the steps of a tango4 ,the music jangles4 ,the whole street has a collective voice1 a strange tinkling and murmuring uproar4 ,a tall1 lank1 loose-jawed1 genial ,copt would show you the haunts of evil1 and offers his services to procure you pleasure4 ,you have said 8,no0 to him2 he stands there where you left him on the pavement in his long cotton rags1 smiling gently and cogitatively--the same type as stood in the city of the ,pharaohs in the old days of the ,israelitish bondage4 ,it is strange to reflect that they find in the mummies of those who lived so many thousands of years ago the marks of 8the city's disease10 and the sign of the impure strain4 ,there is a community of sin4 ,what was in ancient ,egypt is in the world to-day and was not invented in any recent time but has been carried on from one human being to another1 to many others1 and from them to others still4 ,i look at the mummies of ,egypt1 at the bright pictures of the people1 fresh as if painted yesterday4 ,these paintings on the coffin-lids live1 they are the real people4 ,you know that the brown1 dry bodies wrapped in thick folds of linen did once walk1 and were the beautiful society of some era five or six thousand years ago4 ,there is in ,cairo the unwrapped mummy of the majestical ,pharaoh who would not let the children of ,israel go4 ,as you look at his face time is bridged over1 and you see how brief a space is our vaunted history of man and what parochial dwellers in time we are1 rolling our eyes and hushing our accents when we speak of a hundred or a thousand years1 as if those seconds of being were of vast extent1 tiring the angels to get over them4 ,there lies old ,pharaoh1 brown1 but still in the flesh4 ,he has a ,roman nose1 distinguished features1 the face of a man of learning2 there is a look of ,dante about him4 ,his neck has shrunk to the size of a bird's neck and his head rather dangles on it1 but it is an actual head and an actual face4 ,pharaoh is unwrapped1 but beside him stands an unopened pupa case2 the linen is fresh as when new1 and daintily folded and tied as on the day of burial five thousand years ago4 ,a lotus flower lies in the coffin2 it looks as if it had been picked last month and had wilted a little1 and yet it may have been picked by the princess herself1 and she was a daughter of one of the ,pharaohs--perchance even of her who found and cherished the baby ,moses4 ,when you read of ,jacob in the ,old ,testament1 that-- 444 the physicians embalmed him4 ,and forty days were fulfilled for him2 for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed3 and the ,egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days4 ,and when the days of his mourning were past 444 ,joseph went up to bury his father3 and with him went up all the servants of ,pharaoh1 the elders of his house1 and all the elders of the land of ,egypt 444 you realise that there is perhaps somewhere a mummy of ,jacob1 and a modern might see him face to face4 ,time flies4 ,but the distance is near4 ,i would like to imagine one night in ancient ,egypt4 ,the faces on the coffins1 as ,i look at them1 lid after lid1 are quite realisable1 those broad cheeks and bright eyes4444 ,i suppose one could find five thousand mummies who in their lifetime were contemporaries1 and one night they are all thinking about much the same thing4 ,something is toward at the ,court2 their chairs or carriages or chariots come for them2 they are decked out1 they have their jewels in their hair1 their fine garb1 their vanities1 spites1 triumphs1 vexations1 loves1 ambitions4 ,they dwell in their present moment1 eyes burn1 hearts beat faster1 lips frame vain words4 ,the same moon is on high1 the same odour in the air4 ,they bend their gaze towards the throne1 they flock towards the throne as if the touch of it were miraculous4 ,vanity of vanities6 ,the ,israelites had to go out to the ,desert to find the ten commandments and the ,mosaic laws4 ,vanity of vanities--and is it not all vanity8 ,is not the life of the ascetics in the ,desert vanity also8 ,no1 for they have denied the world4 ,they have said ,no to ,egypt and gone into the wilderness to seek a promised land4 ,in their shrunken pearly faces is written a different allegiance from that of ,pharaoh4 ,they deny that this world is our world1 that our life is our true life1 that death is really death4 ,but we do not condemn the gay crowd that imagination has summoned from the linen wrappings of the tombs1 nor the glimmering of khaki and burnous in the purlieus of ,cairo in that moment we call #aiae4 ,mankind is one and indivisible4 99 99 99 99 99 ,outside the city stand the three triangles and the woman's head1 signs written in the sand which might cause all people to know that there was some mystery about ,cairo4 ,the dead are sleeping and you cannot wake them4 ,there are crowns on their heads1 and they sleep that fixed1 unearthly1 steady sleep1 undisturbed1 untouched1 uncorrupted4 ,egypt that was is dreaming ,egypt that is4 ,out in the ,desert sits the ,sphinx with an ,i-am-that-,i-am expression on its face4 ,v ,,st4 ,,sophia 444 new ,jerusalem1 coming down from ,god out of heaven 444 as a bride adorned for her husband4 ,kingsley remarks that though ,cyril thought he was establishing the kingdom of ,god upon earth1 he was in reality establishing a sort of devil's kingdom4 ,the kingdom of ,god was independent of ,cyril4 ,and yet1 of course1 a great deal of the material success of ,christianity was due to ,cyril--if ,christianity can really have such a thing as material success4 ,cyril was a sort of ,csar to whom must be rendered the things that are ,csar's4 ,and in his day imperial ,csar himself had become ,christian1 and kings were to arise who would claim as a divine right1 not only the things that are ,csar's but also the things that are ,god's4 ,they were in their day accounted great1 and there was noise about them and lights1 and throngs of those who flock to noise and light4 ,but though some were mighty instruments of the ,divine ,will1 the spiritual power did not proceed from them but from the silences and the obscurities and privacies of life4 ,but for the holy men in the desert ,cyril could no more have gloried and lasted than could a blossom without root4 ,and on the other hand1 ,cyril and his like1 and what they stood for1 were in one sense the blossom and fruit of the seed sown by the hermits4 ,it was the hermits who gave the spiritual impulse to ,alexandria4 ,alexandria in turn gave new hermits to the desert--as new seeds fall from flowers in autumn4 ,such is the unity of the ,church4 ,it seems at first as if the rude cave or cell of the hermit cannot be reconciled with the splendour of the churches of their time1 with1 for instance1 the wondrous cathedral of ,st4 ,sophia1 as if the wretched cave or hole in the earth were a contradiction of the great marble temple1 painted and gilded and set with all manner of gold ornament and precious stone--and yet there is this obvious reconciliation1 that the one is the seed1 the other the blossom2 the one the prayer in secret1 the other the reward made openly2 one the white light1 the other the rainbow of ,creation4 ,the first centuries of ,christianity were a wild time4 ,many religions and philosophies were in the throes of glorious death1 exchanging their mortality for ,christian immortality4 ,the music of change streams upward in wild1 rapturous1 sensuous1 and agonising melody4 ,ten thousand passions and tragedies of conflicting import ravish the senses1 and the heart leaps and the blood dances in the veins at the spectacle of death becoming life1 or the heart sinks and the face pales at the dread of life turning to death4 ,only the calm soul sees the myriad colours blend at last and become reconciled in the whiteness of ,christ4 ,and that whiteness into which the other creeds must merge is the ,holy ,wisdom1 the ,sancta ,sophia1 with the name of which the early ,eastern ,church identified itself1 representing the ,bride of ,christ as a new ,athene1 ,sophia1 the ,christian ,wisdom4 ,the ,holy ,wisdom distilled from ,isis and ,athene and thousands of other goddesses and conceptions that died to become ,christian1 the water of life distilled from all the magical fluids of antiquity4 ,the wild waste of passion and colour1 the almost barbarous pageantry of the early ,church1 is the pageantry of autumn2 the reds and browns and yellows1 the flame-colours and death-colours1 that go before the whiteness of ,christmas4 ,the cathedral of ,st4 ,sophia itself1 the beautiful symbol of the ,bride of ,christ1 is the representation of the death of thousands of creeds to become immortal in the new ,christian conception4 ,there is not an idea that is being transmuted that does not find its counterpart in the sacred edifice4 ,a mystic wrote3 8,st4 ,sophia was not born or created1 but was built40 ,a relic1 the dust or bones of those who had died for the faith1 was built between every tenth stone in the walls of the cathedral4 ,the walls were of granite and marble2 the pillars of porphyry1 malachite1 and glimmering alabaster2 the floor of polished marble2 the doors of cedar inlaid with ivory and amber4 ,its height was as the height of heaven1 its breadth as that of the earth4 ,they brought the glory and honour of the nations into it4 ,trees of silver with lights for fruit sprang from the floor1 like the tree of life in the midst of the ,city4 ,silver boats with oil and floating wicks hung from the domes4 ,the stone canopy above the ambo bore a great cross inlaid with diamonds and pearls4 ,above the screen which shut off the choir were twelve columns overlaid with silver1 and between them representations of the ,jewish prophets1 the ,holy ,family1 and the four ,evangelists--the past1 the present1 and the future of ,christianity4 ,the altar was raised upon a throne of gold1 and was formed of thousands of precious stones and gems and pearls that had been crushed to dust and diffused in molten gold--as if of the pure lives and passions of all men a wine had been pressed into a precious chalice4 ,on all the walls and on many of the pillars were painted the pageant of the ,church1 the prophets walking with ,god1 the ,saviour revealing ,god1 the saints and martyrs and champions living and dying for the truth4 ,there was not a religious history nor a ,christian life that did not find its counterpart or emblem in the frescoes of ,st4 ,sophia4 ,the cathedral and the idea of ,sophia functionised every true conception and beautiful life lived in its day4 ,it was 8,the ,word0 written in stone1 and standing instead of the ruined and almost illegible tablets of ,moses4 ,it was the white stone in which the new name was written4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the idea of ,st4 ,sophia is reduplicated throughout the ,eastern ,church4 ,it is a-gleam in millions of ikons1 endeavours to paint the all of ,christianity and the living breathing ,church itself1 the ,bride4 ,it is the inspiration of such a cathedral as that of ,st4 ,basil1 that marvellous medival passion in stone built by ,ivan the ,terrible in the ,red ,square of ,moscow--hence its many colours1 its extraordinary diversity of shapes1 its harmonisation of incongruous angles and solecisms of form1 its many chapels and standing places by which the ,byzantine architect endeavoured to suggest that each and every one who entered the cathedral might find a particular place where it was most fitting he should stand and praise1 a particular chapel where he might kneel in secret4 ,astonishing to find the architectural idea coming up again in such an unlikely place as ,new ,york1 in the cathedral of ,st4 ,john1 which will be the largest church in the world1 and pre-eminently the cathedral of the ,west4 ,into the walls and body of this new cathedral bits of every kind of stone existent in ,america are being built4 ,st4 ,john1 built from the substance of the world1 will be the counterpart of ,st4 ,sophia1 built of the substance of the other world1 and having the dust of martyrs between each tenth stone--the cathedral of the way of ,martha and the ,west balancing the cathedral of the way of ,mary and the ,east4 99 99 99 99 99 ,roman ,catholicism was founded on the rock of apostolic succession4 ,st4 ,peter's represents the ,house built upon a rock1 the ,house that shall survive all storms and tempests4 ,eastern ,christianity or ,orthodoxy was founded on ,st4 ,sophia1 the ,holy ,wisdom2 and whereas ,catholicism is a ,house built on the earth1 ,orthodoxy is a ,house vouchsafed from heaven1 the new ,jerusalem coming down from ,god out of heaven 444 as a bride adorned for her husband4 ,the word is one and the same4 ,but the ,roman ,catholic is the least free of individuals1 religiously4 ,the rock of apostolic succession is the rock of infallibility4 ,and whereas a foundation of wisdom implies freedom of individual thought1 a foundation of infallibility implies intellectual and religious servitude4 ,a ,roman ,catholic who thinks for himself in religious matters has already begun to be a heretic and has a sin to confess to his father confessor4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the service in one of our ,london churches frequently ends on the antiphone3 ,i am the ,living ,bread1 ,which came down from heaven4 ,whoso eateth ,me shall live for ever4 ,even among the least religious people the sitting down together to a meal makes a certain intimacy4 ,the loaf which is broken for you and me and another goes to make flesh and blood in each of us4 ,without any reflection or thought we know that we are nearer because we have broken bread together4 ,at the symbolical meal1 ,communion1 we are consciously nearer4 ,by virtue of the bread that was broken for us we know ourselves nearer to one another4 ,unity is the deepest knowledge4 ,there are moments when one feels one would with deep emotion offer one's ego and individuality upon the altar of unity1 when one would cease to be ,john ,brown or ,ivan ,ivanovitch1 and become one with the human race1 giving up one's rich treasure of memories and experiences1 character1 developed intelligence1 dear idiosyncrasies4 ,in the depths of that humility is discovered a new graciousness and love1 a new faith4 ,only at death do we pass completely to the unity1 though in life at rare moments we can apprehend it4 ,that unity is not necessarily the unity of the family1 of the human race as a family2 it may be the human race is after all only one human being--,sophia1 the ,bride of ,christ4 ,,vi ,,from ,,egypt ,,to ,,russia ,on the quay at ,alexandria flocks of ,russian peasant pilgrims with great bundles on their backs1 men and women who had been in ,jerusalem when the ,great ,war broke out1 or at ,mount ,sinai in the desert seeking remote shrines and holy men4 ,as ,smerdyakof said1 8,no one in these days can move mountains into the sea by faith1 unless perhaps one man in the world1 or at most two1 and they most likely saving their souls in secret somewhere in the ,egyptian desert02 and the peasant pilgrim1 through the traditions of his ,church1 always looks to these deserts for spiritual power4 ,besides the ,christian pilgrims are hundreds of refugee ,jews driven out of ,zion by the belligerent ,turk1 many of them patriarchal types of great piety1 long-bearded men with multiplex wrinkles on their brows4 ,my ship goes riding over the sea to ,greece1 passing the seven churches1 those candles lit in the dim dawn of ,christianity1 passing ,cyprus and ,patmos and a thousand nameless islands where lived mystics1 hermits1 and writers of the early ,church4 ,we carried ikons brought from ,jerusalem to be carried back to ,russia4 ,the pilgrims sang ,christian hymns2 the ,jewish patriarchs1 with phylacteries on their brows1 read the ,mosaic books and the prophets4 ,nearly every one on the boat was bound for ,russia4 ,we went thither the way these things have ever gone1 from the desert northward over the sea4 ,not in vain does the reader of the ,gospel stand facing the north2 not in vain is the belfry of the cathedral built on the northern side4 ,the direct message of ,christianity has been the message that has gone northward4 ,the cathedral of ,christianity1 our ,st4 ,sophia in large1 may perhaps be imagined in this guise4 ,north ------ 7 7 ,s ,s ,u ,i ,r ,a ---------------- --------------- ,england ,greece ,,west ,stalls of the choir where stand 7 ,,jerusalem the martyrs and the saints ,rome ---------------------------------------- - ,,egypt ,egypt is the choir of the cathedral where stand the martyrs and the saints singing in white robes4 ,through the gates at the north and the west come those who hear the sweet tidings and the heavenly music4 ,the journey from ,egypt to ,russia is like going across our great ,sophia from the splendid choir to the multitudes who have come out of the forests to listen4 ,christianity went over the waves to ,athos and ,tsargrad1 to the ,greek and ,roman cities of the ,black ,sea shores1 and up the mighty rivers to ,kief and ,novgorod and ,yaroslaf1 down the great ,volga1 driving the ,tartar before it1 across the forests and along the rivers where lived the primeval nature-worshippers of ,russia1 brought by knights in armour1 by priests and bishops1 engendered by hermits and martyrs1 enforced eventually by princes and monarchs1 interwoven with the splendour of medival chivalry4 ,russia became officially ,christian in #ihh1 when ,king ,vladimir and his hosts were baptized in the ,dnieper at ,kief4 ,a cathedral of ,st4 ,sophia1 8mother of ,russian churches10 springs up at ,kief1 ,st4 ,sophia appears at ,novgorod1 ,st4 ,sophia at ,yaroslaf4 ,at the time of our ,edward the ,confessor ,russia was as fervently ,christian as ,england4 ,and the seed1 no doubt1 had sunk deeper or had been wafted into remoter solitudes4 ,there was room in ,russia for ,christianity to mature in the popular mind4 ,at last the ,turks streamed across the ,levant1 and severed the ,christian world in two4 ,foolish and nave ,mahomet came stamping into the great cathedral of ,sophia on horseback1 shouting out at the foot of the sublime altar1 8,there is no god but ,god1 and ,mahomet is ,his prophet40 ,legend says that on that day a priest was celebrating ,mass at the altar1 and he prayed that the body of ,christ might be saved from profanation4 ,as an answer to his prayer the stones gaped1 and priest and ,host were enclosed1 as the relics had been that in earlier days were placed between the tenth stones4 ,the priest was probably murdered as he broke the bread1 and1 it is true1 he has been taken into the wall and has become part of the ,bride4 ,leopards have their dens where ,christian hermits once prayed to ,god1 and they do not know that the ground is holy ground4 ,and the ferocious yet simple ,turk has it not in his power to profane ,sancta ,sophia4 ,when the time comes he can be driven back to the wilds whence he came4 ,constantinople falls4 ,but ,christianity does not fall1 rather it grows4 ,russian ,christianity is saved from much ecclesiastical exploitation1 ,levantine corruption1 and materialism by the severance of the earthly tie1 the break-up of the patriarchate of ,tsargrad4 ,after the ,turks took ,constantinople ,russian ,christianity was fed by the angels4 ,hence its fair face to-day4 ,over the sea to ,russia1 to the ,kremlins round the many-domed churches1 to the gleaming ikons1 to the great choruses1 resplendent and triumphant ,orthodoxy2 to the land where ever day and night there is witness1 where the young men see visions and the old men dream dreams2 to ,kief1 to ,novgorod1 to ,moscow1 to the ,kremlin1 to the great pink-walled hill that stands above the mother-city crowned with churches4 ,bowing at the ,ilinskaya1 baring the head to enter at the ,spassky ,gate 444 my eyes rest on the wan wall of ,st4 ,john the ,great4 ,i climb to the belfry and let my fingers pass lovingly over the bulging bells4 ,i light a candle in the cathedral of the ,assumption4 ,i walk across the broad open spaces where ,napoleon's cannon are ranged and listen to the sad slow chime of the ,kremlin clock giving the hours and the quarters4 ,here again is a holy city standing above a merely worldly city1 this walled hill over commercial ,moscow1 this ,sophia exalted above ,prudentia4 ,in the first autumn of the ,war1 when ,i was at ,moscow1 ,i used to go to the ,kremlin last thing each night4 ,they were beautifully starry and peaceful nights4 ,the churches and the low pavements that wander among the cobbles were flooded with silver1 the toothed battlements and antediluvian old towers of the ,kremlin walls seemed gigantically exaggerated in silhouette1 and yet1 though exaggerated1 in a way truer1 as if the ordinary vision of them we had by day was not correct1 as if they were really in themselves of enormous importance and correspondingly enormous proportions4 ,the moat of the ,moscow river lay murky below1 and afar among the vast congregation of the houses of the city a lamp burned here and there as if before votive shrines4 ,motionless sentries stood in front of the cathedrals4 ,one's own steps echoed startlingly4 ,the single liquid melody of the ,kremlin chime broke out and poured away--ding1 ding1 ding1 ding1 dong1 dell1 dell4 ,holy ,russia was watching4 ,i went into a cathedral3 still many candles were burning4 ,i walked along the walls3 lamps were alight before holy pictures set in the old bricks4 ,there was a perfect stillness and serenity4 ,i paused1 and the mind went across ,moscow and beyond it fifteen hundred miles to ,poland and ,germany and ,austria where was another scene1 a more exterior scene and manifestation of the life of ,russia1--,russia in arms against a false ideal4 ,russia was serene though ,russia was in deadly struggle4 ,the heart was beating faithfully1 strong hands were smiting the foe4 ,in the night the hundreds of ,napoleon's black cannon had a sinister aspect1 each one seemed pointed at me4 ,the mind went back to their real hour of history when from them death blazed forth2 when instead of this stillness and serenity the thunder and tumult of battle was around them4 ,they are death's heads of what once were live guns2 they are greedy as death1 menacing as death--harmless also as death4 ,away above them among the glittering stars stand the gold crosses of the churches1 the splendour of ,god4 ,the mind's eye takes in hundreds and thousands of gold crosses1 waving1 dipping1 lifting1 triumphant1 the grand processional aspect of the ,church4 ,even at this moment how many are dying1 how many souls are passing4 ,in the ,kremlin in the still night ,holy ,russia is watching4 ,away on the battlefields the brave are dying4 ,look1 in the ,kremlin you see their crosses among the stars2 listen1 you hear the heavenly chorus swelling as they join the great procession of the ,church4 99 99 99 99 99 ,from ,egypt to ,russia1 and then from ,russia ,west once more to ,england4 ,the tempestuous ,war still rages1 and in the seasons of history it is deep winter4 ,ravenous winds lash the bare trees1 howl through the churchyards4 ,or the wind dies down awhile and bitter frost sets in1 and the merciless hungry stars stare at the dead earth4 ,or heavy clouds come over and the snow sifts down1 becomes deeper1 communes with the breeze1 wreathes itself in fantastic drifts4 ,on the still branches of the forest the snow is balanced1 or only disturbed by ravens flitting awkwardly from one tree to another4 ,it is the winter of history1 but the season will change4 ,under the crusted streams the water is flowing1 flowers are rising under the snow1 flowers from the living seed4 ,the seed lives through the four seasons1 and the seed is the ,word of ,god4 ,,appendices ,,appendix ,i ,,war ,,and ,,christianity ,among the ,russians1 as among other nations1 there are many whose conscience does not permit them to bear arms and fight1 many who believe that war is evil in itself1 and that it is unchristian to oppose force with force4 ,russia has its non-resisters1 ,dukhobors1 ,molokans1 ,quakers1 who either obtain official exemption from military service1 or who suffer punishment for refusing to obey the call4 ,and among the mass of the ,russian people who as yet do obey the summons and shoulder the gun for the ,fatherland1 the question is frequently raised1 8,can we reconcile ,christianity and war8 ,can we reconcile the spirit of ,russian religion with the using of brute force to overcome a wrong or to defeat an enemy80 ,not that any great number of the ,russian peasant soldiers ask themselves questions about the ethics of war4 ,they go forward gladly to fight for the ,tsar1 and to defend their country4 ,with them fighting is a tradition--,christianity is ,christian warfare1 not warfare with sin and disease and crime1 but war against the heathen4 ,since the pagan god ,peroun was rolled down the cliffs1 and the army of ,vladimir stepped into the ,dnieper and was baptized as one man1 ,russian ,christianity has been a ,christianity in arms1 in arms against ,tartar and ,mongol and ,turk4 ,the spirit that prompted the ,crusades perseveres4 ,that is why a war against the ,turk is a great national war2 it is still something in the nature of a great religious pageant4 ,more than half the man saints on the ,russian ,calendar are warriors1 and the rest are simply monks and hermits4 ,still as wars go on they change in type4 ,fighting has ceased to be a praising of ,god4 ,there is no raining of splendid blows on the ,saracen's head4 ,war for the common soldier has ceased to be fighting1 and has become 8obeying orders40 ,the soldier does not even know whither his shot has sped4 ,he seldom or never shoots at a man2 he shoots at a vague general man called the enemy4 ,he also knows that no one is trying to kill him personally1 and that he in his turn is also part of a vague impersonal man--the enemy of the man on the other side4 ,war becomes a standing to be killed for one's country1 and an obeying of orders4 ,it is a noble and a ,christian thing to die for one's native land4 ,it is also one's duty to obey the orders of those put in authority over us4 ,the question is1 ,are those who direct the war acting in a ,christian spirit8 ,they in their turn obey orders of those in authority over them--the ,generals1 the ,commander-in-,chief1 the ,government1 the ,tsar4 ,they must render to ,caesar the things which are ,caesar's4 ,is it then ,christianity in the ,tsar to make war1 or to answer force by force8 ,some ,russians say1 8,it depends on the cause4 ,a war to protect little ,servia is a good and ,christian war40 ,others say1 8,it does not depend on the cause4 ,no cause1 not even the best in the world1 can justify the carrying on of war2 of that wholesale and organised murder which goes by the name of war40 ,so we come to the ,russian pacifists1 and those who believe that any peace is better than the justest war4 ,they declare that war is evil in itself4 ,they offer no compromise on the subject4 ,in time of peace the ,pacifists have a great following1 and they seem to be in a majority2 but when war breaks out a great number who merely sympathise1 but do not absolutely believe1 fall away and leave the true ,pacifists standing1 as they have stood in each war up till now1 in a hopeless minority4 ,they hold that war is a survival of barbarism1 or1 to put it in the words of ,solovyof1 8,something like cannibalism1 a barbarous custom that must in time be isolated and localised among the more savage regions of the world1 and then slowly but steadily disappear till it becomes merely a historical curiosity40 ,the simplest way to test this notion of war would have been to survey the modern history of the civilised world and see if war between civilised community tended on the whole to be less4 ,but here and now as ,i write is the vast conflagration of the ,german war4 ,if this war had not come about it might have been possible to say1 8,man is on the whole tending towards universal peace40 ,the ,spanish-,american ,war was scarcely a war at all4 ,the ,south ,african ,war was an example of the power which could be brought to bear on an uncultured and wild people to make them behave themselves and be peaceful4 ,the ,russo-,japanese ,war was begun in the misconception that the ,japanese were yellow devils1 and if the ,russians had known with whom they had to deal they could have arranged matters4 ,the ,italian-,turkish ,war was simply a cultured nation taking over territory of the wild and warlike ,turks1 and so precluding war for the future4 ,the wars in the ,balkan ,states were the natural conflicts of wild tribes not yet properly civilised4 ,up to that point war could be explained away1 but then we come to ,july #aiad with its ,european conflagration1 and the ,pacifist inference cannot be made4 ,for the time being war is redeemed from the imputation of savagery by the great ,german conflict4 ,it can no longer be classified as a disgusting practice such as cannibalism or sutteeism4 ,but the minority1 those who still take peace as a golden rule1 are even now unconvinced4 ,at the best they hold that this war is a war to prevent war in the future1 a war for the establishment of the ,federation of ,europe1 a war that will make possible universal peace4 ,still they hold that notion as a makeshift opinion4 ,they would never in the palmy days of peace have thought it possible that mankind would go to war in order to get a better peace afterwards4 ,they held that war was always avoidable1 and that you could not by ,satan cast out ,satan4 ,they hold that nationally as individually we should give back good for evil4 ,amongst the educated ,russians there are many pacifists1 many non-resisters1 a number also of quaker-like people who refer all war arguments to the one simple commandment--8,thou shalt not kill60 ,many ,russians hold that ,christ substituted for the ,jewish law 8,thou shalt not kill60 the moral principle 8,thou shalt not hate60 ,and they understand the chastisement of war as performed more in sorrow than in anger4 ,those who try to follow out literally the patterns of behaviour set out in the ,gospel ask what would the ,good ,samaritan have done if he had come earlier than he did and had met the man who fell among thieves just at the moment when the thieves were attacking him with apparently murderous intent4 ,would he then have had to pass by on the other side like the ,levite1 or should he have fallen on his knees and prayed1 or should he have rushed to the physical assistance of the man who was being attacked4 ,many held that it would have been the ,samaritan's duty to defend his neighbour with all the means in his power4 ,as the ,general says in ,solovyof's conversation1 8,i prayed best when giving commands to the horse-artillery40 ,so in ,august #aiad1 when ,austria fell upon ,servia and ,germany fell upon ,belgium1 ,russia in the ,east and ,britain in the ,west rushed generously to give their physical assistance to the nations in distress4 ,america1 like the ,levite1 averted his eyes and said1 8,it is no concern of mine40 ,the action of ,britain and ,russia is no doubt popular ,christianity4 ,it is the way of the world4 ,christianity was not preached to nations but to individuals4 ,the true ,christian attitude of the man who falls among thieves is to give up his money and strip off his clothes and hand them to the thieves saying1 8,would to ,god there were more for thee60 ,he would offer no show of defence1 but1 on the contrary1 would rejoice4 ,for in taking away money and clothes they took away earthly material things1 things that should be lightly prized4 ,to have given them freely and affectionately to those who wanted them was to blossom spiritually or1 to use another figure1 it was to quicken the circulation of love4 ,and directly he gives up these things the ,good ,samaritan comes along and he1 out of pure affection1 gives from his superfluity the means to the naked one to be clothed and restored4 ,if the ,good ,samaritan had come up in time he would as a ,christian have been ready to give his things also to the thieves4 ,or if the thieves had been actuated by the impulse of murder1 he would have fallen on his knees and prayed4 ,such is the way of those who deny 8the world10 and with it deny also the power of physical force4 ,somewhat of this interpretation of ,christian impulse is given in the following ,russian conversation taken from the book on ,war and ,christianity written by the great ,russian philosopher1 ,vladimir ,solovyof3#ac ,prince4 ,he who is filled with the true spirit of the ,gospel will find in himself when necessary the ability by words and gestures1 and by his whole spiritual demeanour so to act upon the soul of his unhappy brother who would commit a murder1 that the latter will be suddenly overwhelmed and converted1 and will see the error of his ways and turn away from the wrong road4 ,general4 ,holy ,martyrs6 ,is that the way you'd have me behave towards1 for instance1 the ,bashi-,oozooks1 who in ,asiatic ,turkey massacre the women and children of the ,armenian villages4 ,you think ,i ought to stand before them making touching gestures1 saying touching words and making a tender religious appeal to them4 ,mr4 ,z4 ,your words would not be heard owing to the instance of the murderers1 and if heard would not be understood since you know not one another's languages4 ,then as regards gestures1 as you will of course1 but ,i should have thought that under the circumstances the best gesture one could think out for the occasion would be the firing of a few volleys4 ,lady4 ,but1 seriously1 could the ,general have explained his ,christian sentiments to the ,bashi-,oozooks8 ,prince4 ,i did not at all assume that the ,russian army should have acted according to the spirit of the ,gospel when dealing with the ,bashi-,oozooks4 ,but ,i do say that a man filled with the true spirit of the ,gospel would have found even the possibility then of awakening in dark souls that good which lies hidden in every human being4 ,mr4 ,z4 ,you really think that6 ,prince4 ,not a whit do ,i doubt4 ,mr4 ,z4 ,well1 do you think that ,christ ,himself was sufficiently filled with the true spirit of the ,gospel8 ,prince4 ,is that a question or a joke8 ,mr4 ,z4 ,i put the question because ,i'd like to know why ,christ did not so apply the true spirit of the ,gospel as to awaken the good hidden in the souls of ,judas and ,herod and of the ,jewish chief priests and of the wicked thief of whom we commonly forget when speaking of his repentant brother4444 ,which confuses the issue because ,christianity is not a converting of non-,christians to itself1 it is a way of bearing oneself with regard to the world and ,god1 a witnessing of the truth4 ,this life is not truth4 ,for that reason among others1 ,christ does not save ,himself from death2 material gains on earth are not real gains1 so to the man who would take the coat the cloak is given also2 the kingdom of this world is not a real kingdom1 so ,christ turns ,his back on the ,devil when the presidency of the world is offered to ,him on the mountain4 ,when ,st4 ,peter smote off the ear of the ,high ,priest's servant1 ,christ restored the ear as a sign that ,his kingdom could not be won by the sword4 ,when war is brought to the test of ,christian idealism1 especially as interpreted by the ,russians1 it is found to be of the world--a rendering to ,caesar of the things which are ,caesar's4 ,nevertheless1 if we say that war is unchristian1 or if we hold that those waging war are by their very behaviour unchristian1 we are wrong4 ,we are mistaking the true spirit of ,christianity4 ,for ,christianity is no rule which people must obey2 it is no set of rules for people4 ,the deepest thing in ,christianity is personal choice4 ,those who are saved are those who personally choose4 ,if a man goes to bear arms for love of his country1 if he offers his life as a sacrifice on the altar of his ,fatherland1 he is still a true ,christian though engaged in violence4 ,or if a man stands out to refuse to go like the peasant in ,peer ,gynt1 who cut off one of his fingers so as to be rejected by the army doctor1 we still have ,christianity exemplified in personal choice and in the readiness to sacrifice material things for spiritual gain4 ,what1 then1 of the peasant soldiers who presumably make little choice8 ,of them it must be said1 they are ,christians on the emotional plane1 not on the intellectual4 ,by their splendid enthusiasm it is evident that the peasants do make an emotional choice4 ,perhaps in that choice lies their ,christianity with regard to war4 ,they are ,christians also in that they do not regard death as something terrible4 ,death for them is a sacrament1 a new baptism1 a second time going down of the warriors of ,king ,vladimir to the ,river ,dneiper4 ,footnote #ac3 ,war and ,christianity1 by ,vladimir ,solovyof1 now translated into ,english--,constable's ,russian ,library4 ,,appendix ,,ii ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,,east ,,and ,,west ,an interesting new domain of study is opening for the ,bible student in the comparison of what the various nations have taken to themselves in their understanding of the ,gospels4 ,translation itself inevitably changes the emphasis1 the accent of various passages4 ,and ,slavonic perception1 ,british perception1 ,german perception1 ,american perception necessarily differ4 ,it is a truism to say that we each take from a book only what we wish to take from it4 ,to one who knows ,russia and has the feeling for ,eastern ,christianity1 there is no more enthralling occupation than to read the ,gospels with an eye to discovering which parts ,eastern ,christianity has emphasised1 which parts ,western ,christianity has taken2 which parts1 for instance1 ,russia has emphasised1 which parts ,america has emphasised4 ,one evening in ,vladikavkaz ,i had a long talk with ,russian friends about this difference in emphasis1 and we went through the whole of ,st4 ,matthew and discussed many texts of the ,new ,testament4 ,we started with the ,beatitudes1 as they are the beginning of the ,christian teaching4 ,we agreed that 8,blessed are the poor in spirit0 was a stumbling-block to the ,west1 a phrase that preachers had to interpret very carefully as having a meaning other than 8,blessed are the poor-spirited40 ,in ,russia1 however1 it is perhaps the most important beatitude--at least1 two of my ,russians held it to be so4 ,in the ,russian translation it runs1 8,blessed are those who are beggars in spirit40 ,russia sees blessedness in the state of beggars1 in the state of those who have nothing2 a beggar in ,russian is one who has no earthly possessions4 ,the beggar is a national institution4 ,no one purely ,russian in temperament wants to get rid of the beggar--the man who has nothing4 ,even ,gorky calls the beggar the bell of the ,lord1 the reminder to man that he can have no true possessions here in the world4 ,the second beatitude1 8,blessed are they that mourn10 we also took to mean more to the ,east than to the ,west4 ,the ,east feels the blessing of mourning1 the ,west the blessing of being comforted4 ,the third beatitude1 8,blessed are the meek10 meant more to the ,west we concluded4 ,we in ,england and ,america look forward to what ,tennyson calls 8the reign of the meek upon earth40 ,we remember the promise that the lion shall lie down with the lamb4 ,one of the most popular of ,western pictures is that of the child carrying a palm-branch1 8,a little child shall lead them40 ,the ,east1 however1 feels that the lions will always be lions1 that 8the world0 will remain 8the world0 without much change1 full of the faithless1 the cruel1 the predatory1 mingled with the faithful1 the gentle1 the self-abnegatory4 ,the fourth beatitude1 8,blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness1 for they shall be filled10 seemed to me to be also a purely ,western one4 ,america and the ,west have taken it specially to themselves4 ,it has been the watchword of the ,puritans4 ,but my friend ,vera astonished me by reading it1 8,blessed are they who hunger and thirst after truth1 for they shall be filled10 and on looking at the ,russian translation ,i found indeed that the word was pravda and the popular sense was nearer 8truth0 than 8righteousness40 ,that difference means a great deal to a national outlook4 8,blessed are the merciful0 we took to be a ,western beatitude1 8,blessed are the pure in heart0 to be ,eastern4 8,blessed are the peace-makers0 has become a very ,western idea1 and ,king ,edward the ,seventh was sung to the grave as a saint as ,king ,edward the ,peace-maker4 8,blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake0 is in ,russian 8,blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of truth0--for theirs is the kingdom of ,heaven4 8,blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely1 for ,my sake1 for great is your reward in heaven0 is taken equally by ,west and ,east1 though the ,east feels more that the reward is within you1 whereas the ,west thinks of a reward after death4 ,we considered the ,temptations in the ,wilderness4 ,first1 it was ,eastern to go into the wilderness at all4 ,it would have been more ,western to go into the town and find salvation in work1 in 8doing the duty that lay nearest40 ,the teaching of the temptation to turn stones into bread has an ,eastern emphasis4 ,the ,russian1 says1 8,i would not if ,i could40 ,the ,western is ever coming to the ,russian and saying1 8,lo1 your people are starving2 but see how undeveloped your country is1 you have gold1 you have oil1 you have coal1 you have all manner of precious things in your soils and your rocks2 say but the word and they can be changed into bread1 and your starving may be fed40 ,but the ,russian says1 8,bread is not so very important2 what is important is the word that proceedeth from the mouth of ,god40 ,the second temptation1 that of suicide or of nihilism1 of casting oneself down from the ,temple1 is something the ,west has understood more clearly4 ,the ,east continually succumbs to this temptation1 and the ,russian is ever 8tempting ,god40 ,the third temptation has a great ,eastern emphasis2 ,jesus1 in lofty contemplation of the world and of ,his own genius1 understands that ,he could be a new ,alexander and be king of the whole world4 ,he could reign in wonderful glory1 and could enact perfect laws for mankind and issue them with the authority of a king4 ,but ,he denies the world and its glory in the name of the life of the ,spirit4 ,the typical earnest ,american of to-day1 if he saw a chance of ruling all the worlds and felt that he had in him the ,divine message1 would almost certainly take the opportunity2 but the typically serious ,russian1 or at least the ,russian monk1 would prostrate himself on the ground1 saying1 8,get thee behind me1 ,satan1 for it is written1 #8,thou shalt worship the ,lord thy ,god1 and ,him only shalt thou serve'0--8,him only10 that is1 not mankind4 ,on the strength of this introduction ,i have gone through the main teaching of the ,gospel1 and have made the following differentiation of how ,east and ,west have taken or emphasised or avoided the thoughts and words of the ,new ,testament4 ,we are somewhat tired of the comparison of the ,authorised and ,revised ,versions1 or of the ,english translation with the original ,greek texts4 ,here1 ,i fancy1 is something more vital2 a comparison of the way the teaching has been generally understood by the masses of the people in the ,western and ,eastern ,churches4 ,i am not comparing the opinions of the authorities in both ,churches1 but the opinions which hold sway1 which make ethics4 ,by this means it may be possible to make what would be a valuable historical record of the position of the progress of ,christianity to-day4 ,the way of the ,west--what may be called the way of ,martha--is easier1 more human than the way of the ,east--the way of ,mary4 ,thus at the ,transfiguration the disciple cried out1 8,master1 it is good for us to be here3 let us build three tabernacles40 ,it was not at all necessary to build three tabernacles4 ,the good part was like that of ,mary--to sit at ,jesus' feet4 ,but to take the teaching in the order it is given in ,st4 ,matthew's ,gospel3 8,ye are the salt of the earth0 has been printed in red ink in the ,bibles of the ,west1 and it is generally thought to refer to the just and upright1 the elder brothers1 the stand-by's of the community as opposed to the prodigals4 8,let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your ,father which is in ,heaven10 has in the ,west become a weekly exhortation to give a good alms at collection-time4 ,this is an instance of materialism4 ,the spendthrift ,east takes its stand more with ,st4 ,peter1 who was able to say1 8,silver and gold have ,i none2 but such as ,i have give ,i to thee40 ,the giving of money is the least of the good works in the power of the ,east2 8,am ,i so bankrupt of grace that my function is to give money80 the ,eastern may exclaim4 8,if thine eye offend thee1 pluck it out0 means more to the ,east1 where in the monastic life of the ,orthodox ,church the lusts of the flesh are mortified--that is1 made dead2 where hermits wear heavy chains and take oaths of silence1 or hide themselves from mankind4 ,it is witnessed in many sects1 such as the ,skoptsi1 who deny the world by defunctionising the body6 8,swear not at all0 is a simple admonition1 appealing directly to the ,western mind4 ,in ,russia the swearing in ordinary conversation is thick as the weeds on a waste4 ,a curiosity in ,russian swearing is the common expression ,yay ,bogu1 which means really1 8,yes3 ,i say it to ,god10 but which through carelessness and iteration has become equivalent to something like our 8's'truth40 ,in ,america1 however1 the adjective ,god-damn is commoner than any other unpleasant expression in any country4 8,resist not evil4 ,who will take away thy coat1 give him thy cloke also2 and who forces thee to go a mile1 go with him twain2 and whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek1 turn to him the other also40 ,this has been taken more seriously by the ,eastern ,church4 ,in the ,west it is more 8a counsel of perfection10 or the words and the sentiment are taken as an ornament of ,christianity4 ,agnostics and non-,christians make a mock of ,christians because they do not turn the other cheek4 ,the teaching is considered of so little importance that it is a ,christian act to give a cad a thrashing1 and the clergyman well versed in the noble art of self-defence is by no means a rarity4 ,in ,russia1 non-resistance is a way of overcoming the world and putting ,satan behind you4 ,going two miles with the man who forces you to go one1 giving the cloak to the man who takes the coat1 turning the other cheek1 are podvigs1 holy exploits1 taking the uniform of ,christ's not saving ,himself from the ,cross4 8,give to him that asketh thee1 and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away40 ,this has authority in ,russia4 ,in ,england we do not give for the asking1 and to borrow is disgraceful4 ,in ,russia giving and lending are scarcely virtues2 they are a condition of life4 ,america is also ready to give and lend1 but not so much to persons as to societies1 funds1 hospitals1 new priesthoods4 8,love your enemies0 is the podvig1 the holy exploit once more1 by which the world is overcome1 and is very real in ,russia4 8,pray for them which despitefully use you03 this is essentially a teaching that has ,western acceptance4 ,the ,russian does not pray much for his enemies4 8,be ye perfect60 ,this is a ,western ideal1 to be perfect4 ,the ,east does not strive to be better than it is now4 8,do not your alms before men0 is generally disregarded by ,west and ,east4 8,when ye pray1 use not vain repetitions03 the ,west has obeyed this monition4 ,the prayers of the ,east are indeed not unlike the prayers of the heathen4 ,the ,lord's ,prayer has meant much more to the ,west than to the ,east4 8,when ye fast1 be not of a sad countenance03 the ,west1 except in the case of the ,roman ,catholic ,church1 does not fast4 ,the ,roman ,catholic ,church1 though ,western in its locality and constitution1 is in many of its customs ,eastern--for example1 in the celibacy of its clergy1 in the monastic life it affords1 in its fasting1 in its repetition of prayers4 ,a wide gap1 however1 divides it from ,eastern ,orthodoxy1 and as wide a gap separates it from the leading spirit of the ,west1 the latter being decidedly ,protestant4 ,dostoievsky1 in the story of the ,grand ,inquisitor in ,the ,brothers ,karamazov1 treats ,roman ,catholicism as a great conspiracy to defeat ,christianity1 and that point of view is taken very seriously by ,russians to-day4 ,roman ,catholicism indeed provides a holy way of life1 and puts its members in a true position with regard to life and the world1 but it does so by authority4 ,little is allowed to spring from personal initiative1 and truths are not so much personal experiences as priestly guarantees4 ,roman ,catholicism stands to one side1 and this comparison of the spirit of ,east and ,west does not greatly involve her4 8,lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth40 ,to this the ,east has paid heed4 ,russia is the greatest spending nation in the world4 ,no money is saved4 ,every rouble is spent as it is obtained4 ,in ,england and ,america children are actually given money-boxes and taught to save their pennies6 8,take no thought for your life1 what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink2 nor yet for your body1 what ye shall put on03 this is obviously a teaching which conditions the ragged and disorderly and unconventional ,east4 ,in ,england and ,america one might almost think the opposite ideas had been recommended1 seeing how we cherish the right crease in the right sort of attire1 how we strive to be in fashion4 ,but 8,seek ye first the kingdom of ,god and ,his righteousness2 and all these things shall be added unto you0 is something which obtains the hearty belief of the ,west4 8,take no thought for the morrow0 has an ,eastern accentuation4 8,sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof0 is taken by the ,west as a cynical utterance4 ,the ,west believes that ,christianity means1 8,sufficient unto the day is the good thereof40 ,the ,west says each day is full of blessing2 the ,east says each day is full of suffering4 8,judge not1 that ye be not judged03 no one pays much attention to this4 8,why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye0--a reproof to the ,west1 not needed in the ,east4 ,america is terribly censorious and critical of the neighbour4 ,russia has no censure4 8,ask1 and it shall be given you0 the ,west has believed4 ,it has1 however1 asked for material things4 ,the ,east has taken rather1 8,seek1 and ye shall find40 8,whatsoever ye would that men should do to you1 do ye even so to them0 is in great favour in the ,west4 8,enter ye in at the strait gate03 this is quite ,western in adhesion4 8,beware of false prophets40 ,both churches have gladly taken this phrase to use against schismatics and dissenters4 8,by their fruits ye shall know them40 ,this criterion the ,west has adopted4 ,easternism may be said to regard the barren tree as holy4 ,at least1 it never curses the barren4 ,the story of the wise man who built his house upon a rock has edified the ,west4 ,to the story of the scribe who wished to follow ,jesus1 but who apparently wished to do so and remain comfortable and well-off at the same time1 and to the story of the disciple who wished to bury his father first1 but to whom was said1 8,let the dead bury their dead10 the ,west has paid little or no attention1 whilst the ,east has taken it to himself4 ,the fact that ,jesus sat down and ate with publicans and sinners is in the spirit of the ,east2 the ,west prefers ever the company of the just4 ,the ,west is glad to have the action of ,jesus explained in the following verse3 8,they that be whole need not a physician1 but they that are sick40 8,provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses40 ,alas1 all ,western weal believes that it is founded on gold4 ,if any good work is to hand1 the first thing is to raise a fund4 8,when they deliver you up1 take no thought how or what ye shall speak 44403 this has always been most helpful to persecuted nonconformists and heretics4 8,i came not to send peace1 but a sword0 is overlooked in the ,west4 ,the ,west thinks that ,christ proclaimed peace4 ,and the peace that was before the ,great ,war was thought to be a wonderful fruit of ,christianity--the peace of mutual jealousy and fear1 the great commercial peace of the twentieth century1 that ,kipling calls the 8,peace of ,dives03 ,the whole wide earth is laid ,in the peace that ,i have made2 ,and behold1 ,i wait on thee to trouble it4 8,he that findeth his life shall lose it2 and he that loseth his life for ,my sake shall find it03 the ,west emphasises this thought4 ,carlyle gave it great force in his gospel of work4 8,forget your troubles10 says the ,west2 8throw yourself into work and lose yourself--then you'll soon find yourself40 ,the ,east will not work in that way4 8,come unto ,me1 all ye that labour and are heavy-laden0 has been comfort to the ,west4 ,in the matter of healing on the ,sabbath the ,western is rather on the side of the ,jews4 ,the question1 8,who is my mother and who are my brethren80 has not been acceptable to the ,west4 ,the ,west would have preferred ,jesus to be a model family man1 not only loving mother and brothers and sisters1 but having a wife and children about him4 ,the ,eastern ,church takes its stand with the early ,christians and the denial of earthly ties4 ,sometimes news is brought of father or mother or brethren to the wonderful ,russian hermits such as ,father ,seraphim1 but they coldly repel the tidings with ,christ's words1 8,whosoever doeth the will of ,god1 the same is my brother and sister and mother40 ,casting the wicked into the fire--this idea lingers in ,america1 but it is dead in ,russia and in ,england4 ,the confession of ,peter1 and the prophecy1 8,thou art ,peter1 and on this rock ,i will build my ,church10 the ,roman ,church has necessarily taken to itself4 ,the ,transfiguration on the mountain--the possessed about the foot of the mountain--is taken as an ,eastern understanding of life4 ,the light of transfiguration is the halo about the head of the hermit2 the possessed below make the hurly-burly of the world whence the hermit made his escape4 8,the light of transfiguration10 ,i heard ,prince ,trubetskoi say in a lecture at ,moscow1 8is the light of haloes1 the light of ,holy ,russia1 the light of friendship40 8,let us build three tabernacles0 is1 as ,i said1 ,western4 ,the ,west has believed ,jesus in that ,he answered the question1 8,who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven80 by taking a little child and setting him in the midst of them4 ,the ,west has allowed its eyes to rest on the parable of the ,talents1 but the ,east has had more appreciation of 8,the first shall be last1 and the last first40 ,the ,west has insisted on 8,render unto ,caesar the things that are ,caesar's10 but it has avoided the condemnation of the ,pharisees2 the ,gospel of ,st4 ,matthew reveals itself as the gospel of the kingdom of heaven as opposed to 8the world40 ,but the ,west has sought to find 8the world0 holy4 ,western ,christianity was started by the conquest of worldly armies1 but ,eastern ,christianity was founded on the example of hermits1 eunuchs1 stoics1 philosophers1 fanatics4 ,it had all the advantage of proximity to the place where ,christianity started1 all the advantage of the traditions of ,greek and ,roman philosophy4 ,despite all our study of ,greek and of history and of philosophy at the schools1 and despite the ,russian's lack of study1 yet the latter is nearer to the ancient spirit2 but he has lived historically in direct relation to ,byzantium1 and has ever had before his eyes living examples of the way to live a ,christian life4 8,many are called1 but few are chosen0 has had great influence in the ,west1 but the power of the text is waning4 ,protestantism is becoming more philanthropical1 easy-going1 and generous than it was in the days of persecution4 ,the idea of the ,second ,coming of ,christ is a strange will-o'-the-wisp of light that cannot be tracked and is difficult to account for1 breaking out ever and anon unexpectedly where you would think it had for ever disappeared4 ,at present it is seen in many places1 ,east and ,west4 ,originally it was a very powerful sentiment1 but after two thousand years of waiting hope has died down1 and it is seldom that whole societies sell up all their worldly goods and repair to the valley of ,jehoshaphat to wait the great day4 ,the story of ,mary pouring the precious ointment on ,jesus' head rather than selling the ointment and giving the proceeds to the poor1 is the way of ,mary rather than the way of ,martha4 ,here perhaps ends the ,gospel of ,st4 ,matthew as far as definite sentences of teaching are concerned1 and probably sufficient ideas have been taken out and compared for the purpose of this differentiation4 ,as regards the acts of the ,gospel1 there remains the consideration of the miracles4 ,the healing of the sick1 the lame1 the blind1 has become the example of the ,west1 and what ,christ did by miracle they do by science4 ,the ,east1 however1 insists on the miraculous1 and to-day in ,russia thousands of miracles are performed annually at the sacred shrines4 ,whether these miracles are genuine or no is a moot point4 ,many certainly are no more than ecclesiastical contrivances for gaining popular support for ikons and shrines4 ,many are said to be the result of the faith of those who ask the miracle4 ,at ,kief and ,sarof and ,new ,jerusalem many a blind man receives sight1 many a crippled woman straightens herself out1 many a sick man is restored to health4 ,the ,eastern ,church lays stress on the miraculous2 the miracle1 however1 is esoterically understood as mystery4 ,the ,russian has an extraordinary capacity for belief4 ,there remains the ,crucifixion1 of which ,i will say no more than that it is the greatest podvig1 the crown of the life of ,jesus4 ,for the ,west it is the ,resurrection that is emphasised4 ,as ,i wrote in ,with the ,russian ,pilgrims to ,jerusalem3 8,for the ,orthodox1 ,he was dead2 for the ,protestant1 ,he is alive for evermore40 ,so two churches combine to make one truth1 and the hand-maidens of the ,lord1 ,martha and ,mary1 are shown to be indeed two sisters1 not only in kindred but in spirit4 ,,the ,,end ,printed by ,r4 ,r4 ,,clark1 ,,limited1 ,edinburgh4 ,,books ,,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,a ,,tramp',s ,,sketches4 ,,with ,,the ,,russian ,,pilgrims ,,to ,,jerusalem4 ,,with ,,poor ,,emigrants ,,to ,,america4 ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,martha ,,and ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,mary4 ,these four books1 published by ,macmillan ,co41 form a sequence of which the ,tramp's ,sketches is like a prologue or a promise4 ,the ,pilgrim book is of the ,way of ,mary2 the ,america book is of the ,way of ,martha2 and the fourth book1 ,the ,way of ,martha and the ,way of ,mary1 knits the other three in one4 ,other ,volumes4 ,,russia ,,and ,,the ,,world3 ,an ,account of how ,russia is affected by the ,war4 ,fifth ,edition4 ,,vagabond ,,in ,,the ,,caucasus3 ,mr4 ,graham's first book4 ,,undiscovered ,,russia3 ,a ,presentment of ,holy ,russia4 ,,changing ,,russia3 ,written in #aiab4 ,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,,with ,,the ,,russian ,,pilgrims ,,to ,,jerusalem ,illustrated4 #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,athen,,um4--8,m4 ,jusserand's ,pilgrim ,life in the ,middle ,ages or ,burton's or ,doughty's accounts of their pilgrimages to ,mecca are books of secure repute4 ,mr4 ,graham in ,with the ,russian ,pilgrims to ,jerusalem gives us a companion volume40 ,,the ,,manchester ,,guardian4--8#8,many think in the head1' wrote ,francis ,thompson1 #8but it is thinking in the heart that is most wanted4' ,it is because this book has been pondered1 and the events it describes lived #8in the heart1' that it possesses such grace and distinction4 ,those who have followed ,mr4 ,graham and have watched his style becoming with every volume he has written a more and more close-fitting and appropriate garment for his thought1 will not be disappointed4 ,it is his best work--gay1 beautiful1 and tender2 gay with the spirit of youth1 beautiful with the spirit of poetry1 and tender with the spirit of worship4444 ,compare these reverent and radiant pages with the bright semi-cynicism of ,eothen1 and you get a measure of the distance the ,english spirit has travelled since #ahdd40 ,,the ,,nation4--8,the ,russians have not been broken by ,russia4 ,mr4 ,stephen ,graham1 in his beautiful and remarkable book1 throws this great truth into vivid perspective4 ,not for him the #8grey days' of ,tchekhof or the hoarse challenge of ,gorky's exultant mood1 not for him the symbol of ,andreyev's ,red ,laughter4444 ,this ,englishman does not dwell upon the ,russians' suffering1 but upon their immense hope2 he is preoccupied not by their material poverty but by their spiritual wealth40 ,,the ,,daily ,,mail4--8,mr4 ,stephen ,graham is favourably known as the interpreter of modern ,russia and more particularly of the peasant4 ,to that task he brings every accomplishment4 ,he has sympathy2 he has the insight of genius and the heart of the poet4 ,he has a rare and precious gift of style4444 ,he seems to have divined by some flash of intuition the psychology of the ,russian4 ,this book will add greatly to his already great reputation4 ,it is a pleasure to praise such work4 ,here he has given us an extraordinarily beautiful and interesting account of an extraordinarily interesting achievement4444 ,it breaks entirely fresh ground4 ,it makes a deep and universal appeal40 ,,the ,,westminster ,,gazette4--8,the best book on ,russia written by an ,englishman40 ,,the ,,outlook4--8,something more than a book of travel1 a spiritual ,murray--a very remarkable piece of work 444 at once simple and extraordinary40 ,,church ,,times4--8,we are sure that the student of human nature and the student of religion alike will find a deep interest in this book4 ,its merit is the complete sympathy and the true insight with which it describes the child-like faith of the ,russian peasant and his passionate love of the ,saviour who died for him40 ,,mercure ,,de ,,france4--8,c'est une longue aventure o l'on se croirait report au temps des croisades1 et l'auteur dessine en quelques traits nets et durs des types tonnants4 ,voil un livre lire pour quiconque veut tre intress et oblig de rflchir40 ,,the ,,times 7in a leading article ,feb4 #e1 #aiad74--8,no living ,english writer has made investigations so patient and so wide into the habits and manners of the great dumb masses who are the body of the largest and the least-known nation in ,europe40 ,,london3 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,ltd4 ,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,,with ,,poor ,,emigrants ,,to ,,america ,illustrated4 #hvo4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,the ,,nation4--8,mr4 ,stephen ,graham is a real super-tramp1 and in his aspect of the world and his fellows there is always a touch of the pilgrim's sanctity4 ,he feels an attraction1 partly sthetic1 often sentimental1 to people of simple and religious life1 and especially to the ,russian peasants1 whom he depicts as the simplest and most religious of all mankind4 ,he loves the beauty of untouched nature1 and of man pursuing the primitive and traditional methods of pasture1 plough1 or loom4 ,he is always conscious of a spiritual presence behind phenomena1 and is strongly drawn by emotions of pity1 sympathy1 and fellow-feeling1 as by the qualities of humility and indifference to material things4444 ,of all ,english writers on ,america ,mr4 ,graham is almost the only one who tells us certain things that we really wanted to know40 ,,sphere4--8,not one of the well-known writers who from the days of ,dickens and ,thackeray to our own has written his experiences of the ,united ,states has proved so attractive40 ,,times4--8,of these three travellers 7,henry ,james1 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells1 and ,stephen ,graham7 ,mr4 ,graham has at least the advantage of extreme contrast4444 ,his book is full of humanity1 sensitive with the love of peace and beauty40 ,,glasgow ,,news4--8,with a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the books on travel in ,america published in the past twenty-five years by ,english authors1 the present writer has not a moment's hesitation in declaring that ,with ,poor ,emigrants to ,america is immeasurably the best among them all4 ,it is not only an unusually informative book2 it is a work of spiritual genius1 precious by reason of its revelation of as unique and beautiful a character as surely has dignified the trade of letters since the period of ,lamb or ,goldsmith4 ,stephen ,graham is something far more rare than an #8interpreter of ,russia' or a philosophical #8tramp'2 his quiet voice1 if he be spared1 is likely to sound even more distinctively and more impressively above the noisy chatter of his contemporaries4 ,it is perhaps a little unfortunate that his interest should be so much engaged with ,russia1 for we grudge to ,russia an expositor who1 we think1 might be better employed in writing about his own race1 but then we must admit that but for the influence of ,russia we might perhaps have had no ,stephen ,graham40 ,,spectator4--8,an extremely interesting record1 with many penetrating illustrations of the contrast between ,russian and ,american ideals40 ,,field4--8,the book is full of ,mr4 ,graham's philosophy1 but that philosophy largely reveals itself in the narration of his experiences both on board ship and on land4 ,they are narrated with an abundance of anecdotes and with a charming simplicity of style which make the book delightful reading40 ,,liverpool ,,post4--8,this is a book of sheer delight which will compel most readers to finish it at a single sitting4 ,it tells his story in the free and effortless style which ,mr4 ,graham uses so magically40 ,,lindsay ,,bashford in the ,,daily ,,mail4--8,the best of his books4 ,mr4 ,graham is the modern poet-pilgrim2 his is the vision of wide roads and long deliberate journeys2 his the gift to understand the heart of the poor and the wanderers4 ,each day's little events1 each casual encounter1 each wayside talk or tiny adventure has its deeper significance1 and resolves into the deeper human movements he seeks for as he goes1 and which he interprets for us4 ,i do not know of any books of contemporaries which have a more intimate appeal1 which speak with more friendly confidence of the actual life of human beings in our world to-day than do these wonder-books of ,mr4 ,stephen ,graham40 ,,london3 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,ltd4 ,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,a ,,tramp',s ,,sketches ,extra ,crown #hvo4 #es4 net4 ,,academy4--8,to have read ,a ,tramp's ,sketches is to have been lifted into a higher and rarer atmosphere4 ,it is to have been made free1 for a few hours at least1 of the company of saints and heroes4 ,this much we owe to ,mr4 ,graham1 who has added to ,english ,literature a book that1 if we mistake not1 is destined to endure40 ,,spectator4--8,like ,jefferies' ,story of my ,heart1 but the author is much more occupied with men than ,jefferies was4 ,unlike most books of its kind ,a ,tramp's ,sketches has indisputably a genuine passion running through it40 ,,english ,,review4--8,it is a delightful book1 redolent of the open air1 of the night1 of the great silences of expanse1 and yet full of incident1 of real spiritual and material sympathy1 both with the #8black earth' and the monks of the monasteries1 whose hospitality he enjoyed1 and with his fellow-comrades on the road4 ,it is life that interests the author40 ,,pall ,,mall ,,gazette4--8,descriptions of ,nature are apt to become tiresome1 but we have not been wearied once in reading these pages2 and this is not1 we believe1 altogether due to ,mr4 ,graham's fine style1 his ever-adequate perception of the right word1 but because of his sincere and absolute love of ,nature in all her moods4 ,here is no pretence1 no make-believe4 ,he writes of the mystery and beauty of the sea1 the night1 the sunset1 the moon1 and the stars in words that seem at times to take colour from that which they describe40 ,mr4 ,,algernon ,,blackwood in ,,country ,,life4--8,they are the notes of a spiritual pilgrim going towards the new ,jerusalem4 ,the writer's passionate worship of ,beauty1 his love of simplicity1 his charity1 his courage1 all these make a strong appeal4 ,he has in him poetry and vision40 ,mr4 ,,wm4 ,,purvis in the ,,sunday ,,chronicle4--8,stephen ,graham walks the earth in the garb of beggary1 and sees unusual types and meets incredible men and women and analyses his emotions1 and worships the ,great ,spirit in vague fashions2 and writes excellently about it all4 ,he wishes there were more like him2 and so do ,i40 ,,daily ,,news4--8,this robust book1 a classic of educated yet wild vagabondage40 ,,liverpool ,,courier4--8,mr4 ,graham found pleasure1 even joy everywhere1 and he has an almost inspired faculty for making the reader see things as he sees them40 ,,the ,,queen4--8,the whole book is full of beautiful things40 ,,irish ,,times4--8,not a chapter1 scarcely a page1 which cannot be re-read with profit and delight40 ,,glasgow ,,herald4--8,told in language that is always adequate and luminous40 ,,london3 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,ltd4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores 7italics74 ,text that was in bold face is enclosed by equals signs 7bold74 ,footnotes have been moved to follow the chapters in which they are referenced4