The missions among the pagan tribes of the empire made considerable progress, and especially Innocent, archbishop of Kamtchatka, became a much-praised ex- ample of the revived missionarj- spirit in the Russian empire, traversing to and fro the long chain of pagan islands between North-eastern Asia and North-western America. The reign of Alexander II (since 1855) has been prolific of important reforms in the civil adminis- tration of the empire. Some of tliem, as the total abo- lition of serfdom, and the organization of a system of public schools, have had a considerable and favoralde reaction upon the progress of the national Church. The efforts for Russifj'ing the polyglot and |)olyreligious tribes of the empire in one tongue and one creed gained in vigor and extent. The great Eastern war of 1877 was proclaimed by the Russian bishops as a holy re- ligious war for the overthrow of the Mohammedan
power over the Orthodox Eastern chtirches in the Turkish empire, and made tlie Russian Church appear to a greater extent than ever before as the standard- bearer of all the interests of the Oriental P^astern Church. The increasing missionary zeal of the Church overstepped the boundaries of the empire and founded missions in China and Japan which were prosperous beyond expectation. In many large cities of Western Europe and of the United States, Russian priests were appointed by the Russian government to gather not oidy the Orthodox Russians, but all persons belonging to the Eastern Oriental Church, into permanent con- gregations, and in 1879 even a bishop, with his resi- dence in San Francisco, was appointed to exercise the episcopal superintendence over the congregations on the Pacific coast of North America. A strong desire for establishing friendly intercourse and relations with other churches of episcopal constitution made itself felt among many of the most educated and zealous priests and laymen of the Church, and " societies for religious enlightenment" were formed at St. Petersburg and in other cities which proclaimed the promotion of this in- tercourse as one of their chief objects. The grand-duke Constantine. brother of Alexander II, is an enthusiastic patron of this movement and the president of the St. Petersburg society.
2. Doctrinal Basis of the Russian Church. — Although the connection between the Russian Church and the other sections of the Orthodox Eastern Church has for some time been severed, they have remained in entire union with regard to their common doctrine. Some (Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, i, 70) regard as "the most hopeful feature of the Russian Church the com- paratively free circulation of the Scriptures, which are more highly esteemed and more widely read there than in other parts of the Eastern Church." Hepworth Dix- on {Free Russia, p. 290) says that the Russians, next to the Scotch and the New-Englanders, are tlie greatest Bible-readers, but it must be remarked that not more than one out of ten Russians can read at all. Dr. Pink- erton, an English Independent, who for man}' years resided and travelled in Russia as agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, takes, in his work on Russia (London, 1833), a hopeful view of the future of the Rus- sian Church, '■ for the Church that permits every one of its members to read the Scriptures in a language which he understands, and acknowledges this Word as the highest tribunal in matters of faith on earth,.is pos- sessed of the best reformer of all superstition." It is also noteworthy that the treatise on The Duty of Par- ish Priests, which was composed by archbishop Konin- sky of Mohilev, aided by bishop Sopkofsky of Smolensk (St. Petersburg, 1776), and on the contents of which all candidates for holy orders in the Russian seminaries are examined, approaches more nearly the Protestant principle of the supremacy of the Bible in matters of Christian faith and Christian life than any deliverance of the Eastern Church. Thus it says, ''AH the articles of the faith are contained in the Word of God; that is, in the books of the Old and the New Testament. The Word of God is the source, foundation, and jierfect rule, both of our faith and of the good works of the law. The writings of the holy fathers are of great use, but neither the writings of the holy fathers nor the tradi- tions of the Church are to be confounded or equalled with the Word of God and his commandments" (see Schaft', Creeds of Christendom, i, 73).
Notwithstanding this respect of the Russian Church for the supreme authority of the Scriptures, it has nev- er been prevailed upon to hold ecclesiastical commun- ion with any other than the several branches of the Orthodox Eastern (commonly called Greek) Church. An interesting attempt to establish intercommunion and co-operation between the Russian Church and some Anglican bishops was made from 1717 to 1723 by two High-Church English bishops, called Nonjurors (for refusing to renounce their oath of allegiance to Jamta
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II), in connection with two Scottish bishops. They wrote to this end, in October, 1717, to Peter the Great and the Eastern patriarchs. The patriarchs, in 1723, sent their ultiraatuni, requiring as a term of commun- ion absolute submission of the British to all the dog- mas of the Greek Church. The " Most Hoh' Govern- ing Synod" of St. Petersburg was more polite, and in transmitting the ultimatum of the Eastern patriarchs proposed, in the name of the czar, " to the most rever- end the bishops of the remnant of the Catholic Church in Great Britain, our brethren most beloved in the Lord, that they should send two delegates to Russia to hold a friendly conference, in the name and spirit of Christ, with two members to be chosen by the Russians, that it may be more easily ascertained what may be yielded or given up by one or the other; what, on the other hand, may or ought for conscience' sake to be absolute- ly denied." The conference, however, was never held, for the death of Peter the Great put an end to the ne- gotiations.