INTRODUCTION

My first inclination, when the entirely unexpected proposal of the Publishers came to me to write this book, was immediately to decline. There are so many well-known writers on Russia, whose books are an unfailing pleasure and source of information, that it seemed to me to be nothing less than presumption to add to their number. But when I was assured that there seems to be a great desire just now for a book which, as the Publishers expressed it, “should not attempt an elaborate sketch of the country, nor any detailed description of its system of government and administration, or any exhaustive study of the Russian Church, and yet should give the impressions of a sympathetic observer of some of the chief aspects of Russian Life which are likely to appeal to an English Churchman,” I felt that I might venture to attempt it.

It has been given to me to get to understand thoroughly from close and intimate knowledge the commercial development of Siberia by our countrymen; and yet everywhere, both there and in Russia proper, I have to go to every place specially and primarily to give the ministrations of religion. It can be permitted to few, if any, to see those two sides of the life of a great and growing Empire at the same time. This has been my reason, therefore, for undertaking this small effort, and my object is to give, as the Publishers expressed it, “personal impressions.” I hope my readers will accept this book, therefore, as an impressionist description of Russian life of to-day, of which it would have been quite impossible to keep personal experiences from forming an important part. And though I write as an English Churchman, yet I wish to speak, and I trust in no narrow spirit, to the whole religious public, that I may draw them more closely into intelligent sympathy with this great nation which has seemed to come so suddenly, unexpectedly, and intimately into our own national life and destiny—and I believe as a friend.

HERBERT BURY,

Bishop.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
I.Russia’s Great Spaces[1]
II.General Social Life[21]
III.The Peasantry[46]
IV.The Clergy[71]
V.Religious Life and Worship[95]
VI.His Imperial Majesty the Tsar[118]
VII.A Paternal Government[139]
VIII.The Steppes[162]
IX.Russia’s Problem[186]
X.The Anglican Church in Russia[205]
XI.The Jews[228]
XII.Our Countrymen in the Empire[248]
Index[268]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

His Imperial Majesty the Tsar[Frontispiece]
Russia’s Great Spaces—Winterfacingpage[4]
Russia’s Great Spaces—Summer""[8]
The Kremlin""[21]
The Gate of the Redeemer, Moscow""[29]
A Well-clad Coachman""[33]
A Village Scene""[46]
The Metropolitan of Moscow""[71]
The Convent at Ekaterinburg, Siberia""[78]
The Abbess Magdalena""[84]
The Russian Priest at Spassky""[90]
S. Isaac’s Cathedral, Petrograd""[95]
Interior of a Russian Church""[102]
The Cathedral at Riga""[112]
Her Imperial Majesty the Tsaritsa""[118]
His Imperial Highness the Tsarevitch Alexei""[125]
Her Imperial Highness the Grand DuchessElizabeth, The Friend of the Poor""[139]
Characteristic Group of Russians""[144]
A Group of Russian Peasants""[152]
Consecration of Burial Ground in theSiberian Steppes""[162]
Outside a Kirghiz Uerta""[166]
Tarantass with its Troika for the Steppes""[170]
Inside a Kirghiz Uerta""[180]
Russian Service at the Atbazar Mine""[186]
A Class of Russian Students with Teacher""[195]
The English Church of S. Andrew, Moscow""[205]
The Bishop and Russian Chauffeur""[216]
The British Community at Atbazar, Siberia""[224]
The Archbishop of Warsaw""[228]
A Polish Jew""[236]
Camels at Work—Summer""[256]
Camels at Work—Winter""[262]
Map[at end]