"Haven't you any more ancient than this?"
"An old one would cost a thousand rubles, as you know."
"I know."
The peasant moistened his finger as he turned over the leaves, and there was left a dark finger-print where he had touched them. The shopman, gazing with an evil expression at the back of his head, said:
"The Holy Scriptures are all of the same age; the word of God does not change."
"We know all about that; we have heard that! God did not change it, but Nikon[1] did."
Closing the book, he went out in silence.
[1] The Nikonites are the followers of Nikon, patriarch of Moscow, who objected to the innovation of Peter the Great in suppressing the patriarchate of Moscow, and establishing a State Church upon the lines of the old patriarchal church. They are also termed the Old Believers, who are split up into several extraordinary schisms which existed before and after the suppression of the patriarchate, but who, in the main, continue their orthodoxy.
Sometimes these forest people disputed with the shopman, and it was evident to me that they knew more about the sacred writings than he did.
"Outlandish heathen!" grumbled the shopman.