"What do you think of the Patriarch of Moscow? He has come to terms with Lenin."
"He is a weak man," said the Archbishop.
I recalled an opinion of Bishop Nicholas of Serbia that Patriarch
Tikhon would be next dictator of Russia.
The Archbishop of Minsk smiled gently and ironically, and then said quietly:
"Never. And he has too simple a mind to cope with the enemies of
Russia."
"Do you not think Holy Russia will reassert herself? You know the famous lines of Solovyof: 'O Russia, what sort of an East will you be, the East of Xerxes or the East of Christ?'"
"It looks rather like the East of Xerxes," said the old man. "But you believe differently——"
And he smiled indulgently.
I could not say whether he spoke sincerely or out of the depths of personal and national humiliation.
I suppose it is hard for those who are not Russians to realize what has happened in Russia. Propaganda has discredited news. The western world thinks of Russia as the same country with a change of government. The colossal fact of the complete removal of the upper crust of Russia is not realized.