“It is much to be regretted that those young men have so little time and opportunity, after finishing their academical course, for making further progress in studies suited to their profession. The cares of a family (for marriage must indispensably precede ordination in the Russian church), their labours among their flocks, the scanty support which most of them receive, together with their isolated situation in country villages, where few traces of education and civilized life have yet entered, render this almost impracticable.”
The Jesuits were finally expelled from the empire in 1820. At that time their number amounted to 674.
“On their reaching the frontiers of the empire, the emperor Alexander ordered them to be supplied with from thirty to forty ducats each, to bear their expenses to some other place of residence. But though this mighty force of papal agency was removed from the Russian territories by one stroke of the autocratic pen, yet the influence which they had acquired was not so easily to be annihilated; and there is no doubt, that in the succeeding intrigues which were played off so successfully against the Russian Bible Society, their powerful friends in the capital took a part.” p. 62.
Drunkenness. On this painful topic, the author has given most melancholy information:—
“Instead of restraining the use of brandy, the government, even of the present day, affords every facility to the people to obtain it, in order to enhance the gain derived from this iniquitous source; which amounts to nearly one-fourth of the whole revenue of the empire.”
From his calculation, it appears that there is “the enormous quantity of eighty-one millions of gallons of brandy alone drunk every year by the peasantry of this empire.” pp. 75-77.
Baptism. Dr. P. says:—
“The cathedral church at Odessa is a noble building, in the Grecian style, with domes and crosses. One day I entered it, when the protopope, or dean, was baptizing an infant. The day was excessively cold, there being upwards of ten degrees of frost, and the water in the font almost freezing. After the ceremony was over, I expressed to the priest my surprise that they did not use tepid water, seeing the infant had to be three times immersed over head and ears in the icy bath. He smiled at my compassion, and exclaimed—‘Ah, there is no danger: the child is a Russian.’ Indeed, such are the superstitious opinions of the people, that were the chill taken off the water, they would probably doubt the validity of the ordinance.” p. 153.
“In Great Russia, the child is baptized usually in the church, or in a private house; and the prayers, exorcisms, and ceremonies attending this ordinance, are long and complicated. The Greeks and Russians always use the trine immersion; the first, in the name of the Father—the second, in that of the Son—and the third in that of the Holy Ghost. When a priest cannot be obtained, they permit lay-baptism; and they never rebaptize on any account whatever.”
The Duchobortzi sect has excited great attention:—