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Show j REAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AT LAST 'j . 8 1 Piicelcss Boon Conferred Upon-Long-i Suffering Russian People. EMPEROR'S EASTER GIFT HISTORIC EVENT OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE. v St. iXrrsburfr. May 3. 2:20 a. m. I Heal rciieicms freedom conferred upon Ms Fubjerls by Ernnrror Nicholas as an Kaster grift is a historic event of tlio highcFt significance in comparison viih which the remission of millions of dollars of taxes to the peasantry, a long- list of decorations, and six pages of promotions of Inneaucratic officials are hardly worthy of comment. Liberty of conscience, has been repented!:.' re-pented!:.' proclaimed, and Procurator I'obedoiiob-tzeff. in hjs famous reply to the cvanKelica! petition of 1SS8. continued con-tinued that it existed in the empire. The fact is that as a trystinp place all religions have been tolerated in Russia, but none has been allowed to iret-pass upon the orthodox faith as ruiinc'ited from the moscpie that faces the Ch'irvh on the Nevski in St. Petersburg-. People were free to remain true to the rlif:imi of their fathers, but were forbidden to make proselytes. None Might Leave. Everbody might enter, but none rilRht leave the orthodox church without with-out forfeiting all civil rights, including th rifi-.t to inherit crown property, find -:i the t'-f:in o: that policy persecutions perse-cutions of every conceivable character charac-ter were directed against the Tlas-;ol;iiki Tlas-;ol;iiki r dissident sects, and especially especial-ly the old believers. Among the Ras- lv'dniki are numbered a thousand and one queer and rustic heresies bred of the groat schism caused by reform of the ancient liturgy and augmented by th suppression of the patriachate by VrtT the Great. The old believers, vho clung to the old liturgy and made th sign of the cross with three fingers instead of two. was broken up into numerous nu-merous sects, some discarding priests a rd sacranTenls. and some trending to-v.aru to-v.aru f i ee love and immoral practices, bi! r.thers instituted an episcopate and priesthood of their own and dealt with all innovations from the west as Inventions of the anti-Christ, eschewing eschew-ing tea. coffee and sugar, and consid-e-ing shaving wicked. Victims of Persecution. These latter survived countless per-Fc-utions for years, without legal recognition rec-ognition of marriages conducted by their priests, but nevertheless became! 'ommercially the ablest class in Russia. Rus-sia. Morality and wealth were the se-r-iets of their strength.. This branch of th" old believers includes merchant princes of Moscow rivaling those of America, but they have never ceased to be regarded as apostates from the orthodox r-hurch and have been sub-j-vt-'-d to ell sorts of legal persecutions as Mich. Some Worshipped Napoleon. The humbler dissenters have had a much harder time, being hunted down until secretly they gave rise to a horde of strange sects. One preached redemp-f. redemp-f. ti.in by suicide and a fiery or bloody J baptism: otherr. worshipped images of Xajoleon as the Messiah, believing that he escaped to Siberia and would return some day and establish a reign of jus-t jus-t tice and pence. :nd still others, like the Flagellants, Kunuclis. Jumpers and Adamites, which are now practically -. iped out. indulged fn most licentious rites. The trtudists and Molkans of southern Russia, now the principal non-conformists, who might be de- perilled as the Quakers of Russia, have I made tremendous progress in recent I . years in spite of persecutions which I often have driven them eastward and: 1 . made them pioneers of Russian colo- I nization. There are in all about 12.- I Oi'O.OOO of these dissidents. I I Millions Are Affected. 1 I The emperor's act will also affect I about 40.000,00 belonging to alien j f;nths. Piich as the Jews. Catholics and I Lutherans of Poland and the Baltic I provinces: the Protestants of Finland. I and tlv; followers of Islam and Rudda I in the Urals, the Crimea, the Cau- II casus. Turkestan and Central Asia, j Thse figure- are only approximate, as I probably millions who are nominally I orthodox secretly profess other reli- 1 gions. "Whole village.? of Mussulmans I baptized into the orthodox communion by a ruse petition in vain to be per mitted to return to Mohammendan-YVhile Mohammendan-YVhile the emperor's approval of the aiti-in of the committee of the minify ! trrs distinctly holds to orthodoxy as the state religion, and creates the usual commission to work out many j di-t.iils in connection with the ofT- spring of mixed marriages during mi- j nority, legitimization of marriages and If gistra1 ion of deaths and births, it also rescinds a number of acts aimed specifically at various religions, and establishes es-tablishes the principle of absolute freedom free-dom of worship and the right of every Russian who becomes of age to change , ' his confession of faith, in which the assurance of relisious freedom lies. t slsn contemplates relief of Cath- j dies and I'o'.ch from the present yex- I ; atious restrictions as to preaching the catechism, the Russian language, etc. Complete Reversal. Logically the emperor's action in-I in-I volves a complete reversal of the Rus- I sian policy of seeking national unity I i!' cjiKpjPred provinces in religious unity. He has accepted the axiom of the Metropolitan Antonius: "You can-i can-i y.ot hold strange children in the church religious variety rrood for the nation as well as for the church itself, a i- principle which, if acknowledged po- . " "iiticaiiy, vou'd mean a federated Rus sia. |
