The ranks of the clergy are recruited partly from themselves, partly from the lower classes of the people. The number of pupils obtained in their own families is not inconsiderable, for in Russia also the marriages of priests are usually very fimtful. The journal of the ministry for the interior gives on an average five children for every priest's marriage ; this'is for St. Petersburg. In the interior of the empire the average may be higher. The sons of priests generally follow the profession of their father ; they are called popovitshi. The extra demand is supplied by the free peasants and the burgers. The children of the nobles seldom or never enter the church as they do in Catholic countries. During an abode of several years in Russia I never heard but of one employe who entered a convent in consequence of domestic misfortune ; and of two officers who took the same step, from what motives I know not. I once found a German Protestant in a Russian convent, whose talents and education had at his outset in life promised him a very advantageous career.
So much for the outward condition and position of the Russian clergy. For the inward it must be owned, when we consider the whole system and its fruits during the com'se of centuries, and when we compare their deeds with those of the priesthood in other countries, they are a very insignificant body. They have done nothing super-excellent for the arts or for science, nor produced men who in any respect have done humanity great service. They lived, eat^ drank, married, christened, buried, absolved, and died ; and on the whole they have not done much else. There are, it is true, notabilities among the Russian clergy, but they are such only in Russia. To the list of Russian authors enumerated in the academical calendar for 1839, the clerical profession had contributed only 102 ; of these, 6Q were patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops : the rest were monks.
Some things however are to be said in praise of the Russian priesthood. They are not less than other Russians distinguished for their toleration in matters of religion. It is true the matter does not lie very near their hearts ; because they have few thoughts or ideas connected with it, which have become firm convictions, and are maintained as such ; they are therefore peaceful, not so much out of dislike to quarrelling as from a want of zeal and energy. It is a merit in them nevertheless. Nowhere does this tolerant spirit appear in a more favourable light tlian on the frontiers of the Russian and Polish provinces. Here there are in many places only Greek and Roman Catholic priests, and no Protestant pastor. Should it happen that a foreign Protestant is in want of spiritual assistance in sickness, or should the body of a Protestant require burial, it is almost invariably the Catholic, who in an inhuman and unchristian manner refuses his spiritual aid, while the Russian gives his without hesitation. In such cases foreigners always apply to the Russian rather than to the Catholic priests. Seldom is an unkind word heard from Russian priests when speaking of a person of a different faith ; and those who understand German, will even go frequently to the Protestant churches to hear the
I have tliis remark from the mouth of a German Russian Protestant.