was Peter’s power, and the pendulum his understanding.”  The great autocrat justly considered that such a council could be much more easily managed than a stubborn Patriarch, and the wisdom of the measure has been duly appreciated by succeeding sovereigns.  Though the idea of re-establishing the Patriarchate has more than once been raised, it has never been carried into execution.  The Holy Synod remains the highest ecclesiastical authority.

But the Emperor?  What is his relation to the Synod and to the Church in general?

This is a question about which zealous Orthodox Russians are extremely sensitive.  If a foreigner ventures to hint in their presence that the Emperor seems to have a considerable influence in the Church, he may inadvertently produce a little outburst of patriotic warmth and virtuous indignation.  The truth is that many Russians have a pet theory on this subject, and have at the same time a dim consciousness that the theory is not quite in accordance with reality.  They hold theoretically that the Orthodox Church has no “Head” but Christ, and is in some peculiar undefined sense entirely independent of all terrestrial authority.  In this respect it is often contrasted with the Anglican Church, much to the disadvantage of the latter; and the supposed differences between the two are made a theme for semi-religious, semi-patriotic exultation.  Khomiakof, for instance, in one of his most vigorous poems, predicts that God will one day take the destiny of the world out of the hands of England in order to give it to Russia, and he adduces as one of the reasons for this transfer the fact that England “has chained, with sacrilegious hand, the Church of God to the pedestal of the vain earthly power.”  So far the theory.  As to the facts, it is unquestionable that the Tsar exercises a much greater influence in ecclesiastical affairs than the King and Parliament in England.  All who know the internal history of Russia are aware that the Government does not draw a clear line of distinction between the temporal and the spiritual, and that it occasionally uses the ecclesiastical organisation for political purposes.

What, then, are the relations between Church and State?

To avoid confusion, we must carefully distinguish between the Eastern Orthodox Church as a whole and that section of it which is known as the Russian Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Church* is, properly speaking, a confederation of independent churches without any central authority—­a unity founded on the possession of a common dogma and on the theoretical but now unrealisable possibility of holding Ecumenical Councils.  The Russian National Church is one of the members of this ecclesiastical confederation.  In matters of faith it is bound by the decisions of the ancient Ecumenical Councils, but in all other respects it enjoys complete independence and autonomy.

     * Or Greek Orthodox Church, as it is sometimes called.