I gathered from some of my informants that the reasons why Russia had been backward in the mission field, and also why she was racked with revolution, were in reality the same, namely, that the Orthodox Church was not so vigorous and had not that hold on the consciences of the people that it ought to have. Not that for one moment Russia is ceasing to be religious. The attendance at Father John's funeral was quoted as disproving such a possibility. People of the working and middle classes came for miles to stand on a bleak cold day for long hours merely to catch a glimpse of the coffin which contained the mortal remains of a man who, according to their belief, lived more than any man in accordance with God's law. Russia is religious to the very core; but, like all religious nations, our own included, she longs to express her deep sincerity through diversity and not through uniformity. Alas! there are people in every nation who want to put us in one religious uniform and to march us like soldiers at the word of command straight into heaven's gate. In England this view only makes some good and narrow-minded people anxious to have such a thing as religious uniformity in our schools; but in Russia this doctrine has been more vigorously held, and is doubtless responsible for the waning power of the Orthodox Church. Mr. Pobiedonosteff, leader of the reactionary movement, nearly caused a revolution, and certainly {331} weakened the Church, by insisting on Uniformity and Orthodoxy. He believed that there could be but one form of religion in the State, and therefore he discouraged every other form of religious activity. Not only did he rightly forbid those strange wild immoral sects who practise and teach mutilation, but even the sober and devout followers of Lord Radstock were to be silenced. The result of such a policy was but too obvious. Religion was made odious by the insincerity which such a policy must foster, and the State became detestable to all earnest Christians who claimed the inherent right of every living soul to love and worship his Creator in accordance with his true convictions.