All this has now passed like a bad dream. People in Russia may believe what they like and worship God how they like. M. Iwolsky was most anxious that the world should know that he, the then representative of temporal power in the councils of the Russian Church, so far from encouraging the idea that Christ's Church can be controlled by a temporal power, however great, was most careful to maintain that in spiritual matters the Church is independent of the State, even if in temporal matters she submit herself to the authority of Government. Peter the Great abolished the Patriarchate; he added many, though not all, of the powers of the Patriarchate to the Crown; and therefore the Emperor represents the Patriarch in many ways. But it is wholly misunderstanding his position to say that in spiritual matters he is supreme. The Russian Church, like all other branches of the Church, is controlled and governed by councils, both general and provincial. But M. Iwolsky had to confess that the power which the State wielded in the Synod of the Church was still very great. The Crown has three ways in which it can influence the council. First, though the members of the council are representatives of the Church, it is the Crown who decides (with the exception of the Metropolitans) who those representatives shall be; secondly, the Crown, through the Procurator, can forbid any action which {332} brings the Synod into conflict with the laws of the State; lastly, the Procurator, as representative of the Crown, must always be present at the debates of the Synod, and has always a right to express his opinion, even on spiritual questions. Such powers put together clearly give the Crown a control not only in things temporal, but, if it is desired, an influence in things spiritual as well. Still it cannot be too widely known that at any rate in theory the Russian Church is in things spiritual independent of temporal power. Most Englishmen would think, no doubt, that if the Church is to hold her rightful place in the hearts of Russians, she can only do it by relying on the power of preaching rather than on the power of the sword. Therefore it would be best for both Church and State if they had less to do with one another. English Churchmen will be glad to hear that there is some prospect of a Synod of the Orthodox Church being held, independently of the existing Holy Synod--a council which may rank as a General Synod of the Greek Communion, if other branches of the Orthodox Church are invited to join in its deliberations, of which there is some prospect. The object of this Synod will be to reform the discipline of the Church, a matter which is engaging, I understand, the sincere attention of the devout Christians of Russia. Few things bear truer witness to the weakness of the Church in Russia than the low moral tone which exists, as all witnesses aver, in every grade of Russian social life. The outward observance of the