[Illustration: THE RUSSO-GREEK SERVICE.] In a side chapel near the altar lies Peter, the first metropolitan of Moscow, with a nail of the Saviour’s cross and a part of his seamless robe. On the right is the coffin of Philip, who had the courage to rebuke the Terrible Ivan, a terribly brutal ruler, murdering his nobles without mercy, and when Philip became too troublesome he murdered him. Now the dead prelate lies here with one of his skeleton hands exposed to view on his breast, and it is part of the Emperor’s service, when he approaches this tomb, to kiss the holy bone, that is left convenient for the purpose. Very like this cathedral is that of the Archangel Michael close by; and here lie the coffins and relics of the early rulers of the Runic and Romanoff dynasties, all the way down to Peter the Great. The tomb of Demetrius, son of Ivan the Terrible, is the most sacred of all; he disappeared mysteriously, and the country was plunged into a long and bloody civil war; and, finally, his murdered body and coffin were brought to view by a miracle, and the forehead of the dead prince being exposed, or a hole about an inch in diameter being cut through the coffin and the forehead raised up to it, or what is just as good, a bone being put across the hole, the people approach with reverence and press their lips upon this holy and disgusting skull. Our meditations among the tombs were disturbed by the entrance of visitors, many of them natives of the country, whose reverence in the midst of so much that to them was specially sacred, we could not fail to respect. I cannot kiss a bone with any enthusiasm; but there is no accounting for the tastes of people; and disgusting as is the idolatry of the Greek Church to me, I know that many English and American Christians wish to have that church united to theirs. I would like to see it reformed first. There are no restrictions on religious worship in Russia! On one street in the capital of Russia, where the Emperor himself resides, and the Greek Church reigns in all its glory, there are six churches of as many different religious persuasions, all protected by the law. The English have a church of their own in Moscow, and a rectory, for there are a large number of English-speaking people in these cities, not only men in trade, but tutors and governesses who are induced to come to Russia from England to teach the children and youth the English language. It is quite as great an accomplishment to speak English, as with us it is to speak French. And such is the extension of business westward, it is quite important that one who is in commercial pursuits of any kind should understand a language which more rapidly than any other is spreading over the world. We meet more Russians speaking our own tongue than of almost any other people.