The magnificent monument to the Great Tsar Liberator, Alexander II., is the latest addition to the Kremlin, that heart of Moscow which echoes the glorious past of the Russian empire and is its true Pantheon. None have graced it more than those early Romanofs whose work is evident in every ancient building, but still more imperishable was the noble labour of him to whom this generation has expressed its gratitude in an imposing and characteristic memorial to the most loved Tsar. CHAPTER IX _Moscow of the Ecclesiastics_ "Come, brothers! your heads you may bow, Before grand and most holy Moscow; Where the old altars of our land, Where shrines of saints, and ikons stand, Our inmost sanctuary."--BOROZDNA. Holy Moscow, so reverently and affectionately regarded by the orthodox as the Mother of the Church, is to them more than a mere agglomeration of sacred shrines and ecclesiastical edifices. Neither the churches--though they are numerous and important enough to warrant the familiar appellation--nor yet the wonder-working, incorruptible remains and the miraculous ikons most endear Moscow to the true-believer--for there are such elsewhere which receive like humble homage. Holy Moscow comprises all that has served to nurse and sustain the faith amidst infidel aggression; the white-walled and golden-crowned city is symbolic of the lasting reward of heroic endeavour in the upward struggle of the race towards supremacy. Not indestructible itself, but its spirit undying; razed time after time only to appear again greater and more glorious than before, Moscow seems to the Russian not so much a part of the national entity personified in empire, as the very soul of his race; possessed, even as each individual, with strength to endure adversity and unfailing vigour to accomplish a predestined purpose. Traditions of divine intervention; the finding and promulgation of Law; much that is miraculous and legendary as well as all that is credible in early national history the Russian associates with Moscow, and feels what the stranger cannot be made to perceive, may even fail to comprehend, for the outward and visible sign of the living spirit that actuates the Church is but faint and imperfect, even as performance is so often but an inadequate rendering of intention. Although the sanctity of Moscow may not be apparent to the unorthodox, the observer will expect some characteristics of motive to stand revealed in externals. But to the uninitiated the ritual of the Russian Church is bewildering, and the true significance of such symbols as are exhibited in ecclesiastical architecture and ornament is likely to be missed by over accentuating the importance of whatever may be unusual. For many, who are quite ignorant of its tenets and practice, the Eastern Church has an irresistible fascination; the danger is that these, on a first acquaintance will over-praise such details as they may appreciate and