RECOLLECTIONS OF POBEDONOSTZEFF- 1892-1894 59 



regards the established church of the empire as the form 

 of Christianity most primitive and pure; and while he 

 sees in its ritual, in its art, and in all the characteristics 

 of its worship the nearest approach to his ideals, he looks 

 at it also from the point of view of a statesman as the 

 greatest cementing power of the vast empire through 

 which it is spread. 



This being the case, he naturally opposes all other re 

 ligious bodies in Russia as not merely inflicting injury 

 upon Christianity, but as tending to the political disin 

 tegration of the empire. Never, in any of our conversa 

 tions, did I hear him speak a harsh word of any other 

 church or of any religious ideas opposed to his own ; but 

 it was clear that he regarded Protestants and dissident 

 sects generally as but agents in the progress of disinte 

 gration which, in Western Europe, seemed approaching a 

 crisis, and that he considered the Roman Catholic Church 

 in Poland as practically a political machine managed by 

 a hierarchy in deadly hostility to the Russian Empire 

 and to Russian influence everywhere. 



In discussing his own church, he never hesitated to 

 speak plainly of its evident shortcomings. Unquestion 

 ably, one of the wishes nearest his heart is to reform the 

 abuses which have grown up among its clergy, especially 

 in their personal habits. Here, too, is a reason for any 

 repressive policy which he may have exercised against 

 other religious bodies. Everything that detracts from the 

 established Russo-Greek Church detracts from the rev 

 enues of its clergy, and, as these are pitifully small, aids 

 to keep the priests and their families in the low condition 

 from which he is so earnestly endeavoring to raise them. 

 As regards the severe policy inaugurated by Alexander 

 III against the Jews of the empire, which Pobedonostzeff, 

 more than any other man, is supposed to have inspired, 

 he seemed to have no harsh feelings against Israelites as 

 such ; but his conduct seemed based upon a theory which, 

 in various conversations, he presented with much force: 

 namely, that Russia, having within its borders more Jews 



