272 



EASTEEN CHUECHES. 



The grain-collector at Batliang says tliat for several 

 days before the earthquake the water had overflowed 

 the dike, hut after it the earth cracked in many 

 places, and black, fetid water spurted out in a furious 

 manner. If one poked it, the spurting instantly fol- 

 lowed, just as is the case with the salt-wells and fire- 

 wells (in the eastern part of the provinces), and this 

 explains how it happened that fire followed the 

 earthquake in Bathang. 



As nearly as is ascertained, there were destroyed 

 two large temples, the offices of the collector of grain- 

 tax and the local magistrate, the Ting-lin temple, 

 and nearly 700 fathoms of wall around it ; six smaller 

 temples, numbering 221 rooms, besides 1,849 rooms 

 and houses of the common people. The number of 

 people, soldiers, and larnas, killed by the crash was 

 2,298, among whom were the local magistrate and his 

 second in office. The earthquake extended from 

 Bathang eastward to Pang-chah-muh, westward to 

 Nan-tun, on the south to Lin-tsah-shih, and on the 

 north to the salt-wells of A-tumtsz, a circuit of over 

 400 miles. It occurred simultaneously over the 

 whole of this region. In some places steep Mils 

 split and sunk into deep pits ; in others, hills on 

 level spots became precipitous cliffs, and the roads 

 and highways were rendered impassable by obstruc- 

 tions. 



EASTEEN CHUECHES. A spirit of oppo- 

 sition has begun to exhibit itself in the Eus- 

 sian Church against the old teachings and 

 usages, to which the Holy Synod itself has 

 contributed by certain of its acts. A system 

 of annual conferences, having in view the ele- 

 vation of clerical life, has been introduced by 

 the synod within the last two years. These 

 conferences are now held in all the orthodox 

 dioceses. In them the uncultivated old clergy, 

 who adhere to the routine of the old usages, 

 find themselves quite effectively opposed by 

 the younger clergy, who have received their 

 education in the newer and later schools, and 

 at the Academy. The latter insist with more 

 or less determination upon a thorough reform 

 of the arbitrary canons of the Church, upon a 

 higher culture for the clergy, and an improve- 

 ment of their material condition. In justifi- 

 cation of their propositions, they expose with- 

 out mercy the many abuses which the ecclesi- 

 astical authorities have allowed to grow up. 



The Holy Synod is said to contemplate pub- 

 lishing a complete collection of the decrees 

 and ordinances in reference to the orthodox 

 faith in Eussia. 



According to the statistical exhibit of the 

 Holy Synod, there are now 35,000 churches 

 31,000 parochial churches, and 4,000 under- 

 churches attached to the Eussian State 

 Church. Connected with these are 37,718 

 priests, 11,227 deacons, and 65,952 attendants, 

 choir-singers, etc. The annual grants from 

 the state for the support of the churches and 

 the clergy amount to 5,163,363 rubles. The 

 subject of increasing the resources of the 

 clergy, to a sufficient sum to assure them an 

 adequate, comfortable support, is actively dis- 

 cussed, both among their own body and in 

 some of the Eussian journals. 



According to the new plans devised by the 

 Eussian Government for the appointment of 

 the lower clergy, their consecration will not 



hereafter be wholly in the hands of the dio- 

 cesan bishops, but candidates will be required, 

 previous to receiving an appointment, to pass 

 an examination regarding their fitness for the 

 office. 



The Eussian Ministry of the Interior has 

 made plans for the building or rebuilding in 

 the Baltic provinces, by the end of 1873, of 

 33 orthodox churches, 50 parsonages, and 27 

 school-houses. The sum of 800,000 silver ru- 

 bles is appropriated to defray the expense of 

 these erections, besides which 100,000 silver 

 rubles are appropriated for the ornamenta- 

 tion and furnishing the interiors, the purchase 

 of pictures and service-sets. 



The adherents of the sects are said to have 

 increased in the department of Moscow to such 

 an extent that there is hardly a village in 

 which there are not five or six different reli- 

 gious communities strongly distinct from each 

 other, but equally fanatical and uncanonical 

 in doctrine and usage. The most prominent 

 sect at present appears to be that of the so- 

 called Anabaptist, who, however, differ in 

 many respects from the Baptists of "West- 

 ern Europe. They reject the baptism of in- 

 fants, but, unlike other Baptists, they consider 

 celibacy a necessary condition for reaching the 

 kingdom of heaven. The extent to which the 

 sects have spread in the country is shown by 

 the fact that a careful calculation makes the 

 number of Eascolniks, or dissenters, about 

 fifteen million. 



The Eussian Bishop of Kamtchatka reports 

 very favorably as to the success of the efforts 

 of the missionaries to convert the Corean im- 

 migrants in that country to Christianity. It 

 appears that since the year 1865 there has 

 been a pretty constant flow of emigration from 

 Corea to the South Oussouri district in Kamt- 

 chatka, owing to the dearth of provisions in 

 the former country, and that, as, by the Corean 

 law, the refugees would render themselves 

 liable to the penalty of death if they returned, 

 they expressed a wish to become Eussians, 

 both in order to enjoy the privileges of Eus- 

 sian subjects, and to protect themselves against 

 the Corean Government if it should go to war 

 with Eussia. They have accordingly cut off 

 their long cues, are learning the Eussian lan- 

 guage, and have for the most part become 

 Christians. The Eussification and Christiani- 

 zation of the Coreans," writes one of the mis- 

 sionaries, the Archimandrite Palladius, " is 

 proceeding with great rapidity. Our greatest 

 difficulty is the Corean language, which is a 

 mixture of Chinese and local dialect, and is 

 very hard to understand." 



A commission of Bulgarian bishops and no- 

 bles, appointed by the Sultan, February 26, 

 1870, to meet in Constantinople and assist in 

 preparing a draft for the organization of a 

 separate Bulgarian Church, also drew up an 

 act for the election by the communities of 

 clerical and lay deputies, to meet in Constan- 

 tinople in April, 1871, for the rectification of 



