RUSSIA 



CMUS (q.v.), inhabited by a great variety of races 

 and tribes, has a population estimated at 7,500,000. 

 Jews are very numerous in the towns of west 

 Russia (about 2,500,000) and Poland (1,000,000). 

 (ontrary to the current opinion that all Jews 

 are merchants or money-lenders, it is the fact 

 that nearly three-fourths of the Russian Jews 

 are artisans or factory-workers, while the 30,000 

 Jews settled on the land in Bessarabia and Kher- 

 son have provi-d themselves good agriculturists, j 

 The Finnish stems include the Finns and the 

 Hans (1,850,000 in Finland ami ,'C^i.ooO in 

 European Russia); the Esthmiians, the people of j 

 Livonia, and other Western Finns in the Baltic I 

 Provinces (about 1,000,000); the Lapps and the 

 Samoyedes in the far north; and the Volga Finns 

 and the Ujfrians (1,750,000 in European Russia 

 and 50,000 in Siberia). The Eastern Finns are 

 being rapidly absorlwd by the Russians; but the 

 Western Finns still maintain and warmly foster 

 their nationality. The Turko-Tartars i. e. Tar- 

 tars, Bashkirs, Kirghi/es, \c. are mere feeble 

 remnants of the tribes who once conquered Russia. 

 They number, however, no less than ;<..">00,000 

 in European Russia, 4,500,000 in central Asia, 

 1,500,000 in the Caucasus, and 350,000 (Tartars 

 and Yakuts) in Siberia, The Mongol race is 

 represented by some 480,000 Kalmucks in Russia 

 and central Asia, as well as by 250,000 Buriate 

 in Siberia; while the Manchurian tribes of the 

 Tunguses, Golds, &c., and the Hyperboreans num- 

 lier respectively about 50,000 and 12,000 in 8il>eria 

 (q.v.). Of west Europeans the Germans (about 

 1,000,000, out of whom 500,000 in Poland) are the I 

 most numerous. They have prosperous colonies | 

 in south Russia ; and in the chief towns there are ; 

 numbers of Germans, artisans and merchants. The 

 Swedes number about 300,000 in Finland. There i 

 are, besides, nearly 900,000 Roumanians in south- j 

 west Russia, and about 1,000,000 Europeans of 

 various nationalities scattered throughout the 

 empire. 



Density and Increase of Population. By the 

 census of 1897 it appears that the average density 

 of population in European Russia, exclusive of \ 

 Poland, is only 51 per square mile ; Podolia having 

 as many as 187 and Kieff 181, while Vologda has 

 but 9, Olonetz 7, and Archangel province (as in 

 Siberia) 1 per mile. The average in Poland is 193, 

 rising to 286 in Warsaw province, and 297 in Piotr- 

 kow. In Europe, owing to the prevalence of early 

 marriages among the peasants, the birth-rate is 

 very high from 35 to 63 in the thousand, the i 

 average having been of late about 47. But the j 

 death-rate is also very high viz. about 33. It 

 is only in the Baltic and western provinces, which 

 have also a lower birth-rate, that it falls to 20 and 

 18 in the thousand ; in the east, however, it goes 

 up to 45, and occasionally is even more. Die 

 mortality is terrible among the children of the 

 peasantry; on an average more than two lifth- die 

 before reaching live years of age. In s|>itcof this 

 the surplus of births over deaths varies between 

 1,600,000 and 2,000.000 throughout tin- empire, 

 and JM-tweeu ]. .(00,000 and 1,660,000 in European 

 Kn--i:i. The jiopnlaiion is thus rapidly increas- 

 ing; and while it was 74,000,000 in 1859, it 

 exceeded 115,000,000 in 1891. The Russians proper 

 emigrate but little from the empire ; but great 

 numbers of European Russians emigrate every 

 year to the Asiatic dominions. 



Religion. The great bulk of the Russians 

 excepting a few White Russians professing the' 

 I'liion belong to the Grwco-Russian Church, 

 olliei.-illy styled the Orthodox-Catholic Church, or 

 to one of its numberless sects of dissenters ( raskol ). 

 The Poles and most of the Lithuanians are Roman 

 Catholics (8,500,000); while the Finns, the 



Esthonians, and other Western Finns, the Swedes, 

 and the Germans are Protestants (about 4,000,000). 

 Nearly all the Jews obey the injucntions of the 

 Talmud, with the exception of a few Karaites in 

 the Crimea and west Russia. Islam has a large 

 numlwr of followers all the Turco-Tartars, 

 Bashkirs, and Kirghizes. Buddhism has ite 

 followers in the Kalmucks ami the Buriats. 

 shamanism is the religion of most of the natives 

 of Siberia, as well as of the nominally Christian 

 Mordvins. Votyaks, Tchuvashes, and the nominally 

 Mo-li-m Me.-cheiyaks, and (partly) the Kirghizes. 

 The Voguls, the Samoyedes, ami other inhabitants 

 of the far north are fetich worshippers. For thfr 

 relations of the Russian Church with the rest of 

 the Orthodox Eastern Church, see GUI I.H Ciifitni. 



All these religions are recognised by the govern- 

 ment, and the Grspco-Russian, Roman Catholic, 

 Lutheran, Moslem, Jewish, and Buddhist clergy are 

 maintained or protected by the state. As a rule 

 religious intolerance is not a part of the national 

 character. The government, however, from time 

 to time proceeds to ' Russianise' this or the other 

 part of the empire, and, without openly persecuting 

 this or that religion, imposes all sorts of vexatious 

 measures upon its followers. One or two noncon- 

 formist sects are the only ones who are openly 

 persecuted. The making of proselytes from among 

 the adherents of the Greek Church is severely 

 punished. 



The Dissenters. A most important part is played 

 in the popular life of Russia by the numerous secte 

 of dissenters, or rcukolnilu, to which nearly one- 

 third, or more, of the so-called Orthodox Russians 

 l>elong. New sects arise every year, anil even 

 among the Little Russians, who used so piously to 

 preserve their traditional religion in the face of 

 the Catholic propaganda, a nonconformist move- 

 ment has sprung up of late and spread with 

 wonderful rapidity under the name of the 'Stunda.' 



The Russian dissenters may be classed under 

 three divisions, all equally numerous : the ' Popov tsy* 

 (who have priests), the 'Bezpojiovtey' (who have 

 none), and the 'DukhovnyieKhristiane' (spiritualist 

 Christians). The first named object to the revision 

 of the sacred books which was accomplished under 

 the patriarch Nikon (see History, below), as well 

 as to the hierarchy of the Russian Church. They 

 are hostile to all kinds of 'novelties,' maintain 

 the patriarchal style of family arrangement, and get 

 their priests either from Austria or from priests 

 who have left the Orthodox Gripco-Russian Church. 

 A branch of the Poppvtsy, the ' Yedinovyert -\ .' 

 recognise Russian priests on condition of their 

 keeping to the unrevised liooks. 



The Bezpopovtsy repudiate the Orthodox ritual 

 and the sacraments, and have no priests. Any 

 man or woman may conduct divine service if 

 recognised by the community. The state is con- 

 sidered by them as an entire invention of the 

 Antichrist, and the tsar is Antichrist himself. 

 Yet very few amongst them really break off nil 

 connection with the state, and lead a life of out 

 casts, as the ' Stranniki ' (the Errante) do. 



The 'Spiritualists' comprise very many sects, 

 all more or less imbued with either Protestant or 

 rationalist teachings, as well as with communist 

 tendencies more or less carried into practice. The 

 chief of them are the 'Dnkhobortsy' (warriors of 

 the spirit), the 'Molokany' (Milk-eaters), both a 

 kind of Baptists the former have a strong leaven 

 of practical communism and the 'Stundists,' who 

 are much under Protestant influence. The 

 ' Khlysty,' or Flagellants, and the ' Skakuny," or 

 Shakers, lielong to the same division. The 

 Skoptsy (Castrati) have isolated adherents every- 

 where, even among the Lutheran Finns. 



The Popovtsy draw their adherents chiefly from 



