THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



395 



the chapel, sit the Patriarch, the Metro- 

 politan, the Archbishops and Bishops, the 

 lay vice-presidents, and the secretaries. 

 In the center sits Tikhon, the Patriarch, 

 President of the Sobor. At his right is 

 the Metropolitan of Novgorod, and just 

 behind him Argafangle, the Metropolitan 

 of Yaroslav, who, by the way, is the Rus- 

 sian Honorary President of the Anglican 

 and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union. 

 At the Patriarch's left are the Metropoli- 

 tan of Kharkov and the Metropolitan of 

 Kherson, and behind Kharkov are the 

 Metropolitan of the Caucasus and the 

 Metropolitan of Vladimir. They are all 

 wearing the white cowl to distinguish 

 them from the archbishops and bishops. 



Opposite, facing the prelates, sit the 

 other members of the Council. Speeches 

 are made, not from the floor, but from a 

 rostrum, on the left-hand side of the hall, 

 facing the Assembly. The Council Cham- 

 ber itself is on the second floor of the 

 building. 



The entrance hall below is the lobby of 

 the Council, where members walk and 

 talk together, often arm in arm, in ani- 

 mated discussion, and where laymen 

 pause reverently to receive the blessing 

 of Patriarch or Metropolitan. 



Some of the bishops wear the Cross of 

 St. George for valor on the field. In re- 

 ceiving the blessing a Russian opens his 

 hands and puts them together and the 

 prelate lays his hand in the open hands to 

 be kissed after the blessing. 



THE SANEST AND MOST DEMOCRATIC 

 ASSEMBLAGE IN RUSSIA 



The Patriarch, accompanied by a sin- 

 gle footman, drives daily to the Sobor 

 from his palace in an unpretentious car- 

 riage drawn by two black horses. He is 

 often seen giving his blessing from the 

 carriage window as he passes through the 

 street, and there is generally a crowd of 

 people pressing forward to receive his 

 blessing at the door of the Council House. 



The arrival of the Patriarch at the 

 Sobor at 1 1 o'clock in the morning marks 

 the opening of the session. The Assem- 

 bly rises as he enters, "Many Years" is 

 sung, and the House comes to order. 



Although there are perhaps no con- 

 spicuously outstanding and dominant fig- 

 ures in "the assembly, it reaches as a 



whole the highest level of the Russian 

 mind. Here sit men from all districts. 

 It is an all-Russian assembly. There are 

 many strong personalities and many men 

 marked by singularly beautiful and con- 

 secrated devotion to their task; nor is 

 there evidence of a desire on the part of 

 any one to dominate, least of all on the 

 part of the Patriarch. 



I heard no uncommonly stirring speech- 

 makers, but a good deal of clear, cogent 

 statement. It is because there is nothing 

 noisy or spectacular about the Council 

 that it evokes profound respect as the 

 sanest and most democratic, as well as the 

 most spiritual, body of men now assem- 

 bled in Russia. 



In contrast to the picture Titian has 

 left us of the Council of Trent, all the 

 sittings are open to the public. So repub- 

 lican is the Sobor in its character that 

 visitors who happened to be present when 

 these photographs were taken were re- 

 quested not to leave the hall. I have had 

 the advantage of knowing the Patriarch 

 and many members of the Sobor and 

 acquiring, in intimate relationships, a 

 knowledge of their hopes for Russia. 



The election of the Patriarch is the first 

 act of constitutional Russia. It has a 

 precedent in the history of the Russian 

 Church. Although not foreseen by the 

 canons, a similar example may be cited 

 in the election of the Apostle Matthias, 

 of which we read in the Acts. This 

 manner of election answers to Russian 

 ideals, and powerfully contributed to the 

 joyful acknowledgment of the Most Holy 

 Patriarch Tikhon as the person indicated 

 by the will of God. 



THE NEW PATRIARCH FORMERLY LIVED IN 

 AMERICA 



The man chosen to this high and re- 

 sponsible service is 54 years of age. In 

 the world he was called Vasili Ivanovich 

 Bellavin. He was born in the town of 

 Toropetz, in the Government of Pskov, 

 where his father was a priest. He was 

 educated in the Church school of his 

 native town, and later in the Ecclesiasti- 

 cal Academy of Petrograd. On leaving 

 the Academy he was appointed master of 

 dogmatic and moral theology in the Sem- 

 inary of Pskov. In the capacity of teacher, 

 he knew how to interest his pupils by his 



