RURKI

[s. 657] : A town in the United Provinces,, 22 miles east of Saharanpur. It is a modern manufacturing town, and has the most important Engineering College in India. Alt i The place is rather malarious. tude, 887 feet. Population, 17,400; Hindus 10,200; Mohammedans 5,600. Station of the SPG (1861), with (1903) 3 mi ionaries, 1 of them with his wife; 2 India, women mi ionaries, 19 native workers, 3 places of worship, 3 day schools, 1 boarding school, and Also station of the 112 profe ed Christians. Mi ion to Lepers (1886), with an institiate for Station of the ME, with (1903) 1 mi ionary and his wife, 57 native workers, 3 places of worship, 40 Sunday schools, 26 day schools, and 2,187 profe ed Christians, of whom 826 are communicants. Also station of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian Church, with (1900) 1 mi ionary and his wife, 6 native workers, 3 outstations, 2 places of worship, 2 day schools, and Some write the name Roorkee. 2 orphanages. lepers. RUSSIA; Empire of: A vast dominion, next to Great Britain the largest in the world, which includes eastern Europe, the whole northern part of Asia, and a considerable portion of Central It occupies fully one-sixth of the land Asia. surface of the earth, but is peculiar among the great empires of the world in po e ing no colonies detached at any distance from the main ma of its territory. Its area is 860,282 square miles and its population (1897) about 128,932,173. The purpose of this work does not require an extended topographical description of the RusIn population Ru ia comprises a sian Empire. greater variety of races tlian any other European While the Slavonic stock predominates state. in European Ru ia, the Finnish race is strong in the north and east, extending southward throughout the length of the Ural Mountains; many Turkish tribes are found in the valley of the Volga and in Ru ian Asia; other tribes of Tatar origin are found in the Crimea and the bordering the Caspian; Circa ians, regions Georgians, Kurds, and Armenians people the Caucasus and Trans-Cauca ia, while Mongols, differing but little from the Til^etan type, roam over vast spaces of territory north and east of the Central Asian provinces. The government which holds this vast collection of races together is an unlimited monarchy. The Emperor or Czar of Ru ia is the supreme head of the church and of the legislative, executive, and judicial systems, as well as of the The military and naval forces of the empire. Holy Synod, composed of men selected by the Ru ian of the Czar from among the higher clergy Church, has control of the interests of religion Ru ia Sabseans throughout the empire, » procurator, or minister representing the Czar in deliberations, and reporting its views to the Emperor for a ent or otlierwise. A council of state, whose members are chosen by the Czar, controls in a similar manner the political affairs of the State, a Secretary of State reporting to the Czar its plans and receiving his orders. There is nothing exactly corresponding to a cabinet of ministers, as the term is understood in other European The minister in charge of a depart countries. its ment of affairs prepares all plans for its administration independently of other ministers, and submits them to the Czar for his supreme permi ion. It often happens that two departments, for lack of joint responsibility, may pursue different and inconsistent, and even opposing, lines of policy. As to legislation, the Czar’s approval must precede any elaboration of new laws; and after the council has discu ed it, the Czar’s This decree alone makes a new law binding. decree approving a new law may effectively i ue even the the council has disapproved it. At the will of the Czar the ordinary procedure of justice may be suspended and a criminal may be punished by “administrative proce ,” which Notis resorted to especially in political cases. withstanding this unlimited autocracy, a surprising degree of self-government is permitted the different village communes and tribal organizations. The tendency increases, however, to centralize authority by taking away or restricting such local privileges, and also by supplanting languages that have been recognized as a part of The Poles, the Jews, the Finns local privileges. and the Armenians have all suffered intensely from the determined effort of the Ru ian Government to extinguish their separate speech, and separate historical traditions, if not their separate religious belief and guaranteed liberties. The religion of Ru ia is that of the Greek All existing religions, how(Eastern) Church. ever, are tolerated, and refusal to profe the State religion does not disqualify one for office No one who or full enjoyment of civil rights. refuses to accept the State religion is called a From the mi ionary point of view, Christian. Ru ia is noteworthy as the one government bearing the Christian name which permits in its territories no religious liberty in the sense of freedom of conscience. No Ru ian subject may leave the sect in which he was born, excepting that being born outside of the Ru ian Church he may join that church, that is to say, he may become a “Christian.” Any mi ionary propaganda except that of the Ru ian Church is strictly forbidden; and any attempt by di enters to teach religion to members of the Ru ian Church is a misdemeanor punished most severely. Through such laws Protestant mi ionary operations in Ru ian territory are made impo ible, and the heathen and Mohammedan populations of Asiatic Ru ia are walled in against the Gospel, unle the Ru ian Church gives it to them. It often does, but not very effectively. At the same time the Ru ian Government permits and sometimes aids the circulation of the Scriptures in certain prescribed versions. Mi ion work has been attempted at different times in different parts of this empire by the Basel and Moravian Mi ions, the London Mi ionary Society, the Scotch Church, etc., but it has never been of long duration, owing to the repre ive action of the Ru ian Government. 640 The American and British and Foreign Bible Societies have accomplished a good deal in the form of Bible distribution. Ru ians: The Ru ians are the most numerous Slavic nation, numbering over 65,000,000. They are divided into three chief branches: Great Ru ians, Little Ru ians, and White Ru ians. The Ptuthenians or Red Ru ians, living in Austria, are also cla ed as a branch of the Ru ians. The distinctions between these various branches are rather linguistic than national. While the great ma of the Ru ians belong to the Eastern Church, 3,108,000 are Uniats (members of the Eastern, who have united with the Roman Church), 500,000 Catholics, and the number of di enters {Raskolniks) is variously estimated from 3,000,000 to 11,000,000 and even 15,000,000. The Orthodox Ru ians use the Slavonic language in their church services; so also do the Uniats and the Di enters, while the Roman Catholic Ru ians use the Latin liturgy. In their literature all the Ru ians use the alphabet invented by Cyril, the “Apostle to the Slavs.” The Ru ian language belongs to the southeastern branch of Slavic languages, and is related to the Bulgarian and the Servian. It is divided into three dialects: the Great-Ru ian, the Little-Ru ian, and the White-Ru ian. The first of these dialects forms the Ru ian literary language of the present day; the Little-Ru ian may be considered as a distinct language, tho related to the Great-Ru ian, while the White Ru ian occupies a middle place between Great Ru ian and Little-Ru ian, and contains elements of both these and of the Polish language. The language of the Ruthenians in Austria is Little-Ru ian. The origin of the Ru ians has been traced back to a group of Slavic tribes who inhabited the country around Kieff. They lived in separate communities, and were united into one government when Rurik, with his Varangian companions, came to rule over them. During the reign of Prince Vladimir (972-1015) Christianity was introduced into Ru ia from Byzantium, and with it the productions of Byzantine literature found their way into the country. Owing to the very close proximity then existing between the Bulgarian and Ru ian languages, the Ru ians copied also several of the productions of the ancient Bulgarian literature. The most ancient monument of this literature is “Ostromirov’s Gospel,” of 1053. In 1224 the Mongols invaded Ru ia and ruled over her for more than two centuries; and altho their rule did not denationalize the people, it left its imprint upon the civil administration of the country, upon the social condition of the people, and upon their language. The Mongol dominion retarded the onward progre of Ru ia, and it was only in the reign of Peter the Great (1689-1725) that Ru ia began its emancipation from its semi Asia tic, semi-barbaric condition, and became fit to take rank among the European powers. The reforms of Peter the Great could not be executed without producing discontent in the land. Before his reign the Patriarch Nikon, one of the greatest men on the patriarchal throne in Ru ia, roused the indignation of the people by attempting to revise the Bible and the liturgical books, and to purge them from the errors that had crept into them through the ignorance of the transcribers. Nikon was denounced as a 641 heretic, his corrections were deemed sacrilegious, and a great many people refused to accept the revised books, and seceded from the Church. These were and are still called Di enters {Rasand altho the points on which they originally disagreed with the Church were puerile, they have clung and do still cling to their notions In their with an astonishing pertinacity. eyes the present Ru ian Church is not a true Church, the Czar is an antichrist, and they only are the true Christians, because they hold to the The Ru ian Di ent has given rise old faith. to a great many sects, some of which profe Nikon’s revision of the the wildest vagaries. •church books is the one used now in the Ru ian, Bulgarian, and Servian churches, and its language, modified according to the Ru ian orthography, is known as the Church-Slavonic. The Ru ian Church was governed originally by archbishops or metropolitans, ordained by the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, and But after the several of them were Greeks. capture of Constantinople in 1453 the metropolitans began to be consecrated by a council of bishops, and in 1589 the chief metropolitan was raised to the rank and dignity of a Patriarch. The Patriarchate lasted till the time of Peter the Great, who, in order to curb the opposition.kolniks), of the clergy to his reforms, abolished it and replaced it by a Synod, whose head was to be This is the present system by which the Czar. But tho the the Ru ian Church is governed. Czar is the real president of the Synod, he never takes any part in its deliberations, but is represented by a substitute, usually a layman, who The Synod can bears the title of ober-prokuror do nothing without the sanction of the prokuror; The Czar’s prerogain fact he is the Synod. tives, however, are limited to the administration of the Church; his authority does not extend to matters purely spiritual, and he cannot interfere The constituwith the dogmas of the Church. tion of the Synod, and of the Ru ian Church in. MAND^SAITS: An ancient or whom remnants are found in the lower SABJEASS people of Euphrates and Tigris regions of Me so pot am i a. There is a group of people calling themselves Sabseans in the Hauran, Syria, but Chwolsen says they have no real relation to the Me so pot am i an Sabieans. As to the Sabseans of Me so pot am i a, they are also called Nasoreans, Zabians, and Christians of St. John. Some of their peculiarities have been expre ed in theories formed Gesenius derives as to the origin of their name. the name Sab as an from Tsabo^/i (Heavenly Hosts), because they worship stars; Noldeke and others derive the name from the Syriac Subba (wash, baptize), because they practise baptism with diligence. They seem to be entirely distinct from Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans. They are isolated from other races, not marrying They are quiet and outside of their own body. industrious people, occupied in raising cattle, and some follow trades like boat-building; some In physical of them, too, are good silversmiths. appearance they are tall, well made, with good 41 Rn la Sabseans general, is such that it places the clergy under the authority and supervision of the government and makes it subservient to the interests of “the powers that be.” The capture of the Nestor i ans of Persia by the Ru ian mi ionaries has been mentioned in the article on the Nestor i an Church. Politically and religiously Ru ia is aggre ive. In recent years Ru ia has opened more than 300 schools in Syrian communities, and about $300,000 is spent every year on these. Ru ia’s activity in Manchuria and in other parts of the Bast is attracting world-wide attention; and it cannot be denied that she is playing an intelligent diplomatic game, of which the prize is the control of all Asia. Wallace (Mackenzie), Ru ia, 2 vols., London and New York, 1877; Hare (A. J. C), Studies in Ru ia, London, 18 5; Kropotkin (P.), Memoirs of a Revolutionist, 2 vols., London, 1899; Pobyedonastseff (K, P.), Reflections of a Ru ian Statesman, London (Translation), 1898; Palmer (F. E. H.), Ru ian Life in Town and Country, London, 1901 Norman (H.), All the Ru ias, London, 1902.; 659