Religious Liberty in Russia.
RELIGIOUS liberty did not become entirely the order of the day in Russia through the Imperial ukase bestowing it upon the subjects of the Czar, says the London (Eng.) Present Truth. The state church is unwilling to see the different denominations at liberty to teach according to their own convictions of truth, and is fighting hard for the retention of its old predominance. Chapels have been built in large numbers by the various dissenting sects, especially by the Baptists, but the Holy Synod of the Orthodox church recently issued an edict ordering all Baptist chapels to be closed, and requiring lists of members to be supplied, so as to enable them to prevent further proselytizing. The government has canceled this edict, but the Czar’s ukase has not yet been enacted into law by the Duma, and the state church is trying hard to introduce extensive modifications into the law before it is finally passed. One amendment is to the effect that “no Russian member of the National church shall be allowed to secede to another communion, without first submitting to daily ‘admonition’ from his parish priest for forty days consecutively.” There is a strong party in the Duma, however, in favor of religious liberty, and the dissenters have hope of receiving fair treatment. The agitation over the true principles of religious liberty must have an educational value for many of the Russian people.