p. 7 | Russia and Rome

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 1, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 44.

Russia and Rome.

Speaking of Russian internal life the California Christian Advocate says:

"When Christianity was first introduced into Russia it was in a wholesale fashion. The nation was practically baptized by order of the Emperor Vladimir. Christianity has never been understood, never penetrated and changed the Russian heart. Superficially, Russia has some knowledge of Christian principles, but provoke her and she is a savage pagan. Religiously, Russia has never been sincere. Take as an example her so-called religious tolerance. She gives out that Russia tolerates all religious sects. It must be understood, however, that no one can change his creed to any form of faith except the Orthodox Greek Church, on penalty of being banished from his home."

"Christianity" was introduced into Rome in the same manner in which the Advocate says it was introduced into Russia—"in a wholesale fashion." The nation was practically baptized by order of Emperor Constantine. It was that kind of "Christianity" that gave us the Sunday institution as a substitute for the Sabbath of the Lord. It is the Russian Orthodox Church that gives Russia her intolerant, tyrannical character, and the Roman Church, wherever she has the power, is just as intolerant as she ever was—is the very counterpart of the Greek Church. Rome has already boasted that she will do for the United States what she has done for other countries, and by the help of compromising Protestants and catering officials she is fast getting into position to make her proposition effective. Both of these forces are pressing Rome's distinctive "mark"—the Sunday-sabbath—to the fore with increasing persistence.