So it is in science, in theological literature. It is no different in life. We can see real Catholics and Lutherans in our country. We don't have to occupy Germans in our own country. And what about the West? The West sees Russian people, but Russian people go to the West who themselves have very little to do with Orthodoxy. In some European centers there are many Russians, but they are usually people without any faith; Orthodoxy cannot be judged by these people. In fact, in some European capitals, for example, in Paris, Russians live in thousands. And these thousands on a feast day cannot fill even one church. It is clear that Russians abroad, with small exceptions, of course, are religiously nihilistic. If we judge by such "representatives of the Russian people," then one might perhaps think that the Russian people have no faith at all, that Orthodoxy is not at all a native element for the Russian soul. Such people will say nothing to the West about the Russian popular faith.

Yes, my Friend, it seems to me that we are to blame before the West. Unfortunate historical circumstances tore the West away from the Church. In the course of centuries, the ecclesiastical perception of Christianity in the West was gradually distorted. The teaching has changed, life has changed, the very understanding of life has departed from the Church. We have preserved the wealth of the Church. But instead of lending to others from this undependent wealth, we ourselves in some areas have fallen under the influence of the West with its theology alien to the Church. In recent decades, interest in the Russian Orthodox Church has also been manifested in the West. But who on our part went to meet this awakening interest? There were individuals, and very few of them, and even then in most cases secular people. This phenomenon - I mean the attempts of the Old Catholics and Anglicans to draw closer to us - is, of course, very gratifying, although I personally do not attach much importance to them. But it is interesting to note how these phenomena came to be. They arose not at all because we were able to interest anyone, to convince someone of the advantages of Orthodoxy over Western confessions. No, attempts to get closer to us have a different basis.

The Old Catholics and Anglicans, having torn themselves away from their former soil, felt that something very shaky and unreliable remained under their feet. For example, it is impossible for a few Old Catholics to consider themselves the only Christians in the world. I need to connect with someone. In a purely theoretical way, they remembered that in the East there is an ancient Christian Church, in which there is no papacy, hateful, for example, for the Old Catholics. Getting to know each other more closely, we saw that it was impossible not to recognize the purity of the teaching of the Eastern Church. So, they found us because we were torn away from our soil. So Columbus discovered America, although he was not looking for America, but a new country in general. America is not at all to blame for its discovery. She did not move from the place and accidentally got caught in the path of Columbus. It was the same with the Orthodox Church. She, too, lay motionless, not calling anyone in the West to her. The Old Catholics went in search of a new land, leaving the old continent of papism, and met with Orthodoxy. On our part, however, there was no effort to interest anyone, to win over anyone.

Those foreign churches that I have seen, they are symbolic for me. They are hidden, often completely invisible. Such is the general situation of Orthodoxy in the West. Orthodoxy there not only does not preach about itself, but as if it hides, dresses up in secular costumes so that it is not noticed. In the West, they know little and poorly about Orthodoxy, and the Orthodox do not at all try to say anything about themselves.

And in the end, I still cannot reconcile myself to the fact that in some European capitals there is not even an Orthodox church at all. It would be necessary to show the West in all its beauty the Orthodox service. It would be better to arrange, for example, a whole Lavra in Rome. To build a cathedral at least like our Lavra Dormition. Next to it is a bell tower with thousand-pound bells. The singers would not be Germans, not Italians, but a real monastery choir, which would sing not Italian partes, composed in one evening by some maestro, but our Orthodox melodies, created over centuries in pious monasteries. Let the trezvon reverberate throughout a foreign land (only, probably, it would be forbidden by the police!), let our triumphant melodies be heard under the arches of a real Orthodox church! And near this church it would be necessary to settle learned monks and laity, to whom we would give a special obedience - to proclaim about the Orthodox faith among the heterodox, to proclaim both orally and in print, so that those who are interested in religious truth could not fail to notice this sermon. It would be necessary to say loudly and confidently to the West: "We are Orthodox and are not in the least ashamed of it, even unshakably convinced of the superiority of our eternal truth!"

This, dear Friend, is what dreams I sometimes have! It is unlikely that they will ever come true! For a long time in the West, our Orthodox churches will stand in remote alleys, and strangers, distorting the Slavic speech, will sing liturgical songs for the few Russian people praying to their God in a foreign land!

Letter Six. Name Day of the Serbian King

The Serbian capital Belgrade is like one of our provincial cities. In it, you constantly have to remind yourself that you are in the capital. For us, my Friend, the capital is something grandiose. European capitals are also no worse than ours. That is why, in our opinion, everything in Belgrade does not seem to be like a capital. Now, probably, all the best buildings have been destroyed by the Austrians, but there were few such buildings in the capital. It was nice for a Russian person to see that the best building in Belgrade belongs to the society "Russia" and is called "Hotel Moscow". The royal palace itself is again not quite like our palaces. It is small, it goes directly to the street. A tram runs past it, next to a one-story house with a commercial space. Still, Belgrade is the capital of our native Serbian people.

In 1908 I happened to be there, by the way, on June 29. At that time I was able to observe both official and popular celebrations on the occasion of the royal name-day [4]. It is this day that I wish to remember in this letter to You, my dear Friend.

First of all, I went to the cathedral on Bogoyavlenskaya Street. Belgrade Cathedral is quite extensive, but inside it is quite poor. On his name day, the king attends divine services in the city cathedral. Here the unity of the ruler and the people takes place, because at this time in the cathedral there is not only the chosen public, but also ordinary pilgrims. This was also the case in ancient Russia. Go to the Assumption Cathedral and have a look. After all, there you will see a permanent royal place, where the tsar prayed together with the people. Remember from the history of Patriarch Nikon. When Alexei Mikhailovich, enraged at the Patriarch, missed several solemn services in the Dormition Cathedral, Nikon saw in this an extreme offense not only for himself, but also for the Church. The king himself was not present at the beginning of the liturgy; it arrived only at the end.

The Liturgy began, which was celebrated by Metropolitan Dimitri with two bishops. There are many peculiarities in the celebration of the Liturgy. I will mention some of them. For the metropolitan, a special canopy of very impressive size was placed in the middle of the church. Under this canopy, only one metropolitan was placed on the elevated cathedra, while the bishops stood on the sides of the cathedra on the floor of the church. For the metropolitan and bishops there were ordinary chairs with backs. The metropolitan was met not by two deacons, but by three. He was vested by priests. The priests, as I remember, held a book for him during the Liturgy. The Apostle was read on the metropolitan cathedra, and the Gospel was read from a special cathedra at one of the pillars of the cathedral, as it is everywhere in the East. We are accustomed to hear the loud basses of the protodeacon and deacons at the hierarchal mass. We have even created a kind of sport in terms of reading the Gospel, pronouncing the "great praise", Many Years. Loud protodeacons, like artists, each have their own admirers. For many "lovers," the entire hierarchal Liturgy consists of the Epistles, the Gospel, "great praise," and Many Years. Everything else is of very little interest to them. At other moments, such "amateurs," who usually stand at the back wall of the cathedral, have a lively conversation about the merits of this or that protodeacon or deacon. Then they move on to memories. In Moscow, Shekhovtsev will certainly be remembered. A legendary image is often created from a living person. In Serbia, our "amateurs" would have nothing to do. There, protodeacons, on the contrary, are the highest tenors. According to the Russian concept, the protodeacon is composed of the following four elements: voice, hair, ear, belly. For a Serbian protodeacon, only the first and third are required. And the voice is a tenor. Do you remember, Friend, how the heroes of the Wanderer are skeptical about tenors!

In the second letter I told You, my Friend, that we cannot understand each other with a Serb. But how nice it is that in church we pray in the same language! The Lord has not yet completely confused the Slavic languages! Serbs serve even according to our Moscow or Kiev books. However, the pronunciation of Slavic words in the Serb is completely different, so that he would not have understood some words if he did not know the service.

In the middle of the church, behind the metropolitan's seat, stood an icon of the feast, and a priest in vestments was always near it. All those who came venerated the icon and received the blessing of the priest.