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Alexei Khomiakov
14 March 1848
The unity of the Church * Self-contented Individualism of Protestant Germany * Contrast with England * Count Protásov upon reunion * The Metropolitan Philaret's conditions * Dr. Hampden's nomination as Bishop of Hereford * A call to join the Orthodox Church * The revolution in France and elsewhere
Dear Sir, —
I am writing to you from the capital city of self-contented discord, from Berlin; and my first word shall be Unity. Nowhere can I feel so deeply the necessity, the holiness, and the consoling power of that Divine principle. Unity? Not to be found in the vain and weak efforts of individual intellects (for every intellect makes itself its own centre, when indeed there is but one true centre: God); not to be hoped from the sympathetic power of nature (for that is nothing but the superstitious worship of an abstraction); but to be taken simply and humbly from the dispensation of God's mercy and grace. Unity! The substantial character of the Church, the visible sign of the Lord's constant dwelling on earth, the sweetest joy of the human heart.
An almost boundless Individualism is the characteristic of Germany, and particularly of Prussia. Here in Berlin, it would be difficult to find one single point of faith, or even one feeling, which could be considered as a link of true spiritual communion in the Christian meaning of the word. Even the desire for harmony seems to be extinguished, and that predominance of Individualism, that spiritual solitude among the ever-busy crowd, sends to the heart a feeling of dreariness and desolation. The hand of decay is on that country, notwithstanding its apparent progress in material improvements. I will not say: nothing is to be hoped for Germany.
The ways of the future are known to God alone, and a change may come quite unexpectedly; but the present certainly gives but little reason for hope. Still the earnestness of the German mind in all intellectual researches is not quite so disheartening as the frivolous and self-conceited gaiety of homeless and thoughtless France. A mind given to reflection has time, and may perhaps feel a desire, to listen to the voice of Divine truth. Of all countries I have visited in my short journey, England is certainly the only one which I have felt a deep regret to part with, the only one which I shall always think about with a deep feeling of sympathy. I know very well that England lacks, as much perhaps as Germany itself, the blessing of religious unity; — the appearance of unity which exists there is more a show and a delusion than a truth; but, delusive as it is, still its appearance is more consoling than its manifest absence. The numerous, and at times crowded, churches: the earnestness of prayer: the solemnity of ancient forms of worship not quite forgotten — even the rather Puritanical sabbathising of the Lord's Day — are full of deep and joyful impressions. They seem to indicate a community of spiritual life in the country. Even later, when the delusion is over, — when a closer observation has discovered the latent discord under the veil of outward and arbitrary unity, — there still remains a consolation in the evident longing for unity, which is felt by so many individuals, and which the multitude itself expresses by holding so strictly at least to its outward forms. Certainly a serious ignorance, searching for Divine truth, is much to be preferred to a proud or merry infidelity.
December, 1847. — I had begun but not finished this letter in Berlin. Since that time, some months have elapsed, but I leave the beginning as it was, because it expresses feelings which had been inspired by my travels through Germany. In Petersburg, I have seen Count Protásov Count Protásov was the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. This position was filled by a layman appointed by the Tsar. The Chief Procurator represented the Tsar at meetings of the Holy Synod. All issues regarding the Church's relations to the government had to pass through him. He neither sat at the same table as the members of the Holy Synod, nor had a right to speak regarding spiritual matters, nor had a vote. with whom till that time I had no personal acquaintance. He questioned me about England, and particularly about its religious movement. He listened to my answers with serious and, I hope, sincere interest. I think I may say he feels a true sympathy for religious questions, though he does not always understand their importance, and is somewhat inclined towards Latin views, i.e. formalism. The more agreeable was it to hear from him that he considered as of no importance at all some forms to which you have expressed your objections (as, for example, the use of the word Eastern
in Ecclesiastical Rites), and that he could give me the assurance, which I think I gave you beforehand, that any form which could convey to the mind an idea of narrow locality would certainly be rejected as soon as it should be indicated or its rejection required. Indeed, I expected no other answer. The undue exaltation of any locality whatever is exactly the antipodes of the very idea of a Christian Church which claims a living communion with the past and the future, with the visible and invisible world.
Some months have elapsed again since my visit to Count Protásov. The health of my mother, the bad roads, and the cholera in Moscow have detained me in the government of Tula. I have but just now seen the Metropolitan of Moscow, Philaret. The conversation of that highly gifted man has been more satisfactory still for me than my interview with Protásov. I am even afraid that till now I have been unjust to our Metropolitan, though I should consider it as a gain if I had to confess an error in that case. His sympathy was unexpectedly warm and strong. He listened to many things with a joyful smile and with tears in his eyes. It was even a strange emotion to behold in a man of such concentrated feelings. He has raised my hopes. If you ask whether anything was positively promised, I answer: No
; no; but he said: Everything that can be done without offending the Christian conscience will be done
; and that was said earnestly. There was complete harmony between his face and his words. He said, likewise, that every plausible explanation in questions of seeming differences would readily be admitted; that every rite not implying a direct negation of a dogma would be allowed, Unity of rites being very desirable indeed, but unity of dogma being the only condition sine qua non
. Let us hope for the best.
I have had no direct news from England since my return. Newspapers inform us that the commercial crisis is at an end; that was expected, and yet I am glad to hear it. The words commercial crisis, and others of the same sort, are very short and unmeaning, but thousands of miseries are hidden under these short words. They are not much better than the likewise very short word cholera, which we know very well. Luckily, the latter is no more spoken of in Moscow, but this is not quite so in many parts of Russia. Victims have been very numerous in some governments, but the disease has not been quite so mortal as at the time of its first importation in 1830. I should be glad to think that all is going in England as well as possible; but I am afraid another crisis is unavoidable, — not a commercial but a religious one. Such at least are the consequences which, in my opinion, seem to follow naturally upon the nomination of the Bishop of Hereford. Dr. Pusey in a community of which Dr. Hampden is a bishop! Why, that is worse than affirmation and negation in the same sentence; and though the nomination is perhaps in itself nothing more than a bad trick of Lord John Russell, yet the manifestation of parties which have stood up and faced one another is most important. The hollowness of mere exterior Unity is growing evident. I am sorry for it, as I am sorry when anything happens that is a symptom of troubles and contention; and yet, it may be for the best. The divine logic of history is unavoidable. Every delusion must have an end, and noble spirits being freed from a delusive Unity, will seek and find the true one.
Let us seek it, dear sir! let us be earnest and bold, in the task. Let us consider our actions as most important, not only for ourselves, but as either acting on or being symptoms of the times. A dozen ripe grains are not a ripe harvest, and yet the husbandman is happy to find two or three ripe grains in the field. They are a sign that the harvest is quickly ripening.
If you are, as I suppose, in correspondence with Mr. G. Williams, pray be so kind as to give him my compliments. I hope he will not be offended if I say I have something of a brotherly feeling for him. There is so much in him that brings to my memory the dear friend I have recently lost. A friendly greeting to dear Oxford itself, with its twenty colleges, its green lawns and deep shades, and its stillness and quiet. I hope its salutary influence will outlive Whig ministers and German latitudinarianism.
My wife sends you her affectionate compliments, and even the two little ones hope that you have not quite forgotten them. — Your most devoted,
Alexei Khomiakov
(14 March 1848)
A strange time! I was writing this letter when the great events of France and of all Europe came on so startlingly and unexpectedly. The highest questions are stirred up, and man hopes to solve them without the aid of religion. I am afraid humanity will pay dearly for the foolish pride of reason. May the impending storm be directed and moderated by the hand of Mercy! May England be spared! It is my heartiest wish.
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