THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3276, 27 December 1916, Page 54

THE WEEK.

juast week I tried to give you some idea of the Russian people as seen by the Belgian, Dr Sarolea. This week I am taking Stephen Graham for our guide; and through his book, "The Way of Martha and the Way of Mary," we will learn why Russia is stated to be the most Christian country in Europe. The book, the latest of several by the same author en different aspects of Russian life, is an. attempt to explain the whole spirit of Eastern Christianity, as exemplified in what he calls "the Russian idea" ; and this implies a certain amount of contrasting with Western ideas, of which America may be considered as particularly typical. Hence the somewhat curious title of the book. As Mr Graham explains in his preface, "The quotation 'Martha, Martha, thou art cumbered about with many things: but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not ' be taken away from her' is as common in Russia as 'faith without work is dead' is common here. Speaking roughly, Eastern Christianity is associated with Mary's good part, and Western Christianity with the way of Martha and service. The two aspects seem to be irreconcilable, but they are not; and I have called my book 'The Way of Martha and the Way of Mary,' because the ways of the si iters are as touchstones for Christianity, and in their reconciliation is a great beauty." In brief —the East is contemplative, the West is busy; the East tends to the spiritual side of things, the West to the material. Now, it is possible to start a very interesting discussion on these two different aspects of the same thing— I don't, for instance, suppose there is a woman who reads this letter who has not always had a deep feeling of sympathy for Martha—but there is no time for that just now. I merely wish to give you a glimpse of what Russian religion is, and of how greatly it affects the life of the people. To understand it properly one must realise that Russia got its Christianity from thatjand of mystery, Egypt. The hermits and the anchorites who made their homes in the deserts, men of spiritual fervour who denied the world and mortified themselves—these carried Christianity to Russia as they spread far afield through the rocks and mountains of Greece and Bulgaria and Asia Minor. In the year 988 Russia was officially converted to Christianity; but long "before that the Christian hermits and missionaries had appeared, and St. Andrew himself is said to have been 'the first of them. They found a nation with a touch of Oriental mysticism in it—a mysticism, though of a rather different kind, that the Slav has in common with the Celt—which made it ready to receive their message, and when the Mohammedan hordes overran the countries of the Levant and Eastern Christianity receded to Greece and Russia, it was Russia in especial who preserved the direct traditions of the early Church and what Christianity originally meant. With her has remained the spiritual fervour of the hermits.

It is this spiritual fervour which takes the Russian on long pilgrimages tb holy places in his own country or in Palestine. Thousands and thousands of them, before the war, made the journey to the Holy Land every year, going on' a, quest, seeking something holy, striving to get nearer to God. What matter that they left behind them, for the time being, home and friends and position and all the comforts of their lives? To the Russian these things matter so much less than to the Westener. Wealth and position count for very little with him. He opens his heart to the poor, the outcast, and the suffering. He gives the stranger not only the hospitality of hearth and homo, but also that of the mind and heart. He is interested in you, in your soul, in your individual destiny, and whatever you may be or whatever you have done he will neither laugh at you nor scorn you. "There is a remarkable absence of con ventional standards," says Mr Graham m telling of Russia. Consequently there is a great amount of personal freedom quite different from the political liberty of Western nations. The Russian loves' this individual freedom. He has no desire for the orderliness and organisation in which the "Martha" nations delight. " Even Russian order, ponyadok, is something borrowed from Germany to keep the

nation together." Mr Graham takes us into the churches, where there are no pews and no chairs, but "always a croAvd. a promiscuity of rich and poor . people standing and praying, people kneeling, people prostrated ... no man's Order, only God's order, the varying and wonderful multitude." He takes Us into the taverns, which have become informal meeting places where a great deal of free discussion goes on that would be impossible at a public meeting, which would have to be authorised by the police. All sorts of are discussed, including religion, for the Russian is for ever seeking, asking, questioning, and the talk goes on "every day and everv hour in Russia, in every town or village—talk about God and the idea of Christ and suffering; of what is necessary and what not."

The difference betw r een the East and West shows often in phrases and turns of speech. We speak of "the march of events" suggesting an orderly progression of life; but to the Russian life is rather a kind of mystery-play, a varied spectacle in which he is both actor and spectator, and in which he is always trying to find a hidden meaning. And that brings us back to the main idea again—that the East looks to the spiritual rather than to the material, represented by Mary sitting at the feet of Christ, rather than Martha cumbered with her even though it may be the serving of others. Of course there are many in Russia who work in the way of Martha, for "even among a mystical people the great majority remain behind in the world and live the normal life, serve man as well as liod, marry, have children, work as well as pray, and live through six evervdays to one of incense and song." In the same way there are plenty of mystics in the West; and indeed there is something of Martha and something of Mary in each individual one of us. Our national character, too, with its gospel of work, its desire for a certain amount of order and discipline, tends rather to the "Martha" type, and is not likely to alter much in that respect. At the same time there is much that we might learn from

the Russian people, who, with their I denial of material possessions and success, | and their abiding love for humanity, particularly the outcast and the suffering, come nearer to the Christian ideal than many nations, and also put their ideal more into practice. If all peoples bad more of "the Russian idea" in them the world would be an infinitely better place. Unfortunately some peoples—the Prussians, for instance—seem to be a long way from realising this, and they keep the others back ; but before we point the finger of scorn at them let us remember that we have much to learn ourselves. ELIZABETH.