Carus, Paul

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^be O^cn CourtA MONTHLY MAGAZINEDc\>otc& to tbc Science ot IReligfon, tbe IReliaion of Science, an& tbeBitension of tbe IReliaious parliament ir&ea^ ,. -r^ ^ ^ ^ • * 1 E. C. Hegblbr.EdUor: Dr. Paul Carus Associates: < jj^^y c^ros.VOL. XVIII. (no. 8) August, 1904. NO. 579CONTENTS:Frontispiece. The Folding Icon of the City of St. Petersburg, En-trusted TO General Kuropatkin on his Departure to Man-CHURLA..Russian Icons. (Illustrated.) Editor . 449Japanese Leaders. (Illustrated.) Editor 545A Gentleman of Thibet. Henry R. Evans 479The Japanese Floral Calendar. VIII. The Lotus, (Illustrated.) ErnestW. Clement, M. A 499The Third Commandment. Editor 502"Orientalism." Editor . 504Tolstoy on Icons 507The Lesson of the Russo-Japanese War 507What Does This Mean? 508Esh-Sham. A Poem. Evelyn Mariinengo Cesaresco 510Book Notices and Notes 510CHICAGOXLtoc ©pen Court IPublisbino CompanieLONDON : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.Per copy, 10 cents (sixpence). Yearly, $1.00 (In the U. P. U., 5s. 6d.)>Copyright, 1904, by The Open Court Publishing Co. Entered at the Chicago Post 0£Bce as Second-Class MatterTHE TRAVELS INTartary,Thibet and Chinaof Mm. Hue AND Gabet100 Illustrations. 688 Pages.CLOTH, 2 Vols., $2.00 (10s.)—Same, 1 Vol., $1.25, Net (Ss. net.)Read the Following Commendatory Notices:"For forty years it has been one of the world's greatest books."—WesternChristian Advocate."A treasury of information for the student of comparative religion, eth-nology, geography and natural history."—The Outlook."The work made a profound sensation. Although China and the other cottn-tries of the Orient have been opened to foreigners in larger measure in recentyears, few observers as keen and as well qualified to put their observationsin finished form have appeared, and M. Hue's story remains among the bestsources of information concerning the Thibetans and Mongolians."—TheWatchman."These reprints ought to have a large sale. It would be a good time forthe Catholic libraries to add them to their stock of works on travel. Theywill find that few books will have more readers than the missionary adven-tures of Abbe Hue and his no less daring companion."—The Catholic News."Our readers will remember the attempt of Mr. A. Henry Savage Landor,the explorer, to explore the mysteries of the holy city of L'hassa, in Thibet.The narrative of the frightful tortures he suffered when the Thibetans pene-trated his disguise, has been told by Mr. Landor himself. But where Mr.Landor failed, two very clever French missionaries succeeded. Father Hueand Father Gabet, disguised as Lamas, entered the sacred city, and for thefirst time the eyes of civilized men beheld the shocking religious ceremonialsof L'hassa."—New York Journal."Fools, it is known, dash in where angels fear to tread, and there are alsoinstances of missionaries dashing in where intrepid and experienced travelersfail. Such was the case with MM. Hue and Gabet, the two mild and modestFrench priests who, fifty years ago, without fuss, steadily made their imtor-tured way from China across Thibet and entered L'hassa with the messageof Christianity on their lips. It is true that they were not allowed to stay thereas long as they had hoped, but they were in the Forbidden Land and theSacred City for a sufficient time to gather enough facts to make an interest-ing and very valuable book, which on its appearance in the forties (both inFrance and England) fascinated our fathers much in the way that the writ-ings of Nansen and Stanley have fascinated us. To all readers of Mr. Lander'snew book who wish to supplement the information concerning the ForbiddenLand there given, we can recommend the work of M. Hue. Time cannotmar the interest of his and M. Gabet's daring and successful enterprise."—The Academy London.THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO.324 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO, ILL.London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.Digitized by tine Internet Arciiivein 2009 witii funding fromCARL!: Consortium of Academic and Researcii Libraries in Illinoishttp://www.archive.org/details/opencourt_m18579caruKUROPATKIN S PATRON SAINT. ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKI.iE FOLDING ICON .OF THE CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG, ENTRUSTED TO GENERAL KUROPAfMANCHURIA.ST. NICHOLAS, THE THAUMATURGIST.IN ON HIS DEPARTURE TOEXIS, KUROPATKIN S PATKON SAINT.IE FOLDING ICON .OF THE CITY OF ST. PETERSBUIThe Open CourtA MONTHLY MAGAZINEDevoted to the Science of Religion, the Reh'gion of Science, andthe Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea.VOL. XVITI. (no. 8.) AUGUST, 1904. NO.579Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Company, 11)04.RUSSIAN ICONS.BY THE EDITOR.RUSSIA is little known in the United States. Wc know somethingof the history of Russia and of its government. We possessmaps that show the enormous extent of that country, and statisticsgive the necessary information concerning its inhabitants, theirtraits and their general condition. Further, there arc some Russiansliving among us, but they are not typical and do not represent thepeople. Most of them have left their homes because they were dis-satisfied with the conditions, and not a few among them are Ni-hilists. There have been Russians of the nobility visiting our coun-try. Russian naval officers stayed in this country to see the perfectionof Russian men-of-war built in American shipyards. Most of themwere noblemen who cut an elegant figure in society and made manyfriends among the rich, but they, too, are not typical of the people.Of Russian literature Tolstoy's works are best known, but he, thoughin a certain sense a true Russian, is too unique and too original togive us a correct idea of the character of the Russian nationality.The peasant who forms the great majority of Russian people is a^good-natured and pious man. True, he is illiterate and credulous,but if he is misguided it is certainly not his fault. He intends thebest and is willing enough to submit to authority, spiritual as wellas secular. There are scarcely more devout Christians in the worldthan in Russia, and their Christianity has been less modified by mod-ern ideas than anywhere in the world, perhaps only the Armenianand Coptic Churches excepted. The latter are now recognised asof great importance for the sake of historical investigations as tothe views that prevailed among the early Christians. Russian Chris-tianitv upon the whole still represents the views that prevailed in450 THE OPEN COURT.the Greek Empire soon after tlie establishment of the State Churchand the official introduction of the veneration of Saints. The Refor-mation did not reach Russia, and so the iconolatry, or reverenceSt. Alexancer Nevski. St. Nicholas, the Thaumaturgist.St. Michael, the Chief of Hosts. St. George, the Victorious.shown to pictures, is still one of the characteristic features of theRussian Orthodox Church.RUSSIAN ICONS. 451Our frontispiece represents one of the most famous RussianIcons, which is credited by many pious behevers with miraculousTHALMATUKCaCAL IcON OF TvERSKI,Athos.The Kazan Icon.Thaumaturgical Icon of the KazanCathedral,, St. Petersburg.St. Seraphim of Sarovo.powers. It is the famous folding Icon of St. Petersburg and showsin the center one of the most notable Russian Saints, St. Alexander452 THE OPEN COURT.Nevski, who, in his worldly capacity, was a sovereign that reignedat Novgorod. He waged a victorious war with Sweden and gaineda decisive victory on the banks of the River Neva in 1240, hence thepeople called him the hero of Neva, or in Russian, Nevski, underwhich name he became endeared to Russian patriots and may beconsidered as the most popular Saint in the Czar's domain.On the left hand wing of the St. Petersburg folding Icon we seeSt. Alexis, who happens to be the special patron Saint of Kuropat-kin, whose Christian name is Alexis.On the right hand wing we see another famous Russian Saint,who holds the first place after St. Alexander Nevski in the heartsof good Russian Christians, St. Nicholas, the Miracle Worker, or,as he is more commonly called in Greek, "the thaumaturgist."Above the centerpiece appear the three busts of the Holy Family,Christ, the Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph. A Russian cross sur-mounts the whole, and incidentally we call attention to the fact thatthe Russian cross possesses a slanting beam which represents theseating plug on which crucified persons used to be placed, a featurewhich, for aesthetical reasons, has been omitted in the WesternChurch or is supplanted by a footrest.Icons are very extensively used in Russian worship, so muchso that every Russian regiment has its patron saint whose Icon iskept in the church of the garrison which in war time may be a tentafter the fashion of the Jewish Tabernacle, and is in charge of aclergyman, a deacon and other functionaries who attend to the usualreligious duties. The day of the regiment's Saint is celebrated bythe regiment, and clergymen carrying a crucifix are sometimes pres-ent in battle to encourage the wavering and to comfort the woundedand dying. All people who have a desire to be orthodox, especiallythe people of the peasantry, carry on a little chain or string aroundtheir necks underneath their clothes, a small cross or some sacredimage given them on the day of baptism. The Icon of a Saint istacitly assumed to assure the presence of the Saint himself and so,since the Saint is believed to be a miracle-worker, most of the Iconsare credited with miraculous powers. The logic of the argumentis primitive but on its own premises quite consistent, and the truthis that an unshaken faith in miracles sometimes under certain cir-cumstances rendered possible the most extraordinary events.We here reproduce a number of the most famous Icons ofRussian Saints and Arch-angels, among whom St. Michel, St.George, St. Seraphim of Sarovo, St. Nicholas, St. Alexander Nev-RUSSIAN ICONS. 453ski, and above all the Theotokos, i. e., "the Mother of God," playan important part.Among the Theotokos pictures, an ancient Icon of the TverskiMonastery of Mt. Athos (a place sacred since the days of Greekpaganism) is looked up to with special reverence and has thereforebecome a prototype of innumerable copies distributed throughoutRussia. Though the features of the face vary, the attitude and thegeneral expression are the same in almost all of them.Much can be said for as well as against icons. Protestantismand, more so, Puritanism, reject them as pagan, while both theGreek and Roman Catholic Churches have sanctioned their use. Weabstain here from discussing the subject, and would, from the stand-point of the impartial investigator of facts, only indicate that theyplay a most significant part in the history of civilisation. One can-not deny that in spite of their indubitably pernicious influence amongthe superstitious, they have been the means of great achievements,especially in religion and art.[We learn from clie daily papers that the Icon of the Kazan Cathedralhas been stolen. The thieves, a man and a woman, are under arrest. Theywere caught at Nijni-Novgorod, but while the jewels are recovered the pic-ture itself, it appears, has been burned.]

Russian Icons.

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Russian Icons.

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