The doctrines of the Russian Church are not set forth in any one public document like the “Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion,” but must be sought in its creeds, councils, Church services, and catechisms. Generally speaking, it may be said that the Bible and tradition form the Russian rule of faith, and excommunication is the penalty of heterodoxy. The Nicene Creed we know the Russians receive, with the exception of the clause relating to the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son; and the Athanasian Creed finds a place in their Church books, though it is not read in the public services. There are likewise certain works by eminent Russian divines which have been promulgated or received with more or less authority by councils or the general consent of the Eastern Church. Such are the treatise of St. John Damascene on the Orthodox Faith; the Answers of the Patriarch Jeremiah to the Lutherans, 1574–1581; Peter Mogila’s Orthodox Confession of Faith of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East, 1643–1662; the Eighteen Articles of the Synod of Bethlehem, 1672; and the Orthodox Doctrine of Platon, 1762. We get a better insight, however, into the doctrines of the Russian Church, as they are taught in the present day, from Mr. Blackmore’s translation of the Russian Primer, the Catechisms, and the Treatise on the Duty of Parish Priests—a perusal of which last seems to me to bring the Russian Church nearer to the English, and further from the Roman, than is generally supposed. Some idea of the divergences of the three Churches will be obtained by briefly enumerating their differences, thus:—
1. The principal differences between the Russian and English Church are upon—
| (1) | The number of the Œcumenical Councils. |
| (2) | The number of the sacraments. |
| (3) | Confirmation by priests. |
| (4) | Marriage of clergy after ordination. |
| (5) | Consecration of married priests to the episcopate. |
| (6) | Transubstantiation. |
| (7) | Invocation of saints. |
| (8) | Reverence to sacred pictures and relics. |
| (9) | Prayer for the faithful departed. |
| (10) | The procession of the Holy Ghost. |
2. The differences between the Russian and English Churches on one side, and the Roman on the other, are upon—
| (1) | Papal supremacy. |
| (2) | Purgatory. |
| (3) | Communion in one kind. |
| (4) | Celibacy of priests and deacons. |
| (5) | Indulgences. |
| (6) | Works of supererogation. |
| (7) | Judicial absolution. |
| (8) | The doctrine of intention in priestly acts. |
| (9) | The Apocrypha. |
| (10) | Service in an unknown tongue. |
| (11) | Withdrawal of the Scriptures from the laity. |
| (12) | Use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. |
| (13) | The immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. |
| (14) | Papal infallibility. |
3. Once more, the differences between the English Church and the Russian and Roman combined are upon—
| (1) | The number of the sacraments. |
| (2) | Married bishops. |
| (3) | Invocation of saints. |
| (4) | Reverence of pictures and relics. |
| (5) | Prayer for the faithful departed. |
| (6) | Compulsory confession. |
These are some of the principal differences between the three branches of the Catholic Church, besides which there are others connected with usage and ritual.