The  Greek  Church  of  Russia  was  officially  represented  in  the
Government  with  the  Czar  as  its  head  and  the  Holy  Synod  as  its
governing  body,  yet  its  50,000  clergy  were  frequently  illiterate  and
of  a  peasant  type  and  character,  while  it  had  a  multitude  of  monks,
arch-priests,  etc.,  in  various  Orders  who  were  largely  in  the  same
category;  the  Church  was  a  form  of  Christianity  yet  all  around,
and  often  in  it,  were  phases  of  mysticism  and  semi-barbarous
oriental  thought  which  produced  some  of  the  strangest  sects  known
to  humanity  and  enabled  them  to  flourish  in  many  parts  of  the
country.  Moral  laxity  accompanied  hysterical  excitement  and
resulted  in  such  off-spring  as  Gregory  Rasputin;  out  of  many  weird
and  sometimes  murderous  or  savage  cults  grew  such  developments  as
Jew-baiting,  such  people  as  the  naked  Doukhobor  and  an  ever-


The  Sweep  of  Revolution  in  Russia  67

growing  mass  of  persons  who  were  as  anarchistic  in  religion  as  most
of  the  Socialists  were  in  politics.
