What has hitherto supported the religious constancy
of orthodox believers in those lands, formerly Ottoman, which have
become subject to Russia, has been throughout the consciousness that
there was still upon the Russian border a great militant body of men of
their own faith, ruled by its acknowledged spiritual head.
The centre of their religious pride has been Constantinople, where the
Sultan and Caliph has sat enthroned upon the Bosphorus, commanding the
two worlds of Europe and Asia, and securing to them communication with
the holy places of their devotion and the living body of true believers.
Their self-respect has been maintained by this feeling, and with it
fidelity to their traditions. Moreover, the school of St. Sophia has
been a fountain-head of religious knowledge, the university at which the
Ulema of Kazan and Tiflis and Astrachan have received their spiritual
education; while at all times religious personages from Constantinople
have travelled among them, keeping alive the recollection of their lost
allegiance. On this basis their faith has retained what it has of
loyalty in spite of the political Russianising they have undergone; but
with their political centre destroyed, they would be as sheep without a
shepherd, scattered in little groups here and there among a growing
Christian population, and shut out from the fold of their belief.
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