Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov

TO THE SERBS. AN EPISTLE FROM MOSCOW

(Extract )29

... In truth, 0 Serbs, God has bestowed great favors upon you,
greater, we think, than you yourselves know. A healthy body is one of
man's greatest blessings, but he realizes this only when he loses it, or when
he observes the illnesses of others and compares them with his own healthy
state. In the same way you can come to know your advantages only
through comparison with the shortcomings of other societies (and you
have not yet attended to such a comparison),
or through the frank
xmfession of such other societies, who know from experience their
sicknesses and their causes. Let this knowledge serve as a warning to you,
NO that you might avoid the errors which other nations have not been able
to avoid, and so that, in adopting what is good and useful, you will not be
infected by those malignant principles which often accompany good
things, unnoticed by the inexperienced eye.
The first, most important and priceless blessing which you, the Serbs,
possess is your unity in Orthodoxy, that highest wisdom and highest truth,
the root of all spiritual and moral growth. Such is your unity in the faith
that for the Turk the words "Serb" and "Orthodox" are synonymous. You
must value this finest of all blessings above all others, and guard it as you
would the pupil of your eye; after all, what is Orthodoxy if not the pupil of
one's inner, spiritual eye?
Christianity was not sown by force in the world; nor did it develop
through violence, but by overcoming all violence. Thus it must not be
preserved by violence, and woe to him who seeks to protect the might of
'1"\I'i5twith the feebleness of human weapons! Faith is a matter of spiritual
l'rccdom, and it tolerates no compulsion. True faith is conquering the
world, but it does not seek the temporal sword for its triumph. Therefore,
respect all freedom of conscience and faith, in order that no one should
offend against the truth by saying that it fears falsehood and does not dare
ompcte with falsehood armed only with thought and words. Defend
(lc)(I's honor, not with timidity and doubt as to its might, but boldly and
with t\ calm 'confidence in its victory.
Out, on the other hand, always bear in mind the significance and
dlijnity of the faith. Those who think that it is simply a matter of creed,
rituals, or even the direct communion of man with God, are quite wrong.
No, f"ith penetrates man's whole being and all his relations with his
1IIlll1hhOl', At! if with invisible thl'onds or I'oots it binds together till his

IlmlloU:N, 1111hill convlcuou nud 1111hillllHph'lItl()ll~.

It Is II 1101'( c~f rnrcfled ulr,

94

A. S. KHOMYAKOV

recreating and transforming

within him every mundane principle, or a
luminous light, illuminating all ris moral conceptions and all his views on
other people and the inner laws which bind him to them. Therefore, faith is
also the highest social principle; for society itself is precisely the visible
manifestation of our inner relations with other people and our union with
them.
A healthy civil society is based on its citizens' understanding
of
brotherhood,
truth, justice and mercy; but this understanding cannot be
the same among men if their faiths are different. The Jew and the
Mohammedan
profess one God, just like the Christian, but is their
understanding of truth and mercy the same as ours? Of course, it will be
said that they know neither the Sacrament of the Holy and EverWorshipful Trinity, nor the love of God, which is our salvation through
Christ, and that consequently the difference between them and us is too
great. But we know that even Christians, apart from the true Orthodox
Church, possess neither a totally clear understanding nor a totally sincere
sense of brotherhood.
Such an understanding and such a sense develop
and strengthen only in Orthodoxy. It is no accident that the commune, the
sanctity of the communal verdict and the unquestioning
submission of
each individual to the unanimous decision of his brethren are preserved
only in Orthodox countries. The teachings of the faith cultivate the soul
even in social life. The Papist seeks extraneous and personal authority.just
as he is used to submitting to such authority in matters of faith; the
Protestant takes personal freedom to the extreme of blind arrogance, just
as in his sham worship. Such is the spirit of their teaching. Only the
Orthodox Christian, preserving his freedom, yet humbly acknowledging
his weakness, subordinates his freedom to the unanimous resolution of the
collective conscience." It is for this reason that the local commune has not
been able to preserve its laws outside Orthodox countries. And it is forthis
reason that the Slav cannot be fully a Slav without Orthodoxy. Even our
brethren who have been led astray by the Western falsehood, be they
Papists or Protestants, acknowledge this with grief. This principle applies
to all matters of justice and truth, and to all conceptions about society; for
at the root of it lies brotherhood.

1860

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