Baptistic Theologies, 2009

ised Westem-European culture for its rationalism and faith in the good nature of human beings. He believed that the factors produced led to grass¬ roots democracy - ‘the great falsehood of our time’. 51 47 Those words were published in Istoricheskii Vestnik [Historical Messenger] - popular Russian historical scientific magazine of 1880-1917 - after Pobedonostsev’s death. See A.Shikman, Deyateli Otechestvennoi Istoryy. Bibligraphicheskii Spravochnik [Doers of National History. Bibliographical guide] (Moscow, 1997), http://www.hrono.info/, accessed 20 lh March 2008. 48 Pobedonoscev Konstantin, in Enciklopedicheskii Slovar Brokgausa ee Evfrona [Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Brokgaus and Evfrone] Bibliotekar.ru, http://bibliotekar.ru/, accessed 23 rd March 2008. 49 V. Fedorov, ‘Pobedonoscev Konstantin Petrovich’, Hronos, http://www.hrono.info/, accessed 20 th March 2008. 50 A. Soloviev, ‘K.P. Pobedonostsev ee Politika Kontr-Reform’ [K.P. Pobedonostsev and the Politics of Counter-Reforms], Izvestiya Yralskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, N.25, (2003), http://www.krotov.info/, accessed 16 lh March 2008. 51 K. Pobedonostsev, ‘Velikaya Lozh Nashego Vremeni’ [The Great Falsehood of our Time] Moskovskii Sbornik [Moskow album] (Moscow: Synodal Typography, 1901), http://www.wco.ru/biblio/books/pobedonoscevl/Main.htm, accessed 20 lh March 2008. 82 Baptistic Theologies Pobedonostsev was certain that the well-being of society was in some ‘natural force of inertness’ that is based on human feelings, perception and experience, but not on knowledge. This ‘force’ produces respect for ‘old institutions’, which have historical authority. This ‘force’ connects to faith and affirms the supremacy of the Church and its sacraments. Every nation has its own Church and sacraments. Churches differ, as their sacraments are different, and therefore, as different nations exist so will different Churches. There can be no unity of churches. Every man convinced in his faith, he insisted, ‘deems it his duty not only to confess his teaching openly but also, in case of necessity, to impose it forcibly upon others’. With this reasoning parity between the different churches in a state was impossible. Moreover, from his point of view, the Church and the State could not exist in separation. Thus he considered the Russian context, with its merger of the Orthodox Church and the State, to be ideal. Pobedonostsev’s view of people and the relationship between ethics and faith is very interesting. It sheds light on why he totally rejected Pashkovism with its heavy emphasis on charity, education, and spiritual reform. Pobedonostsev characterised the Russian people as ‘left on their own, uneducated... know nothing of faith, [are] full of superstitions, suffering from bad habits’. 53 He also saw that the clergy were ‘rude, ignorant, inert’, 54 which was the reason for widespread disappointment in the Orthodox Church. But all those negative cha