The nature of Orthodox passivism, its backwardness in religious and ecclesiastical matters, explains why, in quarters friendly to the church, and even within the church itself, a Catholic trend is so often and so conspicuously manifest (Čaadaev, Pečorin, Solov'ev, Leont'ev). This is no mere outcome of an adaptation in externals to those elements in the west that are ecclesiastically and religiously akin, for from within outwards Orthodoxy, now that the leaven of western philosophy has begun to work, tends logically towards Catholicism as the next stage upwards in ecclesiastico-religious evolution. Among the common people there is no Catholic trend, and the folk has no sympathy with the movement towards the union of the churches; but the inclination of the cultured classes and of instructed theologians towards Catholicism is thoroughly comprehensible.
In respect of ecclesiastical policy, no less than in respect of doctrine, Peter's adversary Javorskii continues to find followers; these endeavour to fortify clericalism and to further centralisation through the patriarchate. In connection with such efforts at ecclesiastical reform, it is essential to distinguish clearly between the progressive and the reactionary elements (§ 36).
Protestantism is less dangerous to Orthodoxy precisely
Sergii's writings may be mentioned, The Orthodox Doctrine of Salvation, An Analysis of the Moral and Subjective Aspects of Salvation.) A notable work is Tarěev's Christus, the Foundations of Christianity, 4 vols., 1908. This writer has been influenced by Dostoevskii and Antonii. Světlov likewise deserves attention. He has written: The Cross of Christ; The Significance of the Cross in the Work of Christ; An Attempt to Elucidate the Dogma of Redemption, 1907. The writings of Sergii, Tarěev, and Světlov signify a revolution in Russian theology. Not merely have they endeavoured to harmonise church doctrine with life and literature, but they have attempted to dissipate religious formalism, and above all to get rid of the formalist and legalist conception of redemption as effected by the sacrificial death of Christ. Nesmělov may also be mentioned here as providing a philosophical basis for ethics (The Doctrine of Man: I, Attempt at a psychological History and Criticism of the fundamental Problem of Life, 3rd edition, 1906; II, The Metaphysic of Life and the Christian Revelation, 1907). Nesmělov goes so far as to endeavour to reconcile the ideas of Feuerbach with a partial adoption of Orthodoxy. Janyšev, a thoroughly modern writer influenced by progressive Protestant theology, opened a discussion of ethical problems (The Orthodox-Christian Doctrine of Morality, 1887). Zarin deals with the topic of asceticism, one of peculiar importance to Orthodoxy (Asceticism in Relation to Orthodox-Christian Doctrine, 1907). Sergii's work was rejected by the St. Petersburg academy. Tarěev's essay, The Temptation of Our Lord, 1900, had to be rewritten before it could secure acceptance as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Arts.
