VI
THE TWO HERMITS
Although self-laceration and being wilfully gloomy
are frequent in Russian life the idea of repentance
is not popular, there being no particular passion for
righteousness and consequently no insistence on
sin as something deadly in itself. In Russia you
never hear that the wages of sin is death. The
man who sins is even thought to be nearer to grace
than he who never sins, the prodigal nearer than
his elder brother. "Sin committed is nothing to
grieve over. What is done can't be helped. Hurry
on and do something else, don't waste time in penance
or repentance." There is no idea of penance
in connection with the Russian Church, and consequently
no "indulgences." Russia has escaped
the evil of thinking that it is possible to pay for
past actions and neutralise their effect. Even in
asceticism the Russian has no idea of paying for
sins by fasting and praying and mortifying the
flesh. And he who sets out on pilgrimage does not
do so as a penance for sin, he is not trying in any
way to make up to God for sin. His act is an act
