Project Canterbury
Russia and the English Church
During the Last Fifty Years
containing a correspondence between
Mr. William Palmer, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford
and M. Khomiakoff,
in the years 1844-1854.
Edited by W. J. Birkbeck, M.A., F.S.A.
Published for the Eastern Church Association.
London: Rivington, Percival & Co. 1895
pp v-vi
PREFACE.
ONLY a few words are necessary by way of Preface to the following collection of letters, in order to explain the purpose of the Eastern Church Association in publishing them. They have been selected as the best means of putting before English Churchmen a point of view in matters of theology, of which they are fort the most part very ignorant. Many of us are acquainted with the Anglican or Roman or Nonconformist way of looking at things. We ignore even the existence of the Russian Church, in many ways the most vigorous and powerful of all Christian bodies, with a very clear and definite theology of its own. The following letters between a very friendly but very definite Russian layman and William Palmer, once Fellow of Magdalen College, oxford, will serve to put before English people a theological position different from that to which they are accustomed. It is felt too that the publication of these letters may do something to preserve the memory of one of by no means the least interesting members of the Oxford Movement, one who was an early pioneer in work towards reunion, who at a time when such ideas were, even more than at present, looked on as Quixotic and visionary, felt himself drawn towards the great and venerable churches of the East. His chivalrous self-sacrifice and his eager zeal for truth deserve not to be forgotten.
It only remains on behalf of the Association to thank Mr. Birkbeck for the trouble that he has taken in editing the letters, and the many friends, both in England and in Russia, who have helped in the publication.
ARTHUR C. HEADLAM,
Secretary of the Eastern Church Association.