On the Special Characteristics of the Russian People
Before the reign of Tsar Peter, this vast country was hardly known in Europe. The Muscovites stood on an even lower level of civilization than the Mexicans when Cortez discovered them; they were all born slaves, and their masters were as barbaric as they were; they lived in ignorance, without crafts or sciences, not even feeling their absence, which stifled all industry. One of their ancient ecclesiastical laws prohibited the Russians from crossing the borders of their country without the permission of their patriarch, under penalty of death. This law was designed to prevent them from becoming aware of their subjugation; and the people, in their profound ignorance and misery, were pleased with it, despising trade with other nations.
The Muscovites' calendar began with the creation of the world; at the beginning of the last century, they were in the year 7207, without being able to explain the significance of this date. The first day of the year for them coincided with our September 13. Their reasoning was that God most likely created the world in the autumn, the season when the earth's products ripen. Not long ago, the people in Moscow wanted to burn a Persian ambassador's secretary because he predicted a solar eclipse. They didn't even know numbers; when they had to count, they used small brass beads strung on a wire. They couldn't count in any other way, not even in the tsar's treasury.
Religiously, they were Greek Orthodox Christians, and still are, but their faith was mixed with superstitions. The more peculiar these superstitions were, and the more tightly they clung to them, the more they adhered to them. Few Muscovites dared to eat pigeon meat because the Holy Spirit is depicted in the form of a dove. They regularly observed four major fasts each year, and during these periods of abstinence, they dared not even consume eggs or milk. According to their ritual, they worshipped God and Saint Nicholas, and immediately after them, the tsar and the patriarch. The patriarch's authority was as boundless as the ignorance of the Russians. The patriarch could issue death sentences, impose the cruelest punishments, and there was no appeal against his judgments. Twice a year, he would ride out at the head of the entire clergy: the tsar, walking, held the horse's reins, and the people would bow to him in the streets, just like the Tatars before their chief lama.
They practiced confession, but only for the most serious sins. In such cases, they felt the need for absolution, though they did not feel the need for repentance. If their priest blessed them, they considered themselves pure before God. Thus, after confession, they would go on to rob or kill without a pang of conscience; and what would restrain other Christians, encouraged them to commit sins. They made a matter of conscience out of whether or not to drink a cup of milk on a fasting day, but fathers, priests, women, and girls would get completely drunk on spirits during holidays. Nevertheless, they still debated religious matters in this country just as in others; the greatest debates revolved around whether secular people should make the sign of the cross with two or three fingers.
Voltaire "XII. Károly", Európa könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1965