"The historian George Richards wrote in 1918:12 “[T]he religion of Russia is broader and deeper than the creed, polity, cultus, and precepts of the Church of Russia. The life of the spirit defies definition… It consists, not of temples and sacraments, priests and monks, dogmas and canons, but of moods and motives… and ideals— all welling up from the soul’s depth.” He added: “Her literature, art, music, philosophy, religion, theater, and dancing are something intrinsically Russian. Her dominant spirit is not the product of Byzantine Christianity. It is rooted in the Slavic nature… and in oriental mysticism. The remote past with its passions, dreams, fears, and hopes throbs in the living present.”"