St. Maximos' Hut

It seems that Alexander Kinglake was unimpressed with Orthodoxy, at least in Greece:

I think that the change which has taken place in the character of the Greeks, has been occasioned, in great measure, by the doctrines and practice of their religion. The Greek Church has animated the Muscovite peasant, and inspired him with hopes and and ideas which, however humble, are still better than none at all; but the faith, and the forms, and the strange ecclesiastical literature which act so advantageously upon the mere clay of the Russian serf, seem to hang like lead upon the ethereal spirit of the Greek. Never in any part of the world, have I seen religious performances so painful to witness as those of the Greeks. The horror, however, with which one shudders at their worship, is attributable, in some measure, to the mere effect of costume.

(p. 57). I suppose I might take offense at this, but it seems so funny that I can't find it in myself to be offended. Maybe that just means I am more like a Russian peasant than a Greek and so the doctrines "animate" me rather than hang on me like lead.