IN ANOTHER column there can be read the full text of the telegrams which have passed between the Holy Synod of the Russian Church and the Archbishop of Canterbury with reference to the death of Lord Kitchener [Diary, 3 June]. . . . English Churchmen will know how to appreciate this gracious act, not only for the kindly words which accompanied it, but also for this fresh proof of the goodwill and clearer understanding that have grown up of late between these two great Catholic communions. It is in the direction of the East that we look most hopefully for one great joining up of the severed links in the unity of Christendom, and we welcome this act of the Holy Russian Synod among the encouraging signs of an advance towards re-union.

MR W. J. BIRKBECK, whose death was announced last week, was a type of layman of which the Church is justly proud. A man of wide learning and many accomplishments, he applied his gifts in generous measure to the service of the Church. That part of his work which is likely to be the most enduring and fruitful was done chiefly in Russia, where he was almost as much at home as on his Norfolk estate of Stratton Strawless. Twenty years ago and more, when the Orthodox Communion looked shyly upon English Churchmen, Mr Birkbeck set himself to promote friendly relations between the English and the Orthodox Churches, and it is in no small measure due to his quiet and persistent endeavours that to-day there exists an immensely better understanding between them. . .

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