Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-18
Old .ects In \ assia.

an Oriental building with European
facade. Her civilization is so new that
it has not yet been absorbed into the It's
euss, but is little more than skin-deep.
In matters OF religion, while only the
orthodox Greek church is publicly al
lowed services, Russia is as much dis
tracted with fyenetical sects as Egypt
was in the first centuries of the christian
era, as Germany in the days after Luther
or England under the Long parliament.
There are rationalists, few; QuskeIs,
Shakers, dervishes, mystics, religious
communists, latter-day saints, sects az las
ciyious as the inhabitants Of the Daphne
suburb OF Antioch, and sects which
insure the confluence of their proselytes
by horrible and atrOcious mutations. 1t
would be long and thankless task to
analyze all the avatars in which Russian
heresy manifests itself; but some Ofthese
sects are most curious in their beliefs
and forms, and some horribly revolt.
ing in their practices. The strangest
doctrines Of the mystical east lurk
still in the forests of Lithusnia and the
remote provinces of Little Russia, in the
twilight boys of Finland. and the plains
centering in Moscow. The sect OF the
RhlySty is q fair sample OF the degree Of
inspiration needed to attract religious
followers in Russia. Daniel Philippe
witch, deserter from the army, about
the beginning of the last century curly
announced that II am the God an
Dounced by the prophets, descended a
second time upon earth for the saliva
ton Of the human race, and there is no
other God but me-" This was the first
of his twelve commandments, aud it
will be admitted he went beyond even
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
Daniel is supposed to have been prose-
lyte of one Huffman, q German enthu-
siast who attempted to introduce thedOc
trines Of Jacob Boehme into Russia IN
der the Regent Sophia, was arrested as
hereto and publicly burnt in Moscow
in 1888. The blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the false church, as well as of
the true church. Daniel took for his
Christ q serf Of the Nary chkines named
Ivan Souslof, and these two promulgat-
ed doctrine and legend, and fOrmu-
lated a worship. The Khlysty (Flagel-
lants) cell themselves Men Of God,
Community Of the Disciples .; Christ,
or, Society of Brothers aud SISTERS.
They have no written doctrine, "i,tI'y,
nor refOrm-all is traditional; hur .ey
pretend that the true faith Was I,v ed
to Russia during the reign Of Pet,r he
Great, by God the Father himself, who
descended upon Mount GOrodiLa and
| took the human form of Daniel Philip
povitch. His followers call him the
God OF SabaOth. Daniel welded wo-
man one hundred years old, in whom
conception was held immaculate in so
| far at least as it was impossible, who
| bore him a son, Ivan TimOfeevltch
I L,a 90 il W
begOtten, the Christ. Ivan assembled to
heaven, but each generation has his liv-
| ing descendant and representative, to
keep the faith alive, in some man born
of these two divine families of SOuslcf
and Philippovitch. Ivan chose twelve
apostles to preach the twelve COM
mandments of Daniel. Just as his doc
trines began to spread (the legend
cIaims) the new Christ was arrested,
cruelty beaten, burnt, tortured, and at last
crucified at the holy gate of the Krem-
lin. But this martyrdOm does nOtsatis-
| fy the mlOUjjES. Ivan came to life again,
and was sg ain tortured and cIucitied,
and the bouy burnt; the shroud in which
| the body had been envelOped, however,
escaped the flames; Ivan came to life in
this, and lived happily afterward until
his appointed time came to return to his
Fathers Kingdom. The last descend
ant of Daniel was woman named
| Ouliaua Vasilief, who was wOrshiped
| in her home near KOstrOma, till Gar
! Nicholas had her imprisoned in an or
| thOd0X convent. The sect OF the KhIys-
ty, however, has penetrated into every
province of the empire and every rank
Of society. In 1917 society was sur
prised pTacticing its mystic rites in one
| of the imperial palaces at st. Peters
burg. Like the Druses, the Khlysty per-
NIT their disciples an outward conformity
with orthodoxy; their own worship is
secret. They are ascetic; wine, feasting,
oaths, marriage itself, are all prohibited;
all rites and doctrines are kept under q
| bond of secrecy, and the Injunction is
renewed perpetually to believe in and
expect the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the
shape of immediate inspiration. They
work themselves up to ecstasy by dance,
song and gyratiOn like those of the
| Shakers and the Dervishes of Mussul-
man countries. They are said to have
disciples among the royal family, the
mobiles, the priests, the monks and nuns.
The SkGkOUny is a sect which differs
from the Khlysty chiefly in their style
OF motion. While these spin, the former
leap into the air; but they are said to be
exceedingly licentious, excess Of libidin-
GUS practice being, indeed, taken as an
act of highest worship. Their religion Is
fee love run mad. Marriage is stain,
an impiety; incest no crime, since all
true believers are brothers and sisters in
Christ. They found all their practices
upon texts Of scripture. They are also
accused Of practising sort of holy can
nibalism at some of their orgies: The
blood of q new born infant (the child
an unmarried woman, first baptized
and then having its throat cut is mixed
with honey and taken in place Of the
Eucharist. Others say that the victim,
instead of being killed with knife, is
slain by being tossed in the air from one
to another till it expires. Sometimes
the virgin breast Of a young maiden is
cut eff to supply the horrible repast. The
.SkOptSy is q nightmare of a sect that
brings to mind the Corybantic frenzy CT
Attys, the symbolicsl madness Of ORR
gen. 1t is s sect only possible in holy
Russia sect Which.practices castrstiOn
as universal duty, in order to insure
confluence, the crown of virtues. The
| SkOptsky call themselves Bell GOlOu6y -
white dOVes-and found their peculiar
doctrine upon a literal construction of
Matthew xix, II. The women, the bet
ter to TT them for being doves, are mu-
tilated by excising the breasts, by tat
teoing, and other devices still more
hideous. To keep up their sect, some
privileged SkOptsy are permitted to
marry; but most of their recruits are
from without, by proselyting, by brib-
ing, or by stealing children. They are
millenarians, impatient for the Rp.
preaching end of the present social or.
der, when their Messiah will come, set
up his kingdom in holy Russia, and give
the empire of the earth to his saints, The
Skoptsy. But before this the mum her Of
the saints must be complete, according
to the tale given in the Apocalypse; and
consequently the exertiOns of the
! Skoptsy are incessant and heIculean to
bring their congregations up to the es.
| tablished number of one hundred and
! fOrty-foUr thousand. This heresy of the
Skoptsy had its beginning apparently
about 177O, the year OF the plague
! Ct Moscow. st. Petersburg was their
center and New Jerusalem. The founder
or organizer OF this sect was Andrew
SeliVanof who was preaching his doc
trine in st. Petersburg in NapOleon's
time, and lived until the year 1882. He
| is now a divine incarnation like Ivan
| SOuslOf. The SkCptsy doctrine is but an
| intensificatiOn Of that Of the Khlysty !;
| the lster-born sect is an Offspring of the
loins Of the elder, and the ritual is de-
rived from the same source. They
clothe themselves in long white linen
robes, girt over the loins, for their meet
ings, and dance and sing and excite
! themselves after the most approved
. fao HpI haf
only the John the Baptist of Selivanof,
/ and that tho aanrof ,IOofriva ~ llama So,