Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-12-30
Russian seefa.
London Pail Mall Gazette


An interesting article on The va
rious religious sects which are rep.
resented in the Russian army is
printed in the Russki Mir. The
number of dissenters in the Rus
sian empire is not exactly known,
as, some Of the sects not being tol-
Grated by the government, they are
not noticed in the official statistics:
but it is supposed to be 100000
of both sexes. This would give
about 76,S0O recruits yearly, the
number Of men of'20 wears of age
being on an average 192 in 20,030
of the population. Deducting 80
per cent. for those unfit for military
service, there remain SO, ,760 men as
the contingent supplied to the army
by the dissenters of the empire.
The Russian sects are divided into
three classes - the Popoytchina
(sects with priests, the Bespopoyt-
china (sects without priests, and
the heretics (Yeress). The Po-
povtchina do not recognize ordina-
tion by the orthodox bishops
and priests, and have therefore
elected a metropolitan of their
own, Ambrosius, whose see
was founded in 1876 with
the permission of the Austrian
Government, at the Monastery of
Blela Krinitza, in tine BukoYina.
They pray for the Emperor, but
call him Ruler" instead of
I" Gar" They are on friendly
terms with the members of the
Orthodox church, often attend
their religious services and are very
patriotic. The Bespopovtchiua be.
lieye that Antichrist has come into
the world; they detest all novelties.
do not recognize the authorities, do
not go to church, abstain from
meat and wine, and reject all re-
ligious ceremonies. They have a
strong feeling of hostility toward
the nations Of Western Europe, the
Catholics and the Turks. Among
the so-called heretical sects is the
Feodosseyevtchina, which is very
wealthy and numerous, furnishing
no fewer than 19,200 recruits to
the army, who are very intolerant
to the members of other creeds and
natlonalities, but would fight to the
death for the defense of their
country. Even more intolerant
are the Philipoytzi, who preach
suicide by fire and starvation as
the greatest Of Christian virtues
There are also about million mem
bers of forbidden sects, such as the
Ohild-murderers." who think it
their duty tospeople Paradise with
the souls Of innocent children,
thereby converting them into an
gels = and the "Stranglers," who
believe that people can only enter
Paradise bya violent death. These
sectS seldom supply the army with
recruits, as they are usually formed
of men who have passed the age of
youth, and whose children are
killed before they attain maturity.
Other sects, which for similar rea-
sons supply but few recruits, are
the Flagellants and the Skoptzi, or
mutilated, of whom there are alto
gether about 100000. The Molo-
kans hold it to be sinful to bear
arms, and look forward to an en-.
pire Of Ararat which is to DESTROY
Russia. They supply about $500 |
men to the army; and as they OBJ |
stinately refuse to carry weapons of
any kind, they have to be distrib-
uted among the sanitary and trans
port corps. All these sects, adds
the Russkl Mir, are very patriotic,
and have subscribed large sums for
the Russian volunteers in Servia,
and the Sclavonic insurgents in
Turkey generally.