Smyrna times., 1900-02-14
HUMAN SACRIFICES.
MODERN RELIGIOUS FANATICS WHO
BELIEVE IN THEM.


WOr&. Particularly In Russia,
Whose Members XIII and Cruelty
That Salvation May Be Attained.
That human sacrifices have been
made even in the nineteenth century,
and by protesting Christians. too. is
brought out by The American Journal
of Sociology in a striking article:
The COnvulsionists, sect existing in
Paris about 1760. were wont to cruelty
members of their order. in emulation
of the crucixion of the Saviour. in the
belief that the souls of the surviving
members would be saved by the sacri-
fees of their fellows. In 1917 the
''Paschelians." an Austrian sect. muir
dered man. his wife and daughter
under the deluSion that the trio. who
refused to go with the fanatics, were
possessed of the devil On the follow.
ing day they crucified one of their own
number, girl of 10 years. who had
suffered herself for the death. in imi
tatiOn of the death of the Saviour, in
order to save the souls of her fellow
believers.
In 1923 the leader of a Pietistlc cir
Gle in Switzerland. after having dis
patched her sister, who gave her life
as means of saving the souls of her
relatives. was crucified by her follow.
ers at her own command in order that
she might die, rise again after three
days and restore to life the sister she
had slain. In 1865 two mothers, al
herents of the Holy Men" slew their
sick children. believing them to be vic.
tins of demoniacal possession. In
1875 n Hungarian miller belonging to
the "Nazarenes." killed his son as an
offering for his own sins after the
fashion of Abraham. In 1870, in Ir-
kutsk. Russia. one of the "Schsmat-
les" convinced himself by prayer and
fasting and much Scripture reading
that to save his soul he must be cruel.
fed. Accordingly he attempted sell
cruciixiOn and succeeded so far as
the circumstances of the case would
permit.
In 1880. iE the government of Perm
Russia, a peasant killed his child a:
in an ant hill. Likewise, in the gov
ernment of Vladimir, another peasant
killed both his children in due Abra
hamic form. and while the babies blet
under the fathers knife the devou
mother celebrated the service by read
| ing aloud selected portions of the TWEEN
| ty-second chapter of Genesis. In 1854
in the government of Tambov, Russia
a peasant. convinced that to save hi
soul man must have a sin to repen
of. killed a neighbor with an ak in OF
der to satisfy this highly imperative
condition.
1t is a part of the creed OF the "War
derers," a Russian sect, that anti
Christ rules in high places there an
that accordingly good men must hav
naught to do with governmental al
fairs of any sort. In conformity wit
this belief man murdered in variou
ingenious ways % men. women an
children, including his own wife an
babies, in order to free them from th
danger Of losing their souls by suffer
ing the communicating contact of tn
government census taker. This Occur
red in 1897.
The "Deniers," another quite Intel
esting Russian sect, believe that ev
taints all earthly good and that th
only escape is death. In 1925 60 G
these men. strong in the faith, afte
having murdered their wives and chi
dren. permitted themselves to be pr
to death, one by one, by their leader
The "Scourgers," who also form
widespread and influential sect in Ru
sia, in obedience to the behests of the
''saviors." are in the habit of indulI
ing in human sacrifices, cannibalist
feasts. erotic dances and other lew
procedures as an extremely efficacioI
method of keeping the hand Of ev
from off their immortal souls. So IL
"Muckers" of Konigsberg and the &C
ebrants of the black mass in Paris a
ford further examples of the use of
ritual of erotism, coupled with a pra
tice of the most abandoned and o.
scene behavior, to promote the etern
welfare of the SOUL