The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-18

icount of the services which they rem dered the public when the city was Istricken with pestilence, they were re- warded with certain grants of land. At 1.-the tiuke thex received title to this real estate it was in an oiut of the way district and of little value. At the, present time 1t is situated in the heart of the city. There are other Russian sects which maintain doctrines even imilder than those of the conservative Sfaroyertzi of Moscow Yet until re- IcentIy they have been hunted from province to province as if they plotted Ifha assassination of the Emperor IThere are the Sabatkini, or Sabbatar- Hans, who have a religion much the same as the Jews. Indeed, the sect
 was founded by a Hebrew, zaeharlas of Kiey. who preached that the Old Testament was the only inspired part of the Bible. that the seventh day was the day of rest, and in time there would come an earthly Messiah. The lSabatkini have been a religious factor lin Russia ever since 147O.
 Another harmless group of dissen- tters Is that of the Malakanes, or milk drinkers. As the Duchobortzi take up arms against the icon, so the Mala- kanes rebel against the fast days, im- posed by the Orthodox Church. While mot disputing the sacredness of these tdays, they nevertheless argue that the
 body demands nourishments just as lmuch orf one day as another, and that ithe severe mandates of the church pro-
 hibiting the taking of any food what soever on fast days except by young tchfldren is an offense to God, because lit intures the body he has made, As- cordingly, the Malakanes, when others
 Ego entirely without food, drink all the l s'Aaiako" or milk that their hunger demands.
 If the MaIaAanes. however, had com fined their religious activity merely to
 the milk question they would nave
 had far less to worry about. EVeF since 1888 members of this sect have
 been waiting for the millennium. | that year Terenth Belioreff, one or their leaders, announced that he was no other than Elias, and that in thirty months the millennium would arrive
 When the day of which he had prophe-
 sled came. he went up on high cin i to ascend to heaven in chariot or
 fire. Hut though instead or gong up
 this modern prophet fell down and lnearly killed himself, the Malakanes
 are still looking forward to the com5 | ing of an Utopian era.
 Most quiet of all Russian sects Is | that of the Bezslovestni, who, on be-
 coming members of this order, take
 vow of utter silence for the rest ol
 their lives The Bezslovestni, however, I in spite of their apparent inoffensiye-
 l. ness, were cruelty persecuted In the
 reign of Catherine IT. On one Of her ] Journeys she chanced to meet one or ! these silent religionists and to ask
 him the way Obtaining no answer, she
 had him flogged on the spot The
 knout brought out not a word There
 upon the mute was thrown into prison
 and tortured Yet never syllable es- caped his fips 'T1I have my revenge on the whole herd of them" was Cath Iarine's utterance as soon as sne heafu | of the prisoners obistinacy, and at her lcommand officials of the Government
 hunted throughout the whole Empire
 for Bezslocestni and put them on the
 rack. Strange as it may seem, no Wo-
 man have ever joined this silent sect In these days, however, sects like Ithe speeches. Bezslovestni are not
 the ones which are worrying the Rns- sian Government. The problem with which the Cxar's officials are strug- gling is that of suppressing the more I franticaI disenters, such as have all
 ready stirred up riot and bloodshed m
 the Caucasus. Uhloosed by the imper- Hal promise of Government toleratlon lthey have resorted to practices of bar
 barrie fiendishness.
 i A sect of this sort Is that of the
 Khlisti, or fiagellants, who believe not only in mutilation, but also in kind lof cannibalism. Their nesheatiDg rites have been varieusly described but by Inc one more graphically than Baron won Haxthausen, the German writer i The Baron visited a Khlisu Easter 1 feast. ana his own words in telling of
 his experience have been reprinted py
 John Henry Blount, in his History or Scots" as follows. "On this night the Khlisti assemble
 for a great soiemnity, the worship of
 the Mother of God. A girl whom they
 have induced to submit by tempting promises, is bound and placed in tub
 of warm water. Some old women flrst cut off a part of her flesh and staneh l the blood in a wonderfully short time
 During the operation mystical pie
 ture of the Holy Spirit is put into the victims hands in order that she may
 be absorbed in regarding it. The flesh which has been cut Off is laid on Diatc and sliced into small pieces' which are eaten by all the members
 of the sect present. The girl in the | tub is then raised upon an altar which stands near, and the whole congrega- tion dances wildly around 1t, singing
 at the same time. The Jumping grows madder and madder till the lights are lsuddenly extinguished. 1 My secretary was acquainted with
 one of these girls. who were always
 afterward regarded ah sacred, and he said that at the age of nineteen or twenty they look like women of fifty.
 They generally. die before their thtr- I