The Raskol was divided into two sects, which have ever remained, each hostile to the other. The adherents of one retained the belief that Christianity, or a Church, could not exist without a priesthood of regular apostolic descent; they held that the Church of Russia had not necessarily, by adopting Nikon's heresy, lost its sacred character, that ordination of priests by its bishops was still valid, and, consequently, that to have a clergy in regular standing they had but to convert and draw to their ranks ministers of the national establishment. These sectarians took the name of "Popovtsi,"[1] or Priest-possessing.
The adherents of the other declared that, by anathematizing true believers, by rejecting ancient traditions, books, and ritual, the National Church had become heretical, and lost all claim to divine power or authority; it was accursed, and its ministers were children of the Evil One; any communication with them was a sin, and consecration or ordination by them was pollution. The Eastern patriarchs shared in the condemnation, and no relief could come from them. Orthodoxy was extinct, apostolic succession and priesthood had perished with it. These fanatics were designated as "Bezpopovtsi,"[2] or those without priests.
The existence of a sacerdotal class, although it was small in number, and composed chiefly of ignorant, venal, or unfrocked popes, prevented the complete separation of the Popovtsi from the established Church, and the utter rejection by them of all Orthodox doctrines. They recognize, and still accept, the sacraments, and have, as will be explained, managed to revive the episcopate and to establish a regular hierarchy of their own.
