ing curses upon the household that should deny them charity. Often the simple-minded boor, carried away by his fears and crazed fancies, would abandon home, family, and all, to join these self-appointed saints.[1]
They gave a literal interpretation to the words of the Gospel, and renounced the world; they would have no abode, own no property, acknowledge no law, no allegiance, no obligation, and justified their rupture with society on the plea that Satan ruled supreme. They would carry no passports nor papers to establish their identity, and defaced the imperial arms as the seal of the "Beast;" they prohibited marriage, held all things in common, and called each other "brother and sister."
In this co-fraternity there are two degrees of affiliation—that of "pilgrims," or "fugitives," under vows of vagrancy and poverty, and that of "entertainers," or "hospitallers," "strannopreeïmtsi."[2] The latter are novices, who, secretly adhering to their tenets, continue to pursue their ordinary avocations, and whose duty is, pending complete initiation, to afford refuge and help to their brethren. The Pilgrims only are received into full communion by a baptismal rite, which imposes utter renunciation of the world and a mendicant life. This ceremony is performed at night, in desert places, and, in preference, with freshly-fallen rain, or the water of some distant pool, as the rivers and lakes are contaminated by the use of the unrighteous.
They have no churches, but worship in secret retreats, in the depths of the forest, around trees, on which they hang the holy images. The hospitallers, in consideration for human frailty, are allowed a time of probation, but before death they must enter into full communion
