prophet who preached doctrines similar to those of the Khlysti.
In 1872, at Belevski, an army officer proclaimed a creed based upon that of the Skoptsi.
Among the sects of the other category, which are both spiritualistic and rationalistic, there is greater variety of opinions; they range from the most abstract mysticism to negation of all religion.
The "Nyemolyaki," or "Prayerless People," content themselves with inward meditation, without any outward expression or ceremony. The "Bezslovestnie," or the "Dumb," abstain from speech altogether. The "Moltchalniki," or the "Taciturn," push their extravagance to denial of all religious belief; they reject the Bible and all traditions; recognize no priesthood nor Church; have no forms, ritual, nor prayer; disbelieve in a future life and in God, and carry their principle of negation to extremes. Every man is a revelation and an authority to himself, which suffice for the present day.
Another sect worship the portrait of the "Beatified" Redeemer, and give themselves up to the holy ecstasy which its fixed contemplation arouses. The object of their adoration is a picture in the Troïtsa monastery, of which the legend is that a very pious Byzantine emperor felt the greatest longing to behold the face of the Saviour, and wearied Heaven with his prayers, which at last were answered. In a dream Christ appeared to him in the glory of His Transfiguration; before vanishing from his sight He pressed to His face a cloth lying upon the emperor's bed, and in the morning, when the emperor awoke, he found upon the cloth the likeness which he had beheld in his vision.
It is the counterpart of the legend of the Western
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