What is the true Church called?
The One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (Orthodox) Church of Christ is called the Ecumenical Church.
What does this name mean?
It means that the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (Orthodox) Church of Christ is one in the whole universe, for the whole world, and there is and can be no other true Church.
How is it that both in the Word of God (Gal. 1:2) and in all books, many Churches are spoken of, e.g., the Churches: of Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople, Russia, etc.?
This refers to local or particular churches, which constitute parts of the one Ecumenical Church of Christ.
Does the Lord require such unity from all?
The Savior established one Church and desires that all be saved in this one Church and be one. The Lord prayed to the Heavenly Father about this: "I do not pray for these alone (i.e., not only for the Apostles), but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us" (John 17:20-21).
Do the numerous sects, which also want to be called true churches, hinder the unity of the Ecumenical Church?
No, they do not hinder the unity of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, since it was not the Lord Christ nor the holy Apostles who created the sects. The Knower of hearts knew that human pride would hinder this unity; the Lord foresaw that many would neglect His Holy community, i.e., the Orthodox Church, and begin to create and organize their own communities, with their own, not Christ's, orders.
What predictions do we have about such people?
The Lord Himself predicted them and warned believers against them. "Take heed," He said, "that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many" (Matt. 24:4-5).
"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand" (Matt. 24:23-25).
(John 10:1-16)
Christ is the Head of the Orthodox Church, the "Chief Shepherd" of His flock (1 Pet. 5:1-6). Whoever is not in the Orthodox Church is not in Christ's flock, not Christ's little sheep.
The instigators of new religions lead sheep away from Christ and draw them after themselves, and all who have left have as their shepherds not Christ, but proud opponents of the Church and self-willed leaders. They are ruled by the prince of opposition—the devil and his servants.
Look at what the opponents of the Orthodox Faith of Christ do! (John 10:10)
Even more specifically, the Holy Spirit speaks through the Apostles about these instigators of new faiths and organizers of new religious societies:
The Apostle Paul says to the Ephesian bishops: "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves" (Acts 20:28-30).
"Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple" (Rom. 16:17-18).
"But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words" (2 Pet. 2:1-3).
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ" (2 Cor. 11:13).
Did these people, wanting to start their own religious societies, actually appear?
Very many of them appeared (read about these ancient sectarians in 2 Peter and Jude) already in the days of the Apostles, and after the Apostles, the number of all kinds of proud sectarians increased even more. Such were Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 2:17-18), the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:15). After these came the Gnostics, who mixed Christianity with paganism; the Marcionites, who rejected the entire Old Testament; the Arians, who did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as God; the Nestorians, who said that Jesus was born a simple man and only later did Christ God dwell in Him; the Monophysites, who recognized in Christ only the Divine nature; the Monothelites, who recognized in Christ only one Divine will, denying the human will. There were many other sects, and they were replaced by new sects that exist now, enticing Orthodox Christians to join them, thereby destroying them.
Are these sects known among us? (as of 1910 – editor's note)
They are very well known, and about almost every one of them, one can say in which century it appeared, who invented it, and what false teachings it holds. Such are: Latinism (Roman Catholicism), Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Stundo-Baptism, Pashkovism (Evangelicalism), Adventism, Tolstoyanism, Khlystism (Flagellantism), Skopchestvo (Castration sect), Besednichestvo, Dukhoborism, Molokanism, and many others.
What is Latinism?
Latinism is the papal heresy. It is also called the Roman Catholic faith.
Latinism fell away from the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (Orthodox) Church of Christ and holds many various heresies. These heresies were introduced by the popes, who seized great power among Western Christians. Some heresies existed in the local Roman Church for two centuries before the fall of Rome from Orthodoxy, but the Roman Church was not excommunicated, hoping that Roman Christians would renounce their errors.
Just as if a person's finger becomes infected, and the person does not go to the hospital to have it amputated, but keeps hoping that the finger will heal—so also the Church of Christ, Orthodox, when one of its members, one part of it—the Roman church—became infected with unclean teaching, at first did not want to cut it off, separate it, but kept thinking to heal it with admonitions; but when they saw the hopelessness, then, for fear that the whole body of the church might become gangrenous, they decided to separate, sever, cut off Rome from Orthodoxy. Thus Rome fell away from the Orthodox Church in 1054.
From that time, in the Roman religion, the papal one, heresies began to multiply more and more, they multiply now and will continue to multiply.
What are the heresies in Latinism?
The first Latin heresy consists in the popes' distortion of Christ's teaching about the Church and in the distortion of the very order of church governance.
a) The Church of Christ is founded on Christ as on a foundation: "Christ is the head of the church" (Col. 1:18). So teaches the Orthodox Church, but Catholics understand that their church is founded on the pope and the Roman Pope is the head of their church.
b) Orthodoxy believes, according to Apostolic teaching, that Christ entrusted His truth, His teaching, to His Church, i.e., to those who believe in Him (John 17:14), but Catholics teach that Christ entrusted His truth to the pope.
c) According to the faith of Christ, all the orders of life and the explanation of doctrine are made by an Ecumenical Council, but among the Latins, the pope has authority over the council.
d) According to the Orthodox faith, Christ gave His grace to all the holy Apostles and their successors, so that they might equally transmit the gifts of grace to believers (Matt. 28:18-20; John 20:22-23), but Catholics understand that the grace of God is entrusted only to the pope, and he, to whomever he wishes, entrusts its distribution.
The second grave heresy of Latinism is that, in their understanding, the pope, as the head of the church replacing Christ, is infallible like God.
The third heresy is the distortion of the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity. Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from God the Father, as the Lord taught (John 15:26), but also from the Son.
The fourth heresy consists in the distortion of the Christian teaching about the Mother of God. According to Catholic teaching, the Ever-Virgin Mary was conceived and born immaculately, i.e., by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, like the Lord Savior; but in reality, according to church teaching, she was born of Joachim and Anna, although they were people of righteous life, but not sinless.
The fifth heresy is that the pope deprived all lay believers of communion of the Blood of Christ.
The sixth heresy is that the pope did not allow presbyters (priests) and deacons to marry, and all their clergy are celibate, and when they live impurely, they turn a blind eye to it.
The seventh heresy is that the pope did not allow lay believers to read the Bible in their native, understandable language.
The eighth heresy is that the Catholics invented purgatory, that is, a transitional state between hell and heaven in heaven, where souls are temporarily tormented and then pass into heaven.
The ninth heresy is that the popes invented indulgences, i.e., documents sold by them for large sums of money; they say that these documents free deceased people from sins, so that whoever is rich and does not begrudge money to the pope will not see hellish torments.
The tenth heresy is that the popes distorted the commandment of Christian perfection. According to the teaching of Christ, perfection is infinite (Matt. 5:48), but the Latins understand that a person can not only fulfill the whole law but also produce an excess of good works. And all the surplus virtues that the Latin saints produce go into the papal treasury, and the pope sells these virtues to sinners for money.
There are many other heresies in Latinism; there are more than fifty of them, but we list only the main ones.
What is Lutheranism?
Lutheranism was invented by the German Martin Luther and began in October 1517. Lutheranism emerged from the Latin heresy and therefore contains even more heresies than the papal religion. The entire Lutheran teaching is contained in books composed by Luther and his associates. These books are: 1) "The Augsburg Confession," 2) "The Apology of the Augsburg Confession" (these books were composed by Luther's associate and collaborator, the German Melanchthon). 3) The Smalcald Articles, composed by Luther. 4) His Catechisms and some other books. If anyone is interested in when and where Lutheranism appeared, they can learn in detail when and where Luther composed which book. This religion is completely not of Christ, but invented by people. It rejects the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church, rejects the priesthood coming from the Apostles, has no Christian sacred rites, not even the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. Instead of Christian sacred rites, Lutherans have their own prayers, invented by Luther and his followers, which bear little resemblance to Christian ones. Lutherans do not recognize the Mother of God, the holy Angels, or the holy saints; they do not honor them and do not pray to them, because they consider themselves saints.
Lutherans do not pray for the dead either, because their love for the dead ceases, unlike Christian love, which never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). From Lutheranism, hundreds of various human religions have also emerged: Stundo-Baptism, Pietism or Pashkovism (Evangelicalism), Adventism, and many others. We will discuss these sects in detail. Further in the catechism, all heresies will be examined insofar as they are contrary to Christian teaching.
What is Anglicanism?
The Anglican heresy appeared in 1539 and began with the King of England, Henry VIII. Henry, boasting that he was on earth in place of God, that he was in his kingdom like the soul in the body, like the sun in the world, invented a religion; parliament approved it, and all Englishmen, by royal command, having left the Latin heresy, began to profess the new royal religion.
In 1542, this new religion was somewhat modified; it was set forth in 42 articles. This Anglican heresy is similar to Lutheranism but has something resembling a hierarchy, only this hierarchy is graceless and self-appointed.
What is Stundo-Baptism?
These two sects are, in essence, the same thing. If any differences are noticeable between the Stundists and Baptists, they arose due to local conditions where the sectarians lived, but our Stunda came from Baptism.
Baptism appeared immediately after Lutheranism in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, and England, and then soon spread to America. Baptism was invented by Nicholas Storch and his comrade and associate Thomas Müntzer in 1521, exactly at the time when Luther was composing books about his religion. When Baptists appeared in large numbers in various countries, they were organized by different people. In England, the ringleader of the Baptists was Roger Williams; from him came the English and American Baptists. In Germany, this faith was supported by Simon Menno. But his Baptists did not become known as Baptists but took the name of this leader and are called Mennonites. In Russia, we also have Mennonites, in the Tauride province.
Baptism appeared in Russia in 1860 from German colonists who came to live on our land and, instead of gratitude, began to turn Russian people away from the faith of Christ and convert them to their heresy; and to make this work more successful, abroad gave and still gives German colonists a lot of money for turning Russian Christians away from Orthodoxy.
The first founder of Baptism in Russia was Karl Bonekemper, who settled in the colony of Rohrbach, Kherson province. He perverted his worker Mikhail Ratushny, and then the peasant Ivan Ryaboshapka from the town of Lyubomirka, Kherson province. From these sold-out people, Baptism spread in the Kherson province, only it was called, and to this day is called, Stundism (which in German means "hour") from the fixed hours at which the Baptists gathered for their newly invented worship services.
From the Kherson province, Baptism spread to the Kiev province, etc., throughout Russia, and reached us as well.
Both Stundists and Baptists, and Pashkovites, and Mennonites differ little from each other. They essentially do not have a definite religion, because it keeps changing over time. Only their attitude towards the dogmas of the Christian, Orthodox faith remains unchanged.
They constantly rework their invented worship services and life orders, but their attitude towards Orthodoxy is invariably negative—with hatred.
All these sects use the Holy Scripture stolen from the Church and, understanding it according to their own invention, assert that by the death of Jesus Christ on Golgotha, all human sins are forgiven: just acknowledge this, and at that very moment you have no sin, you are already saved, you do not sin, and you will certainly be in paradise. No effort of will for virtues (Luke 16:16), no grace-filled sacred rites (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:38) are needed for a person, although all this was always in the Church of Christ, the Orthodox, from the Apostles themselves, but for all the listed sectarians, it is not needed.
All the sectarians listed now think that the Holy Spirit instructs them, that they understand and do everything perfectly, but in reality, it turns out that they do everything differently, discordantly, so it seems that the spirit instructing them does not itself know how to instruct correctly, and everything turns out differently for him. Some sectarians at one time require water baptism and the breaking of bread instead of the Christian Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, at another time they consider it either optional or unnecessary. Others at one time deny the need for presbyters and deacons, and at another time they suddenly introduce them... And so everything is done according to human will, and they themselves never really know what they need and what they don't.
But sectarians are always fiercely and unanimously hostile to the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church; they reject its teaching of Christ, do not recognize the church's grace-filled sacred hierarchy, which continues uninterruptedly from the holy Apostles and Christ; they mock the Christian grace-filled sacred rites; they reject the Mother of God, the holy Angels, and the holy saints; they do not bring children to Christ through baptism; they do not pray for the dead; and they have no material sacred objects.
Baptists do not maintain unity but have split into many separate sects, of which there are 14 in America alone: Regular Baptists, Regular Baptists North, Regular Baptists South, Regular Baptists Colored, Six-Principle Baptists, Seventh Day Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Original Free Will Baptists, General Baptists, Separate Baptists, United Baptists, Baptist Church of Christ, Primitive Baptists, Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists.
What is Pashkovism (Evangelicalism)?
Pashkovism is similar to Stundo-Baptism, but at first, the Pashkovites allowed their followers not to leave the faiths from which they were enticing them. They allowed, like the Khlysts and Skoptsy, that those who came over to them could attend the Church, but now the Pashkovites have revealed themselves, and it turns out they differ little from the Stunda. The Pashkovites now want to adopt the name "Society of Evangelical Christians." This is because they have the Gospel, which they appropriated from the Church, but of course, they were and remain Pashkovites. They reject the Church of Christ, have no Holy Tradition, have renounced Christian sacred rites, do not honor the Mother of God, the holy Angels and saints, only themselves; they do not pray for their dead, have no material sacred objects. They only have, for those who wish, a bathing in water, reminiscent of baptism, and a breaking of bread, reminiscent of the Sacrament of Communion. Almost everywhere now, the Pashkovites are uniting with the Baptists.
Pashkovism was previously known under the name of Pietism and was invented by Jakob Spener, who died in 1705. This faith was brought to Russia by Colonel V. Pashkov from abroad. There he adopted it from the Englishman Granville Waldegrave, 3rd Baron Radstock, brought it to Russia, and started this pernicious heresy here, planting it mostly with money, of which he had a great deal. This was in 1874.
What is Adventism?
Adventism is an American sect. Adventism was invented by William Miller in 1833. Before inventing his faith, he was a Baptist, but he invented many new things that even the Baptists had not thought of. W. Miller began to prove that the Savior would come a second time on October 22, 1844 [this is actually the third date set by Miller. First were: March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844 – Ed.]. All the people misled by Miller went out on this day to a mountain to meet the Lord, waited a long time, but did not meet Him. Miller, out of shame that things did not turn out according to his invention, fell ill and died, and his followers scattered to other human religions. But Miller's invention did not perish in vain: again people were found who decided to spread his madness. They also came to us.
Not all Adventists, followers of Miller, now believe the same way. They all predicted differently when the Lord would come in His second coming: some said 1913-14; some said 1922-33, and others say even more variously.
After Miller's death, the Adventists did not maintain unity but split into six new sects: Evangelical Adventists, Church of Adventist Christians, Seventh-day Adventists, Church of God, Life and Advent Union, Church of God in Christ Jesus.
Our Adventists are Seventh-day Adventists. They are called so because they celebrate Saturday together with the Jews, instead of Sunday, as if Christ had not risen for them. The Adventist-Sabbatarians believed that Christ would come soon (approximately in 1913-14) in His second coming, would take with Him all living Adventists and deceased Adventists, whom He would resurrect; from the other faiths, He would neither take anyone nor resurrect anyone. So the Adventists would fly away to heaven, and the earth would be empty, only satan would roam the deserted earth. The Adventists would be in heaven for exactly one thousand years. There, they would supposedly be given angelic books, and they would judge all the people they had known on earth. After the Millennium, the Heavenly Jerusalem would descend from heaven. The Adventists would supposedly descend there with Christ. This would be the third coming of Christ. At the third coming, Christ would resurrect all people; then the devil would gather all sinners and incite them to go to war against the Heavenly Jerusalem, in which Christ and the Adventists would supposedly be. The devilish horde of sinners would have a multitude of various weapons, cannons, and military supplies, and a multitude of commanders would move against Christ, but Christ would kill them all with the breath of His mouth, and all the ungodly would be destroyed and perish forever, while the Adventists would live forever in the Heavenly Jerusalem, never dying, enjoying and being blessed. Adventists sometimes try to prove all these fairy tales of theirs from Holy Scripture, but few believe these "fables" [unfortunately, some do believe, according to the Apostle's word (2 Tim. 4:4) – Ed.].
Adventists deny the immortality of the soul, have no grace-filled priesthood, bathe their converted in rivers after the manner of Christian baptism, perform a breaking of bread after the manner of the Christian Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, and at their prayer meetings play the harmonium and sing poems. In all other respects, they are similar to Baptists and Protestants.
What is Tolstoyanism?
Tolstoyanism is a teaching invented by Count Leo Tolstoy in 1881. Tolstoy rejected a personal God, the Life-Originating Trinity, the Mother of God, the holy Angels and the righteous. He does not recognize personal afterlife. He considers Christ the Savior not as the God-Man, but as a simple man, like himself; he rejects His miracles, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven; he rejects Divine grace, Christian sacred rites, the Holy Church of Christ, and much else. To make people believe him, Tolstoy distorted and remade the Gospel of Christ in his own way and called it not his own, but Christian; in a word, Tolstoy acted in everything like the most impudent fraud, and for this he was excommunicated (or rather, he excommunicated himself) from the Church of Christ, from the Lord Savior and salvation (Matt. 18:17; 1 Tim. 1:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:17-18).
What is Khlystovstvo (Flagellantism)?
Khlystovstvo began in the 17th century. It originated from a deserter soldier from the Kostroma province, Yuryevsky district, Danila Filippovich. He decided that all faiths were bad and there was no salvation in them. In 1645, after Danila's prayer, as the Khlysts relate, on Mount Gorodina, near the villages of Mikhailitsy and Babino, Vladimir province, amidst the clouds, surrounded by heavenly powers, the Lord Sabaoth Himself descended upon Danila Filippovich, and from that hour Danila Filippovich became the true God, the Creator of the World, and invented his own religion for people. He called his follower, a peasant of Vladimir province, Ivan Timofeevich Suslov, the Son of God. From these two gods, Khlystovstvo spread in Rus' and has come down to our days.
The Khlysts believe that God is constantly incarnated in people. God was incarnated in Moses, in Christ, in Danila Filippovich, in Suslov, etc. The Khlysts do not recognize Holy Scripture, because among them there is always an incarnated god who gives "revelation" to his followers. Therefore, the Khlysts always have christs-gods. The Khlysts use Holy Scripture only to entice Christians into their sect. For the most part, they are guided by the commandments of their god—Danila Filippovich. The main commandments of Danila are: "Do not drink intoxicating beverages, do not commit carnal sin, do not marry, and if you are married, live with your wife as with a sister. Those unmarried, do not marry, and those married, separate... Keep the commandments in secret, do not tell your father or mother: if they beat you with whips, if they burn you with fire—endure it. Whoever endures will be faithful, will receive the kingdom of heaven, and joy on earth... Believe in the Holy Spirit."
The Khlysts believe that souls are created by God, but bodies by the devil; that human souls transmigrate from person to person and even into animals, according to the merits of life. Souls transmigrate until they are incarnated in a Khlyst. After that, souls become angels.
The Khlysts reject marriage as an invention of the devil, calling children "puppies," "piglets," "little devils," "little sins."
The leading women in the sect are called "mothers of god" (bogoroditsy), because they spiritually give birth to true Christians, i.e., Khlysts.
The Khlysts have their own secret worship services, called "radeniya" (zealous services), at which they whirl in special shrouds (shirts) until they lose consciousness, fall into a frenzied state of ecstasy, similar to seizures of hysterics, and often end in communal sin, which they call "spiritual love."
The Khlyst sect was very widespread (before the revolution in Russia), secret, and very harmful.
Externally, the Khlysts never separate themselves from the Orthodox Church. They attend church, pretend to be devout, donate a lot, but they do all this to throw people off the scent, so that people would not guess about their pernicious heresy.¹
What is Skopchestvo (The Castration Sect)?
The Skoptsy sect emerged from Khlystovstvo. Many Khlysts did not like that there was a lot of debauchery in their religion, and they decided to purify their religion from carnal sin. The Khlyst Kondraty Selivanov, in the second half of the 18th century, proclaimed himself the Lord Sabaoth, castrated himself to free himself from carnal passion, and began to castrate others. By this, he wanted to completely destroy carnal passion. Many trusted the new sabaoth. He soon acquired a Son of God—Alexander Ivanovich Shilov. These two gods castrated a great many people and firmly established their faith in Russia. In their teaching, apart from castration, they are similar to the Khlysts. [Castration means removal of the genitals. – Ed.]
What is Besednichestvo (The Talkers Sect)?
Besednichestvo originated from V.N. Shcheglov, a peasant of Simbirsk province, in the first half of the last century. It developed especially at the end of the 19th century.
Besednichestvo is a religious delusion: a person suddenly recognizes himself as a special vessel of God's grace, makes himself a teacher, begins to preach, perform imaginary miracles, etc. Although he is ignorant in preaching, he always finds similarly ignorant listeners and admirers. Depending on how he thinks of himself (how he understands himself), the one who has fallen into delusion proclaims himself either a great prophet, a preacher, an incarnate angel, or even God and Christ.
The leaders of Besednichestvo were both men and women. They were called "uncles" and "aunts," "abbesses," "elders," but most often—"brothers" and "sisters." They mostly claimed to be incarnate gods. All who followed the Besedniki were called "spiritual," and the rest of the Orthodox were called "worldly." The Besedniki interpret the Word of God in their own way, have their own worship service, composed by their leaders from church prayers and sacred rites and their own verses. Their leaders bless, give their hand to kiss, anoint with oil, hear confessions, adopt a distinctive external appearance, imitating clergy. The Besedniki, like the Khlysts, reject marriage, do not eat meat, but are promiscuous. The leaders of Besednichestvo have many young cell-attendants, with whom they live together and call this cohabitation "spiritual love."
An independent Besednichestvo sect, but similar to all Besednichestvo, was founded in 1894 by Ivan Churikov, a peasant from the village of Alexandrov-Gay, Novouzensky district, Samara province. His heresy is similar to all Besednichestvo, but Churikov is not directly connected with the other Besedniki. Churikov is now active in St. Petersburg, and in Moscow he has two appointees: Ivan Koloskov and Dmitry Grigoriev. (Read about the "brothers" in the small book: "Against Drunkenness, Bodily and Spiritual." There is also a booklet by Priest E. Kesarev, Samara—"Besednichestvo as a Sect").
What is Dukhoborism (The Spirit-Wrestlers)?
Dukhoborism appeared around the eighteenth century. It first appeared in the village of Bolshiye Prokhody, Kharkov province, and then in the village of Okhochee, Zmievsky district, Kharkov province. The latter became the center of Dukhoborism. From there, it spread to the village of Nikolskoye and spread throughout the Kharkov province. The Dukhobor society was first organized by the peasant Siluan Kolesnikov. He established a succession of teaching in the sect. After him, his sons Kirill and Peter ruled the sect. Then, the life orders of the Dukhobors were disrupted for a long time until the leadership of the sect was seized by a guard corporal, Saveliy Kapustin. His son Vasily, who called himself Kalmykov, began a special family name for the leaders of the sect, who were revered by the Dukhobors almost as incarnate gods.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Dukhobors were persecuted by both the people and the government. During the reign of Alexander I, they were given great privileges, and the government itself undertook to protect them from the Orthodox people, who were outraged by their behavior. The Dukhobors were resettled to the Tauride province, to the Molochnye Vody (Milky Waters). They became insolent and proved capable of all kinds of criminal acts. Under Nicholas I, due to a thorough investigation by the government, terrible crimes of the Dukhobors were revealed, and 8,000 of them were exiled in 1842 to the Transcaucasian region. The center of the Dukhobors became the village of Goreloe—called the "Orphan's Home"; here the Kalmykovs lived. After the death of the last Kalmykov, his wife Lukerya Vasilyevna ruled the Dukhobors. Then the "divine lineage" ceased; a favorite of Lukerya, Verigin, wanted to seize all affairs, but the Dukhobors revolted, rejected Verigin, and handed over to the government all the criminal acts of the internal life of the Dukhobor community.
Soon the Dukhobors adopted the anarchist ideas of L. Tolstoy and became more Tolstoyans than Dukhobors, and emigrated to Canada, but from there they are very eager to return to Russia again.
The teaching of the Dukhobors is a mixture of Christianity with paganism, pantheism, and their own inventions. God is understood by them as an impersonal, indefinite force living in the world and inseparable from the world. In the soul of every person lives a particle of God, and after a person's death, it returns again to God, so there is no personal afterlife.
Christ is in all things like us; therefore they do not recognize any redemption by Him. Christ, in the opinion of the Dukhobors, is only a model to be imitated in life, and He is in no way superior to other famous people. The Dukhobors reject the Church of Christ and do not recognize sacred hierarchy; they reject the grace-filled sanctification of a person in sacred rites and do not allow any religious rituals in serving God. In their opinion, there is no afterlife, no resurrection of the dead, no judgment, no retribution. A person should be guided only by reason, not by revelation.
What is Molokanism?
Molokanism emerged from Dukhoborism. The head of the Dukhobors in Tambov province was Illarion Pobirokhin, a wool merchant. He called himself the Son of God, chose 12 "apostles," called archangels, and 12 deadly angels. Pobirokhin sent the latter to subdue the disobedient and generally establish his own order. Many were dissatisfied with Illarion Pobirokhin's "divine" dignity. This was exploited by a peasant from the village of Uvarovo, Borisoglebsky district, Tambov province, Semyon Matveevich Uklein. He began his own preaching and, with the help of another peasant, Shvetsov, formed a new sect, which drew away many Dukhobors. Uklein chose 70 disciples and entered Tambov triumphantly to preach his faith.
The Molokans, like the Pashkovites and Baptists, recognize only Holy Scripture, reject the Church and the Sacred Rites (Sacraments). They understand the Word of God in a spiritual sense, and their worship consists only of reading Holy Scripture, which they interpret perversely, and singing psalms.
From Molokanism, many branches emerged. 1) The Tambov (original) branch, they are called "Gublizy" or "lustful ones," because here an ancient ritual of theirs was preserved—kissing between opposite sexes. 2) The Vladimir branch, similar to the Tambov one, only without the ritual of kissing. 3) The Don branch, which recognized the necessity of rituals and sacred rites, and introduced everything resembling Orthodoxy. 4) The "Obshchie" (Common) sect, which intended to make all property common, but when that failed, limited itself to paying a tithe into the common fund. 5) The Sopuny (Sniffers) sect, who believe that when reading in Psalm 50: "Purge me with hyssop," one must sniff, and from this the Holy Spirit supposedly descends. 6) The Subbotniki (Sabbatarians) sect, distinguished from the Tambov branch by celebrating Saturday instead of Sunday. 7) The Subbotniki-Talmudists sect, who adopted Judaism with the Talmud. 8) The Subbotniki-Karaites sect, recognizing, like the Karaite Jews, only the Pentateuch of Moses.
Besides the sects listed and described, there are countless others, both ancient and new. There are up to 500 of them. In America alone, 15 years ago, according to American government documents, there were up to 120 different sects.
All sects claim to be true Christianity, but, as proven by the brief description of some sects, they are all very young, all appeared later than the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (Orthodox) Church of Christ, and were invented by people. Every sect has its birth certificate, and they deceive people in vain, passing themselves off as Christian faiths.
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