Page:Chertkov - Christian Martyrdom.djvu/32

Rh they do not worship images; during prayer they do not make the sign of the cross; they do not keep the ordinary fasts, and they take no part in the recreations and loose pleasures of worldly people. There are many such circumstances which completely separate them from all ordinary society of peasants, and which have always been a cause of unceasing persecution against them.

The Spirit-Wrestlers deem that all externalism in the work of salvation is utterly useless, and that the external Church, owing to the lapse of true Christianity, has become a den of robbers; and they therefore acknowledge one sacred, universal and apostolic Church, which the Lord by His coming has assembled, consecrated and replenished by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and which is, of course, the union of all faithful and true Christians.

In this persuasion, they often have meetings of the brethren; yet they have not for this purpose any specially appointed place, as they do not see any sanctity in locality; but they meet at each other's houses without any distinction. They do not even fix any special days for their meetings, deeming all days equal, and having no holy-days: any free day is a day for their meetings. These meetings, however, in most cases, for convenience' sake, take place during the ordinary Church or national holy-days. Thus, any of them may