Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/98

Rh 82 K U S S I A LNONCONFORMISTS. pervaded the church, which was also accused by the people of having introduced "Polish luxury," "Polish creed,' and the tendencies towards supremacy of the Polish clergy. The patriarch Nikon was a perfect representative of these tendencies. Opposition resulted, and the revision of the sacred Looks, which was undertaken by Nikon, gave the opposition acute character. The Raskot (lit. " splitting" or " schism ") made its appearance, and gathered under its banner, not only those who accused Nikon of "Polish" and " Latin " tendencies, but also all those who were for the old customs, for federative and communist principles of social organization, and who revolted against serfdom, centralization, and the suppres- sion of municipal life. A series of insurrections broke out under the banner of the " eight-ends " cross of the Raskolniks. Barbarous persecutions by Alexis, Peter I., and their followers did not kill out an opposition which inspired with fanatical enthusiasm the best elements among the Great Russians, and induced its -supporters to submit to the fire by thousands at a time, while others rather than submit went to colonize the forests of the Arctic littoral, or betook themselves to Siberia. Profound modifications have taken place in Russian nonconformity since its first appearance. It would be impossible to enumerate them all here, but the following points of primary importance must be mentioned. (1) The mere protest against Nikon s "innovations" (novshcstvas) led, in the course of two centuries, to a mere servile adherence to the letter of the ver- nacular Scriptures even to obvious errors of earlier translators and to interminable discussions about minor points of ritual and about unintelligible words. (2) Another current which now per- vades the whole of Russian nonconformity is that proceeding from rationalist sects which had already spread in north-west Russia in the 16th century, and even in the 14th. These have given rise to several sects which deny the divinity of Christ or explain away various dogmas and prescriptions of orthodoxy. (3) Protestantism, with its more or less rationalistic tendencies, has made itself in- creasingly felt, especially during the present century and in southern Russia. (4) Hostile critics of the Government, and especially of the autocracy, with its army of officials and its system of con- scriptions, passports, and various restrictions on religious liberty, are found more or less in all the nonconformiug bodies, which see in these manifestations of authority the appearance of the Anti- christ. Several of them refuse accordingly to have any dealings whatever with the official world. (5) Another tendency pervading the whole of Russian nonconformity is that which seeks a return to what are supposed to have been the old communist principles of Christianity in its earlier days. All new sects start with applying these principles to practical life ; but in the course of their develop- ment they modify them more or less, though always maintaining the principle at least of mutual help. (6) Finally, all sects deal more or less with the question of marriage and the position of woman. A few of them solve it by encouraging, at least during their "love-feasts," absolutely free relations between all "brethren and sisters," while others only admit the dissolubility of marriage or prohibit it altogether. On the whole, leaving the extremer views out of account, the position of woman is undoubtedly higher among the dissenters than among the Orthodox. These various currents, combining with and counteracting one another in the most complicated ways, have played and continue to play a most important part in Russian history. The mutual assist- ance |found in dissenting sects has preserved many millions of peasants from falling into abject misery, the nonconformists enjoy- ing, as a rule, a greater degree of prosperity than their Orthodox neighbours. The leading feature of Russian history, the spread of the Great Russians over the immense territory they now occupy, cannot be rightly understood without taking into account the colonization of the most inaccessible wildernesses by Raskolniks, and the organization of this by their communities, who send dele- gates for the choice of land and sometimes clear it in common by the united labours of all the young men and cattle of the community. On the other hand, the nonconfonning sects, while helping to preserve several advantageous features of Russian life, have had a powerful influence in maintaining, especially among the " Staroobr- yadtsy," the old system of the Moscovito family, subject to the despotic yoke of its chief, and hermetically sealed against instruc- tion. It is worthy of notice that since the emancipation of the serfs nonconformity has again made a sudden advance, the more radical sects preponderating over the scholastic ones, and the influence of Protestantism being increasingly felt. Nonconformity, which formerly had no hold upon Little Russia (though it had penetrated among Protestant Esthonians and Letts, and even among Moslem Tartars), has suddenly begun to make progress there in the shape of the " Stunda," a mixture of Protestant and rationalistic teaching, with tendencies towards a social but rarely socialistic reforma- tion. The Russian dissenting sects may be subdivided into (1) the " Popovtsy " (who have priests), (2) the " Bezpopovtsy " (who have none), and (3) numerous spiritualist sects, 'Dukhovnvie Khris- tiane." The Popovtsy (5 to 6 millions) are again subdivided into two classes, those who recognize the Austrian hierarchy, and those who have only Orthodox "runaway priests" {" Byeglopopovtsy "). The latter have recently received unexpected help iu the accession of time Orthodox priests of great learning and energy. Moreover, there are among the Popovtsy about a million of " Kdinovycrtsy," who have received Orthodox priests on the condition of their keeping to the unrevised books. They are patronized by Government. The Bezpopovtsy embody three large sects the Pomory, Fedo- seevtsy, and Filipovtsy and a variety of minor ones. They recog- nize no priests, and repudiate the Orthodox ritual and the sacra- ments. They avoid all contact with the state, and do not allow prayer for the czar, who is regarded as the Antichrist. They may number about 5,000,000 in west, north, and north-east Russia, and represent, on the whole, an intellectually developed and wealthy population. Of the very numerous smaller sects of Bezpopovtsy, the " Stranniki " (Errants) are worthy of notice. They prefer to lead the life of hunted outcasts rather than hold any relation with the state. The spiritualists, very numerous in central and southern Russia, are subdivided into a great variety of schools. The " Khlysty, " vlio have their "love-feasts," their Virgins," sometimes flagellation, and so on, represent a numerous and strong organization in central Russia. The "Skoptsy" ("Men of God," "Castrati") occur every- where, even among the Finns, but chiefly in Orel and Kursk, and in towns as money-brokers. The "Dukhobortsy " communities (warriors of the Spirit), chiefly found in the south-east, arc renowned as colonizers. They are spreading rapidly in Caucasia and Siberia. The " Molokany " (a kind of Baptists), numbering perhaps about one million, are spread also in the south-east, and are excellent gardeners and tradesmen. Both are quite open to instruction, and have come under the influence of Protestantism, like the "Stunda " in Little Russia and Bessarabia. The " Sabbathers" and the " Ska- kuny" (a kind of Shakers) are also worthy of notice ; while a great variety of new sects, such as the "Nemolyaki" ("who do not pray"), the " Vozdykhateli " ("who sigh"), the "Ncplatclshchiki" ("who do not pay taxes"), the " Ne-Nashi " (the " Not-ours "), and so on, spring up every year. The aggregate number of Raskolniks is officially stated at nearly one million, but this is quite misleading. The ministry of interior estimated them at 9,000,000 in 1850 and 9,500,000 in 1859. In reality the number is still higher. In Perm alone they were recently computed at a million, and there would be no exaggeration in esti- mating them at a total of from twelve to fifteen millions. 1 The old subdivisions of the population into orders possessed of Class unequal rights is still maintained. The great mass of the people, division! 81 "6 per cent., belong to the peasant order, the others being nobility, 1 '3 per cent. ; clergy, "9 ; the " meschane " or burghers and merchants, 9 - 3 ; military, 6 '1 ; foreigners, '2 ; unclassified, 0'5. Thus more than 63 millions of the Russians are peasants. Half of them were formerly serfs (10,447,149 males in 1858), the remainder being "state peasants" (9,194,891 males in 1858, exclusive of the Archangel government) and " domain peasants " (842,740 males the same year). The serfdom which had sprung up in Russia in the 16th century, and became consecrated by law in 1609, taking, however, nearly one hundred and fifty years to attain its full growth and assume the forms under which it appeared in the present century, was abolished by law in 1861. This law liberated the serfs from a yoke which was really terrible, even under the best landlords, and from this point of view it was obviously an immense benefit, the results of which are apparent now. But it was far from securing corresponding economic results. Along with the enrichment of the few, a general impoverishment of the great mass followed, and took proportions so alarming as to arouse public attention and to result in a great number of serious investigations conducted by the state, the provincial assemblies, scientific societies, and private statisticians. The general results of these inquiries may be summed up in the subjoined statement. The former "dvorovyie," attached to the personal service of their masters, were merely set free ; and they entirely went to reinforce the town proletariat. The peasants proper received their houses and orchards, and also allotments of arable land. These allotments were given over to the rural commune (mir), which was made responsible, as a whole, for the payment of taxes for the allot- ments. The size of the allotments was determined by a maximum and by a minimum, which last, however, could be still further reduced if the amount of land remaining in the landlord's hands was less than one half of what was allotted to the peasants. For these allotments the peasants had to pay, as before, either by per- sonal labour (twenty to forty men's days and fifteen to thirty women's days per year), or by a fixed rent (" obrok "), which varied from 8 to 12 roubles per allotment. As long as these relations subsisted, the peasants were considered as " temporarily obliged " (vremenno obyazannyie). On January 1, 1882, they still numbered 1 See Schapoff on Rustian Ratkol ; Sbornik of State Regulations against the Raikolniki ; and very many papers printed in reviews, chiefly in Otttch. Zapiski, Dyeto, Vyestnik Evropi, <kc., by Schapoff, Yuzoff, lYugavln, Rozoff, Ac.