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260 itual marriage, and the inward presence of the Holy Ghost were their favorite topics of discussion.

It is worthy of remark that their doctrines, although eminently hostile to the Christian religion, were received with especial favor by monks and nuns, and by the peasantry belonging to monasteries. This singular circumstance has been attributed to the antagonism existing between the lower and the upper clergy, and considered a species of protestation on the part of the inferior orders against the domineering and corruption laid to the charge of their superior brethren. Religious communities, as, for instance, the convent of the Dyevitchi, at Moscow, were infested with these heresies; in Orthodox churches their leaders, dying apparently in the odor of sanctity, were entombed in holy ground, and pilgrims worshipped at shrines polluted by their remains. To check this scandal and desecration, when it was discovered, their graves were opened and cleansed and their bodies committed to the flames.

Russian society of this period, weary of Voltairian scepticism and encyclopedic materialism, agitated by vague devotional aspirations, was awakening to the seductions of a spiritualistic faith. Philosophic theories, mystical ideas, inspired by Cagliostro, St. Germain, and Mesmer; Freemasonry, with its secret mysteries; religious Catholic influences, diffused by Joseph de Maistre and the Jesuits, were mingling and commingling, working together in mutual action and reaction. Circumstances were propitious for the reception, even in polished circles, of the dreamy, fanciful illuminism of earnest enthusiasts, although of low and vulgar origin. It was, however, but the fashion of the moment, and, speedily forgotten, fell back into the depths from which it sprang. There, by contact with the gross ignorance and sensual