in
which he gives a fantastic picture of the events of quite recent years.
He was already the author of several books dealing with the sect of the
_bezpopovtzi_, and his high calling and official position combine to
give authority to his words.

When we consider the immense variety of these sects, we can easily
imagine what takes place in every small village that becomes possessed
of the craving for religious perfection. Prophets, gods and demi-gods,
holy spirits and apostles, all kinds of saints and mystics, follow
thick and fast upon one another's heels, seeking to gain the ascendancy
over the pious souls of the villagers. Some are sincere and genuinely
convinced believers; others, mere shameless impostors; but all,
manifesting the greatest ardour and eloquence, traverse the
countryside, imploring the peasants to "abandon their old beliefs and
embrace the new holy and salutary dogmas." The orthodox missionaries
seem only to increase the babel by organising their own meetings under
the protection of the local authorities.

Some of the sectarians will take part in public discussions, either in
the open air or in the churches, but most of them content themselves
with smiling mockingly at the assertions of the "anti-Christian faith"
(i.e. the orthodox official religion). With the new regime conditions
may undergo a radical change, but in former times religious doubts,
when too openly manifested by the followers of the "new truths," were
punished by imprisonment or deportation.

Sometimes the zeal of the missionaries carried them too far, for, not
content with reporting the culprits to the ecclesiastical authorities,
they would denounce them publicly in their writings. The venerable
Father Arsenii, author of fifteen pamphlets against the _molokanes_,
delivered up to justice in this way sufficient individuals to fill a
large prison; and another orthodox missionary crowned his propaganda by
printing false accusations against those who refused to accept the
truth as taught by him.

In a centre like Pokourlei, which represented in miniature the general
unrest of the national soul, there were to be found among the
classified sects more than a dozen small churches, each having its own
worshippers and its own martyrs. An illiterate peasant, Theodore
Kotkoff, formed what was called the "fair-spoken sect," consisting of a
hundred and fifty members who did him honour because he invented a new
sort of "Holy Communion" wit