interview, Alexander
I transferred him to a hospital. Later the Councillor of State,
Jelansky, converted by Sseliwanow, set the man free and soon the
Skoptzies were all through Russia and even at the Court. The principal
argument of these people is the nonconformity of orthodox believers,
especially the priests, to the doctrines professed, and they contrast
the lax morals of these persons with the chaste lives, the abstinence
from liquor, and the continual fasts of the "White Doves." For the
purpose of convincing novices of the Scriptural foundation of their
rites and belief they are referred to Matthew xix., 12: "and there be
eunuchs which have made themselves for the kingdom of Heaven's sake,"
etc.; and Mark ix., 43-47; Luke xxiii., 29: "blessed are the barren,"
etc., and others of this nature. As to the operation itself, pain is
represented as voluntary martyrdom, and persecution as the struggle of
the spirit of darkness with that of light. They got persons to join the
order by monetary offers. Another method was to take into service young
boys, who soon became lost to society, and lied with effrontery and
obstinacy. They had secret methods of communicating with one another,
and exhibited a passion for riches, a fact that possibly accounts for
their extended influence. The most perfect were those "worthy of
mounting the white horse," the "bearers of the Imperial seal," who were
deprived of the testicles, penis, and scrotum. The operation of
castration among these people was performed at one stroke or at two
different times, in the former case one cicatrix being left, and in the
latter two. The greater number--those who had submitted to the "first
purification," conferring upon them the "lesser seal"--had lost
testicles and scrotum. These people are said to have lost the "keys of
hell," but to retain the "key of the abyss" (female genitals). As
instruments of excision the hot iron, pieces of glass, old wire,
sharpened bone, and old razors are used. Only nine fatal cases
resulting from the operation are known. At St. Petersburg Liprandi knew
a rich Skoptzy who constantly kept girls--mostly Germans--for his own
gratification, soon after having entered into the "first purification."
Few of them were able to remain with him over a year, and they always
returned to their homes with health irretrievably lost. Women members
of the order do not have their ovaries removed, but mutilation is
practiced upon the external genitals,