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of straw and pitch had been stored there, that they might
perish in the flames rather than fall into the hands of the
police, if the alarm were given.
The proceedings began with prayer and fasting.
Fortunately, a woman, who was not altogether sound on this
matter of suicide, took advantage of the darkness to escape,
and told the authorities what was going on. The villagers
made for the place, but the sentinel, posted at the mouth of
the cave, gave the alarm, “Antichrist comes! Save yourselves.”
“We will never fall into the enemy’s hands alive,” shrieked
the fanatics, setting fire to the straw. The peasants and the
police tried to extinguish the flames, and to snatch the brands
from the suicides. They resisted, flung themselves into the
fire, and slaughtered each other with axes, crying, “We die
for Christ!” Some were saved, and the leaders either
imprisoned or banished. But this gave no check to the spread
of the doctrine. One of the prisoners, Sukhov, a peasant,
escaped, and continued his preaching with such success, that
in one village thirty-five people slaughtered each other, going
from house to house, until only one was left, who fell by his
own hand. The details were given by a woman who was the
unwilling witness of the massacre, and called the police—but
too late.
Belonging to the same general stock, but with an altogether
rationalistic development, are the Nje Nashi, or Agnostics, a
most interesting sect of more recent origin. They live a
wandering life, and refuse all connection with the authorities
of Church and State, as do the Raskolniki generally, but they
go a step farther, and deny all religion as well. Vasili
Shyshkov, of Saratov, now banished to Siberia, is considered
their founder. He belonged to one sect after another, but
found no peace for his spirit. Then he severed his connection
with all communities, and began to study the sacred writings
on his own account, to find the way to God. But, instead, he
discovered all sorts of contradictions in the Bible, and after
much inward struggle rejected everything, Bible, God, religion,
and the life to come. There was no influence of “the exact
sciences” in all this. To the question, “How was the world
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