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seem trifling; for example, making the sign of the cross with
three fingers instead of two; writing the name of Jesus with
a J instead of an I; the use of the Swiss cross (arms of equal
length) instead of the Roman (with longer upright); turning
“against the sun,” i.e., eastward, instead of “with the sun,”
i.e., westward. But to the parties concerned these small things
were indications of momentous issues. To the authorities they
meant marching in line with the Holy Catholic Church. To
the malcontents they meant “adulteration of the pure Word
of God.” Here, then, was the beginning of the great
separatist movement of the Raskolniki, which has continued to the
present time, and given rise to countless sects.
Of course, there was persecution; the seceders were driven
away, carrying with them the old books in which they believed
(whence their name: Staroveri=Old Believers), to the vast
tracts of forest land on the upper courses of the Volga, that
are even now the chief haunts of the sectarians of modern
times. After the secession, there developed two main parties:
those who retained the priesthood, and those who, when once
they found themselves at loggerheads with the holy officials,
asked what need there was of them at all, and decided the
question in the negative. The former have remained
practically unchanged; so little do they differ from the Established
Church that they are, for the most part, left in peace. They
are, in fact, something like those good people at home who will
not use the Revised Version of the Bible, and in other matters
place the customary above the accurate in their esteem. They
are known as Popovtsi.
The Bespopovtsi, those who have abolished the Holy Office,
are naturally more repugnant to the powers that be, and have
continually suffered persecution at their hands. This has kept
alive the fire of fanaticism; according to the different
conditions of time and place, or different impulses from individual
leaders, the energy has taken different forms, and many and
varied sects have, as a result, sprung into being. To
distinguish these from the Nonconformists, who owe their being
to causes of quite modern date, they are usually grouped under
the title of the Old Sects. They are far too numerous to
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