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administered an oath that he would live according to the rules
of the denomination, devote himself body and soul to God and
holy things, and keep as a close secret all that he should see
and hear.
When the oath had been taken, the prayers and ceremonies
began. All commenced to spin round with giddying speed. At
first each one twirled round with increasing rapidity on the
heel of the right foot; then the company ranged themselves
along the walls and ran barefoot after each other in a circle,
stopped, danced, flogged each other, and made all kinds of
contortions, uttering an inconceivable outcry.
In the midst of the din could be distinguished these cries
above the rest: “O God! O King! Saviour! Spirit! Spirit!
O——” The long white robes of the sectaries over their
otherwise naked bodies, their pale faces, the wild outcry in the
semi-darkness—all made a weird scene that struck the
newcomer with terror.
The dance ended with a perfect orgy; men and women both
stripped off their garments, threw themselves on the ground,
went on all fours, leaped on one another, and abandoned all
restraint.
These excesses are, as has been said, the exact result one
would expect from the conditions. It is evident, however,
that here, too, as in the case of the simulated marriage by rape
among the Beguni, we have a survival of ancient customs. As
Dr. Dale once remarked, it is a mistake to speak of the
conversion of Europe to Christianity. Individuals have been
converted, but with the nations it is simply a case of a
Christian veneer being applied by State authority, and genuine
heathenism survives in much of our “Western civilisation.”
So among these people, who are not of Indo-European race,
the customs described above are remnants of an older phallic
worship; there are many proofs of this in other practices of
theirs, which could be adduced if it were our present purpose
to enter at length into this branch of the subject.
The Skoptsi hold the same faith and practise the same
ceremonies as the Chlisti, but are far more thoroughgoing in
their measures to subdue the flesh. Believing that the only
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