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Skoptsy
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The Skoptsy[note 1] (Russian: скопцы, lit. 'eunuch', Russian pronunciation: [skɐpˈtsɨ]) were a Spiritual Christian sect of Eastern Orthodoxy. They were best known for practising emasculation of men, the mastectomy and female genital mutilation of women in accordance with their teachings against sexual lust. The descriptive term "Skoptsy" was coined by the Russian Orthodox Church.
The sect emerged in the late 18th century. It reached the peak of its popularity in the early 20th century but was essentially wiped out by the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
Beliefs and practices
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Skoptsy is a plural of skopets, at the time the Russian term for "castrate" (in contemporary Russian, the term has become restricted to referring to the sect, in its generic meaning replaced by the loanwords yévnukh е́внух, i.e. eunuch, and kastrat кастрат).
Besides castration, the Skoptsy inherited all their beliefs and practices from the Khlysty, such as an abstinence from pleasures such as alcohol, profanity, and sex. They also adopted the ritual of radenie, an ecstatic practice of singing and dancing, though it was not considered sacramental as it was among the Khlysty.[2][3] It is unclear what originally inspired the practice of self-castration, though it may have been derived from the circumcision practiced by Jews and Muslims.[3] Ecclesiastical historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, believes that the practice originated in a mistranslation by founder Kondraty Selivanov of a biblical command in Genesis 1:28 as плотитесь ("castrate yourselves") rather than плодитесь ("be fruitful").[4] The Skoptsy themselves supported the practice with biblical passages such as Matthew 19:12,[note 2] Matthew 18:8–9,[note 3] and Luke 23:29.[note 4] They also cited the purported self-castration of Origen, whose reading of Matthew had been rejected by the Orthodox Church. However, it is unknown if these passages and examples inspired the original Skoptsy, or were only referenced post hoc.[5]
The Skoptsy believed that human genitals were a mark of original sin, and that after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had the halves of the forbidden fruit grafted onto their bodies, forming testicles and breasts. Thus, the removal of these sexual organs restored the Skoptsy to the pristine state before the original sin.
The Skoptsy's aim was to perfect the individual by eradicating original sin, which they believed had come into the world by the first coitus between Adam and Eve. They believed that human genitals were the true mark of Cain, and that the true message of Jesus Christ included the practice of castration, that Jesus himself had been a castrate, and that his example had been followed by the apostles and the early Christian saints.[6]
Skoptsy men could undergo two kinds of castration, the "lesser seal", which involved the removal of the testicles, and the "greater seal", removal of both penis and testicles. The castrations and emasculations were originally performed with a red-hot iron, called the 'fiery baptism'. However, the Skoptsy later transitioned to using knives or razors, with the iron serving only to stop the bloodflow. Castration was also occasionally performed by twisting the scrotum, destroying the seminal vesicles to stop the flow of semen.[7] Skoptsy women had their nipples or their entire breasts removed, or scarred the sides of their breasts. They also removed the labia majora, and often the labia minora and clitoris.[8] The operations were generally performed in isolated areas by elders in a ceremony, though some opted to perform on themselves. During the operation, they said the phrase "Christ is risen!"[8]
History
[edit]
The initial leader of the Skoptsy was Andrei Ivanov Blokhin, a peasant who fled the estate he had been born on. He was converted to the Khlysty sect by the preacher Mikhail Nikulin, who informed him that, alongside the other abstinences practiced by the Khlysty, he must castrate himself. Around the late 1760s, he and his friend Kondratii Selivanov castrated themselves, and began preaching the practice of castration to peasants in the Oryol region.[9] Akulina Ivanovna, the successor to Nikulin's teacher and a popular Khlysty prophet around Oryol, was also a leading figure in the early Skoptsy movement. By 1772, the core of the Skoptsy movement was thirty-nine men and four women, a large majority of the men having undergone castration. Several members of this core group were identified to have come from Ivanovna's following.[10] The sect would be discovered by Russian authorities in 1772, with varying claims on how they were identified.[note 5] While clerical investigators used religious decrees against Old Believers and heretics who attempted to hide to prosecute the Skoptsy, Catherine the Great approached the case from a more secular angle, seeking to end the sect before it grew through the means of civil court rather than religious law. Almost all those found to be Skoptsy were pardoned, and only Blokhin, Nikulin, and Aleksei Sidorov, identified as the movement's leaders, were punished.[12] Selivanov was convicted of having persuaded thirteen peasants to castrate themselves. He initially escaped, but was apprehended in 1775 and exiled to Nerchinsk, Siberia.
His followers organized to locate and free him. He was found living in Irkutsk, and managed to escape and move to Moscow in 1795. In 1797, he moved to Saint Petersburg where, according to Skoptsy accounts, he was interviewed by Tsar Paul I. He claimed to be the Tsar's father, Peter III (who had been assassinated in 1762), following which Paul I had him confined to the madhouse at Obukhov hospital.
He was released in 1802. For the next eighteen years, until 1820, he lived in Saint Petersburg, in the house of one of his disciples. He received double homage as Christ and tsar, identifying himself as both Tsar Peter III and as Christ Returned. Peter had been popular among the Raskolniks (dissidents) because he granted them liberty of conscience, and among the peasants because when pillaging the convents[clarification needed] he divided their lands among the labourers.[citation needed] Selivanov claimed the title "God of Gods and King of Kings", and proclaimed salvation of believers through castration.
Selivanov succeeded in gaining followers even among the upper classes of Saint Petersburg. When the Governor General of Saint Petersburg, Mikhail Miloradovich, learned that two of his nephews, as well as several members of the guards regiments and sailors, were members of the sect, he asked the imperial government to intervene. Eventually, in June 1820, it was decided to arrest Selivanov again and confine him to Spaso-Evfimiev monastery (Monastery of Saint Euthymius) in Suzdal, where he remained until his death in 1832, allegedly his hundredth year.[13] During his stay in Suzdal, his followers continued to plead for his release. Although this was denied, Selivanov was free to receive visitors in the monastery, and his followers worshipped him there. He also left writings, known under the title The Message (Послание) and Harvest (Страды), as well as nine letters addressed to the priest Sergeyev[who?].
Despite the furious investigations of the Third Department (the tsar's secret police), Skoptisism did not disappear after Selivanov's death, and scandals continued to arise. The sect established a presence in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Morshansk and Odessa, and later in Bukarest and Iași in Romania, where members of the sect had fled due to the persecution by Russian authorities. By 1866, the sect was reported as having 5,444 members (3,979 men and 1,465 women). Although Skoptisism prescribed castration as a precondition for entering paradise, only a minority of members (703 men and 100 women) had undergone bodily mutilation.[14] Alexandre Dumas, père, writes about the sect, calling them scopsis, towards the end of his account of his journey through Caucasia, "Le Caucase, Memoires d'un Voyage", 1858,[15] where he met them in Georgia. In the book The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky mentions that the home of Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin is rented to Skoptsy tenants.[16] Dostoevsky also mentions Skoptsy in the 1872 novel Demons and the 1880 novel The Brothers Karamazov.
Repressive measures were tried along with ridicule: male Skoptsy were dressed in women's clothes and paraded wearing fools' caps through the villages. In 1876, 130 Skoptsy were deported[where?][citation needed]. To escape prosecution some of the sect emigrated, mostly to Romania, where some of them mixed with old-believer exiles known as Lipovans. Romanian writer I.L. Caragiale acknowledges that toward the end of the 19th century all the horse-powered cabs in Bucharest were driven by Russian Skoptsy (Scopiți in Romanian). Though the law was strict in Russia—every eunuch was compelled to register—Skoptsism did not abate in its popularity. The Skoptsy became known as moneylenders,[17] and a bench known as the "Skoptsy's Bench"[why?] stood in Saint Petersburg[where?] for many years.
The Skoptsy may have had as many as 100,000 followers in the early 20th century, although repression continued and members of the sect were put on trial.[17] Increased repression and collectivization under the Soviet Union reduced the numbers to a reported few thousand in 1929, when the authorities staged a widely publicized mass trial against the sect.[18]
Leon Trotsky, in a report from Romania in 1913, wrote about the Skoptsy in the Dobruja region who worked as horse-cab drivers and played a predominant role in the local horse trade.[19] Patrick Leigh Fermor in The Broken Road describes his encounters (in 1933/4) with two "Skapetz" (sic) in a Bucharest tavern and as a passenger in their horse-drawn cabs: "They conversed in oddly high-pitched voices in a language that sounded at first like Bulgarian but soon turned out to be—judging by its shifting vowels and liquid sounds—Russian."[20]
Olivia Manning in The Great Fortune (1960) describes the Skoptsy carriage drivers of Bucharest based on her visit in 1939.[21]
After the October Revolution
[edit]After the Bolsheviks seized power during the October Revolution, they focused on weakening the Russian Orthodox Church and the influence of religion, as they posed threats to the authority of the new government. Many early Bolshevik decrees, such as stripping the Orthodox Church of its privileges and asserting the equality of different religions indirectly strengthened the Russian minority sects, including the Skoptsy, by removing the tools previously used to suppress them.[22] Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich, a power broker within the emerging state used this freedom from previous repression to court the Skoptsy and other minority sects. Posing these groups as proto-Communists victimized by the Tsarist government, Bonch-Bruevich also gained favor for the sects among the Soviet government. The Skoptsy were broadly receptive to these appeals. The Skoptsy writer Gavriil Men'shenin celebrated the revolution as a "new dawn of life", and Kuz'ma Lisin's followers claimed that the revolution was predicted by Christ, who said that they should welcome it.[23]
The treatment of the Skoptsy in the Soviet Union worsened as time progressed. While the Skoptsy's wealth could be seen as aspirational during the free market years of the New Economic Policy, the political landscape strongly shifted as Joseph Stalin replaced the economically liberal NEP with pro-collectivization policies that opposed the accumulation of wealth. In the context of this change, the Skoptsy began to be seen as exploiters of labor.[25] Bonch-Bruevich, once a staunch supporter of the Skoptsy, began to adopt the anti-religious party line. Writing to prominent Skoptsy who complained of the repression, he stated that the Skoptsy arrested must have been fanatics or harming people's welfare. He also began to oppose the practice of castration, especially of children.[26] In 1927 a propaganda play was put on in Moscow denigrating the Skoptsy, and the Soviet secret police arrested a Leningrad Skoptsy community of 158 people.[26] Two other groups of Skoptsy in Saratov and Moscow were also be arrested, and the three communities were put on trial from 1929 to 1931. Prosecutors and the party portrayed the Skoptsy as exploitative NEPmen perpetuating the old religious order. The ruling of the 1929 trial of the Leningrad Skoptsy stated that the sect was a formal, organized conspiracy with anti-Soviet aims, and the Skoptsy were convicted of both inflicting physical injury and counter-revolutionary activities.[27]
The Skoptsy population rapidly declined during Soviet collectivization, numbering only about 2,000 people by 1929. The remaining Skoptsy were driven into seclusion, with little record of their activities after the trials. Unsubstantiated reports from the 1970s placed several dozen Skoptsy in Tambov Oblast, and several hundred in Oryol Oblast. These surviving groups no longer self-castrated, and maintained their population by adopting orphans of the Second World War.[2]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Often self referred to as True Christians or the Godly.[1]
- ^ Matthew 19:12: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."
- ^ Matthew 18:8–9: "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."
- ^ Luke 23:29: "For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck."
- ^ Some sources claim that a resident of Maslov village discovered while bathing with a neighbor that the neighbor had self-castrated , and reported the incident to the town priest. Others identify the discoverer as a landowner who learned that thirteen of his serfs had castrated themselves.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Engelstein 1999, p. 2.
- ^ a b Lane 1978, pp. 94–95.
- ^ a b Engelstein 1999, pp. 13–15.
- ^ Adams, Tim (September 8, 2024). "'I thought of the church as a friend and it slapped me in the face': historian Diarmaid MacCulloch on the Church of England's hypocrisy". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 15, 19.
- ^ Frick 2005, p. 456.
- ^ Engelstein 1997, pp. 5–6.
- ^ a b Engelstein 1997, p. 6.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 25–27, 29.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 24.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 24, 29–30.
- ^ His year of birth was variously reported as 1720, 1730, 1732 and 1740. Селиванов, Кондратий in: Большая биографическая энциклопедия.
- ^ F. von Stein (Gotha): Die Skopzensekte in Russland in ihrer Entstehung, Organisation und Lehre. Nach den zuverlässigsten Quellen dargestellt. In: Zeitschrift für Ethnologie – Organ der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, vol. 7 (1875),66–67.
- ^ Dumas, Alexandre père (1858). Le Caucase, Memoirs d'un Voyage.
- ^ William J. Comer. "Rogozhin and the 'Castrates': Russian Religious Traditions in Dostoevsky's The Idiot." The Slavic and East European Journal 40, no. 1 (1996): 85-99.
- ^ a b Staff writer (1910-10-06). "Skoptsy Members on Trial". The New York Times. p. 6. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
- ^ Нехамкин С. Членовредители, 80 лет назад (1929 г.) в СССР прошли судебные процессы над сектой скопцов ("80 years ago (i.e., in 1929), there were trials against the Skoptsy sect in the USSR"), Аргументы недели. — № 11 (149), 19 March 2009.
- ^ Leon Trotsky, The Balkan Wars 1912-13: The War Correspondence of Leon Trotsky, Sydney 1980
- ^ Fermor, Patrick Leigh (20 January 2015). The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos. New York Review of Books. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-59017-779-2.
- ^ Manning, Olivier (1960). The Great Fortune. Arrow. p. 30.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 197–198.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 199–200.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, p. 226.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 199, 209–210.
- ^ a b Engelstein 1999, pp. 206–208.
- ^ Engelstein 1999, pp. 210–212.
Bibliography
[edit]- Buss, Andreas (2010). The Russian-Orthodox Tradition and Modernity. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-13324-2.
- Engelstein, Laura (1997). "From Heresy to Harm: Self-castrators in the Civic Discourse of Late Tsarist Russia" (PDF). In Hara, Teruyuki; Matsuzato, Kimitaka (eds.). Empire and Society: New Approaches to Russian History. Hokkaido University: Slavic Research Center. pp. 1–22. ISBN 978-4-938637-11-8.
- ——— (1999). Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3676-1.
- ——— (2000). "Personal Testimony and the Defense of Faith: Skoptsy Telling Tales". In Engelstein, Laura; Sandler, Stephanie (eds.). Self and Story in Russian History. Ithica and London: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3791-1.
- Etkind, Alexander (1998). Хлыст: Секты, литература и революция [Khlysty: Sects, Literature, and Revolution] (in Russian). Moscow: University of Helsinki. ISBN 978-5-86793-030-1.
- Frick, Karl R. H. (2005). Licht und Finsternis [Light and Darkness] (in German). Vol. 2. Wiesbaden: Marix Verlag. ISBN 3-86539-044-7.
- Gentes, Andrew Armand (2010). Exile, Murder and Madness in Siberia, 1823-61. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-27326-9.
- Grass, Karl Konrad (1904). Die geheime heilige Schrift der Skopzen [The Secret Holy Scripture of the Skoptsy] (in German). Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung.
- ——— (1907). Die russischen Sekten [The Russian Sects] (in German). Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung.
- Lane, Christel (1978). Christian Religion in the Soviet Union: a Sociological Study. Albany: SUNY Press. ISBN 0-87395-327-4.
- Maltsev, Vladimir (2022). "Economic Effects of Voluntary Religious Castration on the Informal Provision of Cooperation: The Case of the Russian Skoptsy Sect". European Economic Review. 145 104109. doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2022.104109. ISSN 0014-2921.
- Pelikan, Evgenij Venceslavovic̆ (1876). Geschichtlich-medizinische Untersuchungen über das Skopzentum in Rußland [Forensic Medical Investigations into the Skoptsy of Russia] (in German). Translated by Iwanoff, Nicolaus. Munich: J. Ricker'sche Buchhandlung.
- Perrie, Maureen (2023). "The Castrates, the Specter of Pugachev, and Religious Policy under Nicholas I". Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 24 (2): 299–320. doi:10.1353/kri.2023.0017. ISSN 1538-5000.
Further reading
[edit]This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Skoptsi". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul [1]
- Tulpe, Irina; Torchinov, Evgeny (2000-01-01). "The Castrati ("Skoptsy") Sect in Russia History, Teaching, and Religious Practice". International Journal of Transpersonal Studies. 19 (1 pp. 77–87). doi:10.24972/ijts.2000.19.1.77. ISSN 1321-0122.
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Skoptsy
View on GrokipediaThe Skoptsy (Russian: Скопцы, meaning "the castrated"), also called the White Doves, were a clandestine sect of Spiritual Christians in Russia, originating in the late 18th century and characterized by the voluntary practice of ritual castration for men—termed the "white deed" or "fiery baptism"—along with mastectomy and sometimes vulvectomy for women, as a means to eradicate carnal sin, achieve bodily purity, and secure entry into the Kingdom of God.[1][2]
Founded by the peasant Kondraty Selivanov around the 1770s in the Orel district, who claimed to be both the reincarnated Jesus Christ and the deposed Emperor Peter III, the sect diverged from the earlier Khlysty (Flagellants or Christ-believers) by interpreting New Testament references to eunuchs for heaven's kingdom—such as Matthew 19:12—literally, while rejecting scriptural authority in favor of direct revelations from the Holy Spirit.[1]
Adherents engaged in ecstatic gatherings known as radenie, featuring choral singing, whirling dances, and self-flagellation to invoke divine presence, but reserved full membership for those who underwent the irreversible mutilations, which served both as a test of devotion and a marker of irreversible commitment amid state hostility.[1][2]
Despite relentless persecution as heretics—entailing exile, imprisonment, and execution—the Skoptsy expanded rapidly among rural peasants, urban merchants, and even elements of the nobility, leveraging communal solidarity and economic collusion to accumulate substantial wealth, with estimates placing their numbers in the hundreds of thousands by the early 19th century across much of European Russia, Siberia, and the Urals.[1][2]
The sect's endurance into the 20th century, including limited emigration to Romania and the United States, underscored the potency of their ascetic discipline, though it ultimately waned under Soviet suppression, leaving a legacy of medical case studies on the physiological effects of castration alongside debates over the rationality of their boycott against Orthodox and tsarist impositions.[1][2]
Origins and Early Development
Roots in Preexisting Sects
The Skoptsy sect emerged within the broader context of Russian religious dissent following the Great Schism (Raskol) of the mid-17th century, when opposition to liturgical reforms by Patriarch Nikon led to the formation of numerous nonconformist groups emphasizing spiritual purity and asceticism over official Orthodox practices.[3] These sects, often drawing from apocalyptic interpretations of scripture, rejected worldly attachments and sought direct communion with the divine through rigorous self-denial, setting the stage for more radical expressions like those of the Skoptsy.[4] While many post-Schism groups focused on ritual preservation, others innovated ecstatic and corporeal disciplines to transcend sin, influencing the Skoptsy's eventual doctrines.[5] The immediate precursor to the Skoptsy was the Khlysty (Flagellants), a mystical sect active since the late 17th century that emphasized achieving godhood through cycles of sin, repentance, and ritual purification.[3] Khlysty gatherings involved ecstatic "radeniye" (radiant worship) sessions featuring collective flagellation, hymn-singing, and symbolic reenactments of Christ's passion to expunge carnal desires and attain spiritual rebirth.[1] Members believed that voluntary sinning—followed by physical mortification—mirrored divine incarnation, allowing participants to embody Christ and the Mother of God in gendered roles during rituals.[5] This sect's dualistic view of flesh as both sinful and redeemable provided the theological framework that Skoptsy adherents later radicalized by prioritizing genital mutilation over temporary penance.[2] The Skoptsy crystallized as a distinct offshoot in the 1760s in Oryol Province, when former Khlysty member Kondraty Selivanov introduced castration as the ultimate "fiery baptism" to permanently seal against sexual temptation, diverging from the Khlysty's cyclical approach.[5] Selivanov, initially influenced by Khlysty preacher Mikhail Nikulin, retained core elements like prohibitions on meat, alcohol, and swearing, but reframed them around absolute bodily renunciation to restore prelapsarian innocence.[6] Tensions arose as Khlysty viewed Skoptsy practices as excessive, leading to mutual denunciations to authorities, yet the shared emphasis on charismatic prophecy and communal secrecy underscored their lineage.[2] This evolution reflected not a complete break but an intensification of preexisting sectarian impulses toward corporeal extremism amid 18th-century Russia's social upheavals.[4]Founding and Key Figures
The Skoptsy sect originated in the second half of the eighteenth century within communities of Russian peasant mystics, evolving from the ecstatic practices of the Khlysty (Christ-believers) sect while emphasizing physical self-mutilation for spiritual salvation.[1] The sect's formal emergence is dated to 1771, when its practices first drew official attention in the Russian Empire, specifically in the Oryol region where a peasant named Andrei Ivanov was convicted of persuading thirteen other peasants to castrate themselves.[7] Kondraty Selivanov (c. 1731–1832), a peasant from the Orel district and former fugitive serf, is recognized as the sect's founder and central prophet.[1] Prior to establishing the Skoptsy, Selivanov participated in rationalistic dissident groups including the Dukhobors and Molokans, reflecting his broader spiritual quest against Orthodox Church authority.[1] In the 1770s, he began preaching castration—termed the "fiery baptism" or "seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit"—as essential for overcoming original sin and achieving purity, drawing initial followers from Khlysty circles in central Russia.[1] Selivanov's messianic claims intensified the sect's distinct identity; followers regarded him as the reincarnated Christ and Emperor Peter III, narratives that blended sacred and secular history to legitimize his authority.[1] Arrested shortly after initiating his ministry, he faced exile to Siberia but reemerged in Moscow in 1795, further propagating his doctrines until repeated imprisonments culminated in confinement at the Spaso-Efimyevsky monastery, where he died in 1832.[1] No other figures rivaled Selivanov's foundational role, though early adherents like those from the Khlysty provided the communal base for the sect's expansion.[1]Theological Foundations
Scriptural Interpretations
The Skoptsy sect's scriptural exegesis emphasized a literal interpretation of select New Testament verses to rationalize self-castration as essential for salvation and purity. Foremost among these was Matthew 19:12, which states, "For there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it," taken by adherents as an explicit endorsement of voluntary emasculation to transcend carnal sin and secure heavenly entry.[8][9] This passage, combined with the sect's rejection of Orthodox allegorical hermeneutics, positioned castration not as optional asceticism but as a mandatory "seal of the living God" against fleshly temptation.[5] Complementing this, the Skoptsy invoked Matthew 5:29–30: "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out... And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell," applying it directly to genital mutilation as a preemptive excision of lust's source to avert damnation.[2] Founder Kondraty Selivanov, who proclaimed himself the returned Christ around 1772, explicitly cited this verse to frame the rite—termed "fiery baptism" or "the chop"—as a corporeal fulfillment of divine law, superior to water baptism in eradicating original sin.[2][9] While the sect drew from broader apocalyptic motifs in Revelation, such as the sealing of the faithful amid tribulation, their primary focus remained on these Gospel imperatives, which they deemed distorted by mainstream clergy through figurative readings that preserved bodily integrity at the expense of true obedience.[5] This hyper-literalism, inherited from precursor groups like the Khlysty, underscored castration and mastectomy as antidotes to the "beast" of sexuality, enabling resurrection in a purified, androgynous state.[9] Critics, including tsarist investigators, noted the selective and strained nature of these interpretations, which prioritized mutilation over contextual theological consensus.[5]Core Doctrines on Sin and Purity
The Skoptsy regarded human genitals as the emblematic seal of original sin, imprinted upon Adam and Eve after their expulsion from Eden, when they transitioned from an immaterial, undifferentiated state to one burdened by fleshly desires and sexual differentiation.[1] This corporeal endowment, they taught, enabled procreation but also perpetuated the cycle of sin through lust, termed lepost'—a venomous force of bodily allure and sexuality that devours the soul and bars communion with the divine, likened to "the most furious serpent... eating the whole universe."[1] Original sin thus manifested causally in the body's capacity for carnal temptation, rendering unchecked sexuality the root of all moral corruption and spiritual impurity.[1] Purity demanded the excision of this sinful apparatus, with castration—termed "whitening" or "fiery baptism"—serving as the indispensable rite to purge the flesh and soul, restoring the believer to a pristine, Adamic condition akin to the prelapsarian ideal.[1] Drawing on Matthew 19:12, which praises those "who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," the sect interpreted self-mutilation not as mere asceticism but as a literal, redemptive surgery to eradicate sin's origin, enabling the body as a perfected temple for the Holy Trinity and averting eternal damnation as forewarned in Matthew 5:30: "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."[2][1] For adherents, this act transcended voluntary celibacy, embodying causal purification by severing the mechanism of lust, thereby securing salvation through unmediated divine union and immunity from the frailties of birth, aging, and death inherent to the fallen state.[1] Women pursued analogous purity via mastectomy or genital mutilation, aligning with the doctrine's holistic rejection of sexual dimorphism as a post-Fall curse.[1]Practices and Rituals
Self-Mutilation as Fiery Baptism
The Skoptsy viewed self-mutilation as a sacred "fiery baptism," a ritual of emasculation for men and mastectomy for women that symbolized purification from carnal sin and attainment of heavenly purity. This practice stemmed from a literal interpretation of Matthew 19:12, which references those "who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," positioning the act as a voluntary sacrifice enabling spiritual rebirth superior to orthodox water baptism.[5][1] Initially performed around the sect's emergence in 1772, the ritual involved applying a red-hot iron to the male genitals to cauterize and destroy the testicles and scrotal tissue, evoking the "fiery" imagery of intense pain, blood loss, and purification akin to apocalyptic trials.[5] Over time, adherents shifted to using knives for two graded procedures: the "lesser seal," entailing testicle removal while preserving the penis, and the "greater seal," which excised both testicles and penis for complete genital ablation.[5][1] Women paralleled this with breast excision, dubbed the "seal of the white lily," and in some cases further genital mutilation to eradicate sources of lust.[1] These operations, conducted secretly by experienced sect members, carried significant health risks including hemorrhage, infection, and death, particularly in early instances before rudimentary techniques refined survival rates.[10] The Skoptsy framed the ensuing suffering as redemptive, mirroring Christ's passion and ensuring entry into a sinless, androgynous afterlife, with full adherence—often both seals for men—deemed essential for leadership roles and ultimate salvation amid their eschatological expectations.[5][1] Despite tsarist prohibitions, thousands underwent the rite voluntarily, driven by doctrinal conviction rather than coercion, as evidenced by archival interrogations revealing personal testimonies of spiritual ecstasy post-mutilation.[2]Communal Worship and Discipline
The Skoptsy conducted communal worship primarily through radeniye (ecstatic rejoicing) rituals, which were collective gatherings aimed at invoking the Holy Spirit through physical and spiritual exertion. These sessions typically occurred at night in designated prayer rooms or "cathedrals" within their communal "ships" (organized groups numbering 50 to 300 members), where participants gathered in gender-separated spaces adorned with portraits of sect leaders like Kondraty Selivanov.[1] Worship began with the singing of spiritual hymns or dukhovnye stikhi (spiritual verses), such as "Give us, O Lord, Jesus," which expressed themes of purity and divine favor, fostering a state of euphoria and unity among attendees dressed in long white shirts symbolizing chastity.[1] The core of radeniye involved frenzied circular dances, whirling, and jumping, intensifying until participants reached exhaustion and trance-like ecstasy, believed to manifest the presence of the Holy Ghost.[1] Prophets emerged during these peaks, delivering prophecies in states of joy and spiritual embrace, with the physical toll—such as sweat-soaked floors—serving as evidence of divine communion rather than mere performance.[1] Unlike their Khlysty predecessors, Skoptsy rituals omitted flagellation and sexual elements, aligning with their doctrine of preemptive purification through self-mutilation, which rendered participants incapable of carnal sin and focused ecstasy solely on spiritual redemption.[1] Discipline within the sect enforced these practices through rigid ascetic commandments, including total abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and meat; rejection of secular holidays and oaths; and strict secrecy regarding doctrines and rituals to evade persecution.[1] Neophytes underwent progressive initiation, culminating in mutilation as the ultimate act of obedience and whitening of body and soul against "leprosy" (sexual impurity), with communal oversight ensuring compliance via hierarchical "ships" that monitored behavior and resolved disputes internally.[1] Violations risked expulsion or, in severe cases, further mutilation, reinforcing group cohesion and economic productivity, as disciplined members channeled energies into labor rather than vice.[2] This structure promoted self-control and mutual accountability, enabling the sect's survival amid tsarist surveillance despite the extremity of its demands.[2]Lifestyle and Social Norms
The Skoptsy maintained an ascetic lifestyle characterized by strict abstinence from meat, alcohol, and profane speech, promoting sobriety and diligent labor as virtues essential to spiritual purity. Members engaged in agriculture, trade, and crafts, often achieving economic prosperity through cooperative practices that enabled wealth accumulation despite external persecution. This industriousness was viewed internally as evidence of divine favor, contrasting with the sect's rejection of worldly indulgences.[5][2] Central to their social norms was the absolute prohibition of sexual activity, enforced through ritual castration for men and analogous mutilations for women, which eliminated the possibility of marriage or procreation within the sect. Traditional family structures were renounced in favor of spiritual bonds, with members prioritizing communal loyalty over biological kinship; children born prior to joining were sometimes subjected to mutilation or raised collectively to align with sect doctrines. Women occasionally departed the group to form conventional families, underscoring the sect's incompatibility with reproductive norms.[5][11][2] Despite the radical alterations to bodies, the Skoptsy preserved conventional gender roles, with men and women fulfilling distinct communal responsibilities while sharing the burden of sacrificial mutilation for salvation. Social cohesion was reinforced through secretive gatherings involving ecstatic dances and shared meals, which served to discipline members against sin and foster a sense of heavenly kinship. These norms emphasized collective welfare and moral rigor, setting the sect apart from Orthodox society while enabling tight-knit rural communities.[5][12][11]Organizational and Social Structure
Internal Hierarchy
The Skoptsy maintained a decentralized yet hierarchical organizational structure centered on autonomous communities termed korablya ("ships"), which facilitated internal cohesion and economic mutual aid across dispersed groups in Russia and later abroad.[6] Each ship operated under the leadership of a helmsman, prophet, or captain responsible for spiritual guidance, recruitment, and communal administration, with female counterparts known as she-captains coordinating women's roles. This naval-inspired nomenclature reflected the sect's founder's claimed identity as Tsar Peter III, emphasizing disciplined navigation toward spiritual purity. Key leadership positions included brothers-captains overseeing rituals and discipline, while symbolic ranks such as "white sheep," "pigeons," and "birds of paradise" denoted levels of initiation and purity among members, with full castrates holding higher status due to their commitment to the sect's core practice of self-mutilation. The founder, Kondraty Selivanov (died 1832), served as the paramount authority, revered as the second coming of Christ and Peter III, whose directives shaped the hierarchy's emphasis on ecstatic worship sessions (radeniye) held in designated "cathedrals" or prayer rooms. Subordinate roles like komissioner handled practical affairs, acting as intermediaries to manage business operations and delegate tasks, ensuring the sect's economic self-sufficiency through interest-free loans and collective funds controlled by helmsmen.[6] Inheritance practices reinforced hierarchical loyalty, directing members' estates to sect-chosen heirs within the korablya rather than biological kin, thereby sustaining communal wealth and preventing dilution by outsiders.[6] Despite persecution, this structure allowed adaptability, with later figures like Kuzma Lisin emerging in the 1870s as self-proclaimed redeemers to bolster flagging authority in splinter groups such as the Neo-Castrati. The absence of rigid canonical rules beyond basic ecstatic practices underscored a pragmatic hierarchy focused on survival and propagation over doctrinal uniformity.