SKOPTSI, a secret, religious sect of Russia. It is an off shoot of the sect known as the "People of God" or Khlysti (see RUSSIA : Religion). It was in 1771 in the government of Orel that the Skoptsi were first discovered by the authorities. A peasant, Andrei Ivanov, was convicted of having persuaded thirteen other peasants to castrate themselves. His assistant was another peas ant, known as Selivanov. A legal investigation followed. Ivanov was knouted and sent to Siberia : Selivanov fled, but was arrested in 1775. Skoptsism, however, increased, and Selivanov escaped from Siberia and proclaimed himself the Son of God incarnate in the person of Peter III. Peter had been popular among the Raskolniki (schismatics, or dissidents) because he granted them liberty of conscience, and among the peasants because when pil laging the convents he divided their lands among the labourers. Selivanov claimed the title "God of Gods and King of Kings," and announced his accomplishment of the salvation of believers through a self-inflicted mutilation. For eighteen years he lived in St. Petersburg, in the house of one of his disciples, receiving double homage as Christ and tsar. In 1797 he was rearrested by order of Paul I. and imprisoned in a madhouse. Under Alexander I. Selivanov regained his liberty, but in 182o was again shut up, this time in a monastery at Siizdal, where he died in 1832 in his hundredth year. Skoptsism was, however, not exterminated, and grave scandals constantly arose. The most remarkable feature of
this extraordinary sect has always been the type of people who joined it. Nobles, military and naval officers, civil servants, priests and merchants were to be found in its ranks, and so rapidly did the numbers increase that 515 men and 240 women were transported to Siberia between 1847 and 1866 without seri ously threatening its existence. In 1872 many trials of Skoptsi took place all over Russia. In 1874 the sect numbered at least 5,444, including 1,465 women. Of these 703 men and 16o women had mutilated themselves. Repressive measures proving useless, an unsuccessful attempt was made to kill the sect by ridicule : Skoptsi were dressed up in women's clothes and paraded with fools' caps on through the villages. In 1876 13o Skoptsi were sentenced in a batch to transportation. To escape prosecution some of the sect have emigrated, generally to Rumania, where they are known as Lipovans. Of late years, there is said to be a tendency among many Skoptsi to consider their creed fulfilled by chaste living merely.