DUCHOBORTZI, a Russian religious sect, of the origin of which nothing is very cer tainly known, and which, although conjecturally referred by count Krasinski to the Patarenes (see CATITARI), cannot be traced beyond the middle of the 18th c., when it was found to exist in different parts of Russia; and its members became exposed to pen alties by their refusal to serve in the army. The D. hold the doctrine of the Trinity, and are chiefly distinguished by their holding that human souls existed before the crea tion of the world, and fell in that former existence, from which the fall of Adam and a continual tendency to fall have proceeded; and by their ascribing hidden mysterious meanings to all parts of the Bible, for the knowledge of which they depend on inward light. They are extreme mystics. They reject the use of pictures common in the Russian Greek church. They neither observe baptism nor the Lord's supper. In,
their religious meetings they salute each other with bows and kisses: they pray, sing psalms, and exhort or expound the Scriptures. They are, however, generally very illiterate and ignorant. On the accession of the emperor Alexander I., they received the most complete toleration, and were allowed to settle by themselves on the bank of the Molochna in the s. of Russia. Here, however, an impostor named Kapustin prevailed on them to receive him as a prophet, taught them the transmigration of souls, and made them believe that he himself was animated by the soul of Jesus Christ; and it would appear that, in consequence of disputes arising among them concerning him; great numbers were buried alive, and otherwise put to death by the rest, on which the settlements on the Moloehna were broken up in .1841, and great part of the people transferred to the provinces beyond the Caucasus.