RASKOLNIKS, or RAS COLNICI+NS,. the name applied collectively to all the dissenters from the orthodox church of Russia, the Greek-Eastern Church. The schism, or raskol; was affected at two different times principally; first during the 17th century upon the occasion of the revision of the Testa ments by Patriarch Nikou (1652-58) at Mos cow; and upon the further revision and the usurpation of secular powers by Peter' the Great (1689-1725). On both these occasions great bodies of Raskolniks, refusing to comply with the reforms instituted, left the Church and set up their own religious communities. The general characteristic of all the Raskohiks is conservatism. Their accessions have been due to the desire to cling to their old customs and beliefs.
The Raskolniks are of two great classes, each of which is subdivided with endless schisms and dissenting sects more or 1sss an tagonistic to each other. Tile Popovtzi, those who have priests, pops, in Russian; and the Bezpopovtzi, or those who have no priests. Of these the Bezpopovtzi are the more numerous, the most aggressive and the least conservative.
The Popovtzi have not changed from the beliefs of their old Church. They are, for the most, inoffensive and tolerant,,and have latterly been treated by the state with less severity than before. A certain measure of civic rights was also granted them, together with liberty of religious services.
The Bezpopovtzi were much more inimical to the State and the Church, as these were con stituted prior to the Revolution of 1917. They believe that the present age is one of the anti Christ, that the authorities to-day, both tem poral and spiritual, are his servants and that, therefore, it would be sin to recognize their au thority. Some of the principal sects of the
Bezpopovtzi are: Duokhobors (q.v.), who in some respects resemble the early Quakers; the Vozdykhantzi, who hold that the world at pres ent is under the reign of the Holy Ghost, whom they worship by prayers and sighing; the Philippines, who observe only two sacra ments, the Lord's Supper and Baptism; the Stranniki, who believe the promises of the Lord concerning the Church are already fulfilled and that we are living in the first era of the resur rection; the Molokaneh and the Obschie (the latter being communists), who reject all ex ternal rites; and the anarchistic Khlisti and Skoptzi. The Khlisti are ascetics and practise many fanatical rites under the direction of their prophets and prophetesses, one being that of bodily scourge. be Skoptzi carry the beliefs of the Khltsti to an even greater extreme, mutilating their bodies in horrible manner in the frenzy of their rites. The Khlisti and Skoptzi were treated as criminals and transported to Siberia by the government under the old regime; other sects of the Bezpopovtzi were denied many of the civil rights enjoyed by the Popovtzi, were closely watched by the police and were much feared by the government.
The number of Raskolniks in Russia has been variously estimated as from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000.