TWO STRANGE SECTS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3220, 25 October 1881, Page 4

TWO STRANGE SECTS.

(Pall Mall Gazette.)

IVorn an iuteresfcing article in the Golos of July 9fch we gather the following particulars relating Lo two powerful Kussian sects —the Begoune (' Wanderers') and the ifeplatelsohtchikie ('Non-payers'). The former are to be found chiefly in the Governments of Yaroslaff, Kostroma, Kisin, Niejegorod, Olonetski, and Arehancrel Their fundamental article of belief is ttat 'the_ Tsar is Antichrist, and that lis Ministers and agents are wicked agents senf to execute his decrees, to the uprooting of the people of Q-od. , As any opposition to the Government is impossible, and as 'if « man would be saved he must refuse to recognise any authority, Imperial or other, tie only means left to escape from Antichrist is 'to avoid all society and to take refuge in solitary woods, and mountains.' They are sworn foes to all passports and certificates of residence; and there are good grounds for believing ! 7 :at the vexatious manner in which the passport system is carried out in tho interior of Eussia originally gave birth to this atrn.::ge eect. The writer tells us how in nearly every villege in one of the most extensive districts of the Government of Olonetski he met with Begounie who were gladly lodged for together by f.he peasants in socalled 'lairs' that aro "onstructed for the purpose in secret and out of-the-way places. Tbe sect is divided, moreover, into two great groups—the ' Wanderers' and the ' Shelterers.' The Begounie — or ' Hiders' as the peasants generally call them—are recruited from every part of K\issia, and among their mimber are to be found deserters from the army and escape ,, convicts from Siberia, but for the most par' they are natives of the northern government--Aβ long ago as 1864 the polico began </■ bunt poor sectarians from place t place, but, owing to the sympathy inyaiirt'jl shown them by the peasants, all attempts f.. arrest any of the more prominent learlev--have been constantly frustrated. Tlvs the acknowledge chief of t l, Begounie, wa* apprehended in that year c> the charge of refusing to serve as a soldier •, but in spite of the heavy convoy that transported him to "Nicholaieff, he succeed' in esr.aping, and had such confidence in t?ufidelity and attachment of his followers t.Tin'he actually resided for months in his nntiv.. village, and even when arrested, notwithstanding that the police agents, Anthienio+J" and Ziekoff, reoeived a substantial rewaru from the Government for their ' zealous an J praiseworthy service,' once more effeercrj his escape, and to the best of our belief i' still at large and preaching and makhu? proselytes, Hatred of passports,and n]'i i)-.-: worrying extortions to which the poc, peasants are in consequence exposed, mv"' be regarded as the source and origin of Begoudism, and the same may be said of the Neplatelsctchikio or Nonpayer. This sect i 3 very numerous in the government of Perm, very particularly in the mining districts. Two-thirds of the "workmen engaged in the well-known Seye mines are Non-payers. They were first heard of as a corporate body in 1861, and ref veal on religious grounds to payjthe taxes levied on the emancipated peasantry has sinoe frequently brought on them the displeasure of the Government, and exposed them to no few hardships and persecutions. Hundreds of them have been imprisoned, i transported to Siberia, or forced to quit their homes for some distant part of the Empire. But, -wherever they went, they could always rely on the good feeling and secret aid of the people j and eaoapes from prison, that would otherwise be simply miraculous, are of constant occurrence through the friendly connivance of the peasants. The persecution is now as hot as ever, but it is not difficult to foresee on whose side victory will ultimately declare itself. Only a few months ago tho chief apostle of the sect, having obstinately refused to abate one iota of his religious opinions, was declared insane and put into a madhouse, whence he was released only in consequence of the publicity that had accidentally been given to his case. Bat still, in spite of prison, galleys, transportation, and madhouses, sectarianism flourishes, and will flourish till the injustices that have given rise to these extravagant forms of Protestantism are redressed. It is greater liberty in sooial life and in matters of opinion that i» needed.