Skoptsy
The Skoptsy[1] (Russian: скопцы, IPA: [skɐpˈtsɨ]; sg. скопец "eunuch") were a sectarian cult[2] within the larger Spiritual Christianity movement in the Russian Empire. 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.[3] The term "Skoptsy" is a descriptive one used 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, with a claimed million members living in the Russian Empire. The Skoptsy was essentially wiped out by the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.[4]
Beliefs and practices
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).
The Skoptsy referred to themselves as the "White Doves" (белые голуби). Their aim was to perfect the individual by eradicating
They believed that human genitals were a mark of original sin, and that after the expulsion from the
There were two kinds of castration: the "lesser seal" and the "greater seal". For men, the "lesser seal" meant the removal of the testicles only, while the "greater seal" involved either
In women, the Skoptsy removed the nipples or the whole breasts. Occasionally, they simply scarred the breasts. They also often removed the labia minora and clitoris. They did not use anesthetics.[3]
The operations were generally performed by elders. During the operation, they said the phrase "Christ is risen!"[3]
History
The Skoptsy movement emerged in the 1760s from the
His followers organized to locate and free him. He was found living in
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
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 once again arrest Selivanov, and confine him to Evfimiev monastery in Suzdal, where he remained until his death in 1832, allegedly his hundredth year.[9] 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.
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 to due to the persecution by 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.
Repressive measures were tried along with ridicule: male Skoptsy were
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.
Olivia Manning in The Great Fortune (1960) describes the Skoptsy carriage drivers of Bucharest based on her visit in 1939.[17]
According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the sect still operated within the USSR in 1947.[18] It is believed to have mostly disappeared by the 1970s,[19] although there are controversial reports of surviving communities in Latvia in the 1990s.[20]
See also
- Antisexualism
- Coitophobia
- Emasculation
- Galli—eunuch priests of Cybele
- Origen—early Christian author who allegedly castrated himself
- Self-mutilation
- Sexual abstinence
- The Heaven's Gate sect also practiced castration
- Valesians—early Christian sect which also practiced castration
- Vissarion—contemporary Russian cult leader claiming to be the reincarnation of Christ
Notes
- ^ Also transliterated as Skoptzy, Skoptzi, Skoptsi, Skopzi, Scoptsy, etc.
- ISSN 1321-0122.
- ^ a b c Engelstein, Laura. "From Heresy to Harm: Self-Castrators in the Civic Discourse of Late Tsarist Russia" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-11-10.
- ^ Skripnik, Oleg (2016-08-25). "The Skoptsy: The story of the Russian sect that maimed for its beliefs". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
- ^ Frick (2005), p. 456.
- ^ 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."
- ^ Селиванов, Кондратий in: Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона (1890—1907).
- ^ 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.
- )
- ^ 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
- ISBN 978-1-59017-779-2.
- ^ Manning, Olivier (1960). The Great Fortune. Arrow. p. 30.
- ^ Александр Кампов, Секты и сектантская идеология в России Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Lane (1978), pp. 94–95.
- ^ Кон. ГАЙВОРОНСКИЙ, Скопский хутор Archived 2023-05-08 at the Wayback Machine "СМ", Riga, 22 August 1999.
References
- Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, The Empire of the Tsars (Eng. trans., 1896), vol. iii.
- E. Pelikan, Geschichtlich-medizinische Untersuchungen über das Skopzentum in Rußland (Gießen, 1876)
- K. K. Grass, Die geheime heilige Schrift der Skopzen (Leipzig, 1904)
- K. K. Grass, Die russischen Sekten (Leipzig 1907 &c).
- Engelstein, Laura (1999). Castration and the heavenly kingdom: a Russian folktale. ISBN 0-8014-3676-1.
- Frick, Karl R. H. (2005). Licht und Finsternis. Gnostisch-theosophische und freimaurerisch-okkulte Geheimgesellschaften bis zur Wende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 2. Wiesbaden: Marix Verlag. ISBN 3-86539-044-7.
- Lane, Christel (1978). Christian Religion in the Soviet Union: a Sociological Study (ISBN 0-87395-327-4. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
External links
public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Skoptsi". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the- Panchenko, Aleksandr. "Strange faith" and the blood libel
- The Castrati ("Skoptsy") Sect in Russia: History, Teaching and Religious Practice by Irina A. Tulpe and Evgeny A. Torchinov
- From Heresy to Harm: Self-Castrators in the Civic Discourse of Late Tsarist Russia by Laura Engelstein (Chapter 1 PDF)
- A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul [1]