excitement. A few peculiarly constituted individuals may show
themselves capable of a lifelong enthusiasm, but the multitude is ever
spasmodic in its fervour, and begins to slide back to its former apathy
as soon as the exciting cause ceases to act.

All this we find exemplified in the history of the Priestless People.
When it was found that the world did not come to an end, and that the
rigorous system of persecution was relaxed, the less excitable natures
returned to their homes, and resumed their old mode of life; and when
Peter the Great made his politic concessions, many who had declared him
to be Antichrist came to suspect that he was really not so black as he
was painted. This idea struck deep root in a religious community near
Lake Onega (Vuigovski Skit) which had received special privileges on
condition of supplying labourers for the neighbouring mines; and here
was developed a new theory which opened up a way of reconciliation with
the Government. By a more attentive study of Holy Writ and ancient books
it was discovered that the reign of Antichrist would consist of two
periods. In the former, the Son of Destruction would reign merely in
the spiritual sense, and the Faithful would not be much molested; in the
latter, he would reign visibly in the flesh, and true believers would be
subjected to the most frightful persecution. The second period, it was
held, had evidently not yet arrived, for the Faithful now enjoyed "a
time of freedom, and not of compulsion or oppression." Whether this
theory is strictly in accordance with Apocalyptic prophecy and patristic
theology may be doubted, but it fully satisfied those who had already
arrived at the conclusion by a different road, and who sought merely
a means of justifying their position. Certain it is that very many
accepted it, and determined to render unto Caesar the things that were
Caesar's, or, in secular language, to pray for the Tsar and to pay their
taxes.

This ingenious compromise was not accepted by all the Priestless People.
On the contrary, many of them regarded it as a woeful backsliding--a new
device of the Evil One; and among these irreconcilables was a certain
peasant called Theodosi, a man of little education, but of remarkable
intellectual power and unusual strength of character. He raised anew
the old fanaticism by his preaching and writings--widely circulated in
manuscript--and succeeded in founding a new sect in the forest region
near the Polis