h frontier.

The Priestless Nonconformists thus fell into two sections; the one,
called Pomortsi,* accepted at least a partial reconciliation with the
civil power; the other, called Theodosians, after their founder, held
to the old opinions, and refused to regard the Tsar otherwise than as
Antichrist.

*The word Pomortsi means "those who live near the seashore."
It is commonly applied to the inhabitants of the Northern
provinces--that is, those who live near the shore of the
White Sea, the only maritime frontier that Russia possessed
previous to the conquests of Peter the Great.

These latter were at first very wild in their fanaticism, but ere long
they gave way to the influences which had softened the fanaticism of the
Pomortsi. Under the liberal, conciliatory rule of Catherine they lived
in contentment, and many of them enriched themselves by trade. Their
fanatical zeal and exclusiveness evaporated under the influence
of material well-being and constant contact with the outer world,
especially after they were allowed to build a monastery in Moscow.
The Superior of this monastery, a man of much shrewdness and enormous
wealth, succeeded in gaining the favour not only of the lower officials,
who could be easily bought, but even of high-placed dignitaries, and for
many years he exercised a very real, if undefined, authority over all
sections of the Priestless People. "His fame," it is said, "sounded
throughout Moscow, and the echoes were heard in Petropol (St.
Petersburg), Riga, Astrakhan, Nizhni-Novgorod, and other lands
of piety"; and when deputies came to consult him, they prostrated
themselves in his presence, as before the great ones of the earth.
Living thus not only in peace and plenty, but even in honour and luxury,
"the proud Patriarch of the Theodosian Church" could not consistently
fulminate against "the ravenous wolves" with whom he was on friendly
terms, or excite the fanaticism of his followers by highly coloured
descriptions of "the awful sufferings and persecution of God's people
in these latter days," as the founder of the sect had been wont to do.
Though he could not openly abandon any fundamental doctrines, he allowed
the ideas about the reign of Antichrist to fall into the background,
and taught by example, if not by precept, that the Faithful might, by
prudent concessions, live very comfortably in this present evil world.
This seed fell upon soil already prepared for its r