of Lies, and that all who submit to the
authorities are children of the Devil. According to this creed, those
who wish to escape from the wrath to come must have neither houses nor
fixed places of abode, must sever all ties that bind them to the world,
and must wander about continually from place to place. True Christians
are but strangers and pilgrims in the present life, and whoso binds
himself to the world will perish with the world.

Such is the theory of these Wanderers, but among them, as among the less
fanatical sects, practical necessities have produced concessions and
compromises. As it is impossible to lead a nomadic life in Russian
forests, the Wanderers have been compelled to admit into their ranks
what may be called lay-brethren--men who nominally belong to the sect,
but who live like ordinary mortals and have some rational way of gaining
a livelihood. These latter live in the villages or towns, support
themselves by agriculture or trade, accept passports from the
authorities, pay their taxes regularly, and conduct themselves in
all outward respects like loyal subjects. Their chief religious duty
consists in giving food and shelter to their more zealous brethren, who
have adopted a vagabond life in practise as well as in theory. It is
only when they feel death approaching that they consider it necessary
to separate themselves from the heretical world, and they effect this
by having themselves carried out to some neighbouring wood--or into a
garden if there is no wood at hand--where they may die in the open air.

Thus, we see, there is among the Russian Nonconformist sects what may be
called a gradation of fanaticism, in which is reflected the history of
the Great Schism. In the Wanderers we have the representatives of
those who adopted and preserved the Antichrist doctrine in its extreme
form--the successors of those who fled to the forests to escape from
the rage of the Beast and to await the second coming of Christ. In the
Philipists we have the representatives of those who adopted these ideas
in a somewhat softer form, and who came to recognise the necessity of
having some regular means of subsistence until the last trump should be
heard. The Theodosians represent those who were in theory at one with
the preceding category, but who, having less religious fanaticism,
considered it necessary to yield to force and make peace with the
Government without sacrificing their convictions. In the Pomortsi we see