religious ecstasy seems to sweep over the
whole length and breadth of the Russian territories, and Tolstoi's
celebrated doctrines reflected the dreamy soul of the _moujik_ and the
teachings of many Russian martyrs. It would, however, be a mistake to
suppose that it is only the peasants buried in the depths of the
country who provide favourable soil for the culture of the religious
bacillus. It is the same with all classes--merchants, peasants,
labourers and aristocrats.

The working-classes, especially those of the large towns, usually offer
more resistance to the influence of religious fanatics, but in
Petrograd and Moscow they are apt to follow the general current. Lack
of space forbids us to study in all their picturesque details the birth
and growth of religious sects in these surroundings. We must confine
ourselves to one of the more recent manifestations--that of the
mysterious "spiritual Christians."

In 1893, a man named Michael Raboff arrived in St. Petersburg. Peasant
by birth, carpenter by trade, he immediately began to preach the tenets
of his "spiritual Christianity." He became suspect, and with his
friend Nicholas Komiakoff was deported to a far-distant neighbourhood;
but in spite of this his seed began to bear fruit, for the entire
district where he and Komiakoff were sent to work was soon won over to
the new religion. The director himself, his wife, and all his workmen
embraced it, and though the workshops were closed by the police, the
various members distributed themselves throughout the town and
continued to spread Raboff's "message." Borykin, the master-carpenter,
took employment under a certain Grigorieff, and succeeded in converting
all his fellow-workers. Finally Grigorieff's house was turned into a
church for the new sect, and an illiterate woman named Vassilisa became
their prophetess. Under the influence of the general excitement, she
would fall into trances and give extravagant and incomprehensible
discourses, while her listeners laughed, danced and wept ecstatically.
By degrees the ceremonial grew more complex, and took forms worthy of a
cult of unbalanced minds.

At the time when the police tried to disperse the sect it possessed a
quite considerable number of adherents; but it died out in May, 1895,
scarcely two years after its commencement.

The "spiritual Christians" called themselves brothers and sisters, and
gave to Raboff the name of grandfather, and to the woman Vassilis