ions, and work upwards to supreme perfection. That of a Christ
on earth becomes an angel after death; that of an imperfect man
requires repeated incarnations. The body is the source of evil, and
the soul the source of good. The body, therefore, with all its
instincts and desires, must be dominated by the soul. "Divine men"
must abstain from meat and alcoholic drinks, and also from marriage in
the material sense. By a singular misapprehension of the idea of
dominating the body, they looked upon marriage as a spiritual
institution, believing that the soul of a man who had lived with his
wife in any but a fraternal relationship would enter that of a pig
after his death, and that children coming into the world through
marriage were the joy of Satan. But love between men and women should
exist outside the bonds of marriage, the sins of the flesh being then
redeemed by the virtues of the spirit. Adultery was thus tolerated,
and even held in high honour, by many branches of the sect, who
believed that the vulgar relations between the sexes were thus
spiritually purified, and that men and women who loved under these
conditions were like the doves and turtle-doves favoured by heaven.
They avoided having children, and abortion was not only tolerated but
encouraged.

Rasputin, who borrowed largely from the doctrines of the "divine men,"
made great use of this strange idea of "spiritual love" in bringing
about the triumph of debauchery in the highest ranks of Russian society.

The multiplicity of "Christs" caused some regrettable
misunderstandings, and at times actual duels took place. The
difficulty was resolved, however, by some of the churches in admirably
simple fashion--for, in spite of all, many of these strange people were
inspired by the Gospel teachings. The opponents exchanged blows, and
he who longest continued to offer his cheek to the other was considered
to have proved himself a superior Christ.

The _chlysty_ were divided into sections, each having its angels, its
prophets, and its Christ. They met in their "Jerusalem," which was
usually a cellar, and their services took place at night, the
participants all wearing white robes. The ceremonies consisted chiefly
of graceful movements--first a solo dance, then evolutions in pairs,
after which a cross would be formed by a large number of dancers, and
finally the "dance of David" took place, in imitation of the Biblical
King before the Ark. The dancers th