The Early History of the Hristovschina: From an Ecstatic Movement to a Confessionalized Sect

Abstract

This article considers the emergence of the sect of Khlysty. Sources that were not previously used in the study of this movement (investigative documents of Streltsy riots, the case of queen Evdokia, Major Glebov and others) allow a better reconstruction of the environment in which the shaping of the movement took place, its structure and early history. The author shows the stages of this formative process: the emergence of ecstatic and prophetic practices among the radical Old Believers in the “Vyaznikovsky forests”; the transfer of the center of the early movement to Moscow and the formation of the Moscow Khlyst community in connection with the Streltsy riots; emergence of the Khlysty sect; competition between various Khlysty communities and the identification of their local cult centers. The article also highlights the role of different leaders in the history of the sect, the use of extasis in the practice of self-immolations, the role of eschatological ideas in the teachings of Hristovschina, and the similarity of Khlysty’s sect and Old Believers of Netovshchina community.