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    It may possibly too , and I hope it will , excite , the attention of some reader able to supply us with more detailed information as to the origin and principles of a new sect that has had the courage to assert its religious

    liberty under the most despotic European government . No public record , I believe , \ et exists of the tenets of these Christians , except that it is intimated . that they resemble the Pauliciens of the eighth century , described by Gibbon , and , if 1 am not

    mistaken , by Mosheim also . * We may infer , therefore , that they approach to the original Protestant churches You have very justly observed that the course prescribed by the Emperor of Russia in regard to these sectaries from his established

    church , is ( though in a milder form ) a resemblance of Trajan ' s celebrated letter to Pliny . Uber x . JEp . 98 .

    V . M . H . New Sect in the Crimea . A seel of Christians , deviating from the Greek Church , has sprung * up in the south-eastern parts of the Russian empire , and a curious Rescript has been issued by the Emperor Alexander , containing directions for its treatment . The Russian

    converts to the new faith are said to have been alread y driven from their homes , and placed in an insulated situation in order to prevent proselytism- They are called Duchoborzi : and the Rescript , which is addressed to the Military Governor of Cherson , is as follows : —

    Rescript to the Military Governor of Cherson . From your two representations to the Minister of Police respecting- the removing * of the Duchoborzi from the circle of Meletopolsk , in Tatiris , I perceive that you have been induced to such a representation by the reports you have received

    of the alleged biamable way of life , of the dangerous principles of the Society , and of their endeavour to diffuse them more and more . Upon this representation , and on the receipt of a Petition from the Duchoborzi to be protected from oppression , 1 have already ordered the Minister of the Police to collect circumstantial

    accounts of the affairs of the Duchoborzi , and consider it to be necessary to call to your mind the first beginning * and tbe cause of the removal of this sect from the Ukraine and other Governments into the circle of Meletopolsk , in Tauris . This removal was made ( as you may see from «• . * Not having Mosheim at hand to refer to , I cun only spenk from recollection .

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    my order given on the 525 th January 1802 to the Governor of New Russia , Miking Cbewsky , ) partly in consideration of their former distressed state , and partly to protect them from improper and unmerited mortifications on account of their reli gion * opinions . This sect is there sufficiently

    insufated to have no immediate communication with the other inhabitants , and they are thereby hindered from spreading- . The Government not having- received for many years any complaints from one side or the other , or other reports of disorders had every reason to suppose that the measures adopted were sufficient .

    * The departure of this sect from the true faith of the Greco-Russian Church is certainly a deviation which is founded on some erroneous representations of the true worship , and of the spirit of Christianity : but they are not without religion , for they

    seek for what is divine , thoug-b not with a rig'ht understanding * . And does it then become a Christian government to employ harsh and cruel means , torture , exile , &c . to bring- back to the bosom of the church those who have g-one astray ?

    The doctrine of the Redeemer , who came into the world to save the sinner , cannot be spread by restraint and punishment cannof serve for * the oppression of those who are to be led back into the paths of truth . The true faith can take root only with the blessing * of God , by

    conviction , instruction , mildness , and , above all , by g * ood example . Harshness never convinces , but inspires aversion . All the measures of severity exhausted upon the Duchoborzi in the course of thirty years , up to 1801 , were not able to extirpate this sect , but only increased the number of its adherents .

    All these circumstances sufficiently prove that a removal of the Duchoborzi is wholly out of the question , and that , on the contrary , they are to be protected from unmerited insults on account of the difference of their faith , and in the freedom of conscience , and that neither persecution

    nor constraint can be admitted . By being removed to another settlement they would be again placed in a hard situation , and be punished on a mere complaint , without examining the truth of the accusations , and without proof . And can the true church , if she desires to receive these strayed

    children into her bosom , approve of measures of persecution , which are so wholly inconsistent with the principles of her Chief , Christ the Redeemer ? It is only by following * this spirit , the desired

    spirit of true Christianity , that the object can be attained . I therefore recommend this colony to your special superintendence and particular care . Wifhou regarding false allegations , without p reconceived opinion , you will examine * nw

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    658 New Sect in the Crimea .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1817, page 658, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2470/page/18/