The Samokreshchentsy ("Self-Baptizers") are one of the priestless accords (bespopovtsy) within Old Belief, which practiced the self-administered (lay) performance of the sacrament of baptism. In the Nizhny Novgorod area the accord was active in the 19th and 20th centuries; its local center was in the selo (a larger village) of Tolba in Sergachsky District.[1]

Doctrine and Practice

The Samokreshchentsy belong to the priestless branch of Old Belief, which holds that after Patriarch Nikon's reform the church lost grace and the clergy lost the right to perform the sacraments. Unlike most priestless accords, the Samokreshchentsy did not reject the sacrament of baptism as such, but performed it through the efforts of laypeople — hence the name.[2] The accord was divided into a number of smaller branches: the Srednikovtsy, Temnovertsy, and Chistyakovtsy split off from it; the Samokreshchentsy-dyrniki ("hole-men") called themselves "Novokreshchentsy" ("New Baptizers") in a number of regions and were divided into Temnovertsy and Svetlovertsy.[2]

In the Nizhny Novgorod Area

In the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate the Samokreshchentsy were classed among the "most harmful sects": in the mid-19th century their communities operated in the Chernorechye area — in the villages of Chernoretskaya Volost in Balakhna Uyezd. In 1850 the survey of the governorate's schismatic communities was conducted by Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov (pen name Andrey Pechersky), an official for special assignments; the information he gathered went into his works "Census of the Schismatics" and "Report on the Current State of the Schism in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate for 1854." According to his data, the Samokreshchentsy, together with the Begunы ("Runners"), openly performed their rites in the villages of Chernoretskaya and Mysovskaya Volosts, taking advantage of the remoteness of these places from the district center and the infrequent visits of the zemstvo police.[1]

The local center of the Nizhny Novgorod Samokreshchentsy was the selo of Tolba in Sergachsky District; the accord bore the popular name "Fyokla's Faith." The community's preceptor was Aleksandr Mikheevich Zapyantsev.[1]

Spread to Other Regions

Outside Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, the Samokreshchentsy were widespread among the Semeyskie Old Believers of Transbaikalia. According to 1911 data, Verkhneudinsk Uyezd had 474 Samokreshchentsy (together with the Srednikovtsy, Temnovertsy, and Chistyakovtsy who had split off from them); their communities were located in Kuytun, Kunaley, Tarbagatay, Desyatnikovsky, Nadeinsky, Nizhnetaletsky, and a number of other villages.[2]

Sources

  1. dzer.ru — Old Believers in Chernorechye — Dzerzhinsk Time
  2. семейские.рф — Bespopovtsy
  3. topwar.ru — FSB: The Weapons Used by the Attackers on Crocus City in the Moscow Region Were Supplied by Batalkhadzhi Followers
  4. azbyka.ru — VII. Brief Information on Existing and Former Schisms, Heresies, Sects, Newest Rationalist Teachings, etc., Handbook for Clergy and Church Servants.…
  5. национальнаяполитика.рф — Christianity
  6. komovsky.ru
Materials from the articles were used (1)

Old Believers in the Nizhny Novgorod Region