How Russian Mormon polygamy differed from American one

In the late 1840s, almost simultaneously with the re-establishment of Mormon communities in the United States, Russian Mormons appeared in the Samara province. In 1872, their leader Ivan Kanygin was arrested. And it turned out that Russian and American Mormons at that time had only one thing in common - an addiction to polygamy.

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Unlike American Mormons, each of whom lived with several wives (in the picture), Russian Mormons lived with one wife, but physically lived with many

Photo: DIOMEDIA

The Khlysts willingly exchanged their zeal, persecuted by the authorities (in the picture), for a polygamous life in Mormon style

Photo: Kommersant / Rosinform

Evgeny Zhirnov

"Pale, with a tired face"

For a long time, the Russian Orthodox Church waged an ongoing, although not always successful, struggle to return its lost children, carried away by various new religious teachings, to its fold. Since the time of the fight against the Old Believers, vast experience has been accumulated in identifying apostates and their communities. Registers of sects were regularly compiled and manuals were issued for Orthodox missionaries, allowing them to accurately identify sectarians.

For example, one of them, published in 1911, told how to identify some of the most hated apostates by the church - the Khlysty, whose prayerful zeal often ended in sin, and the eunuchs, whose activities caused only slightly less rage:

“Sectarians usually have some kind of special appearance. They are usually thin, pale, with a tired face. Their gait is measured, even; their speech is quiet and insinuating. The Khlysty also have constant sighs, impetuous movements and nervous twitching of the body. As for In particular, eunuchs, they can be recognized by those features in their appearance that are a consequence of castration."

Missionaries were taught that whips were especially carefully camouflaged. After all, after discovery, they were forced to repent, and those who refused were sent to distant places, and sometimes thrown into prison for many years. Therefore, the Khlysty led an outwardly correct and righteous lifestyle and even went to church. The most important way to identify sectarians was considered to be conversations about faith. A sectarian, as the missionaries were taught, will definitely show his true colors during quiet intimate conversations.

About the views of Russian Mormons, whom some Russian theologians considered a kind of Khlysty, professor-archpriest T. I. Budkevich wrote:

“The founder of this sect was a fugitive peasant hiding from the soldiers in the Caucasus, a resident of the village of Aleksandrova Gaya, Ivan Grigoriev’s son Kanygin, who posed as an American subject. Samara Mormons are guided in their beliefs not by the books of Holy Scripture or Tradition, but by direct (imaginary, of course ) revelations of the Holy Spirit. They reject the possibility of the supernatural in the world, and therefore they understand the entire gospel history allegorically, they do not recognize Jesus Christ as the true Son of God, they deny the redemptive meaning of His death on the cross, they do not believe in His second coming to earth and mock the Christian. the doctrine of the Last Judgment. They claim that people existed even before Adam and that Adam was only the first sinner, which is why they consider the very name of Adam abusive and offensive, they call every evil person, even an evil horse and dog, after. At the death of a person, his body decays, and the soul ascends to God and receives from Him incorruptible flesh. Only the souls of sinners remain on earth and inhabit the bodies of animals. Since the Samara Mormons, like the Khlysty, believe in the pre-existence and transmigration of souls, they have Christs and Mother of God, and prophets and apostles."

"Forbade me from touching my wives"

The most remarkable thing was that missionaries received most of their knowledge about the beliefs and customs of Russian Mormons after Ivan Grigoriev’s son Kanygin was imprisoned in 1872. Hegumen Arseny (Alekseev), who was then a member of the Samara mission, in 1888 described his acquaintance with Kanygin as follows:

“Two prisoners were brought to us, tightly chained in iron. One of them was a tall and respectable man with a small, medium beard and dark brown hair. Refined cunning flashed across his pockmarked face; his eyes looked boldly and even shrewdly; in his body movements and in general in his address the self-confident swagger of a man accustomed to power was noticeable. This was the false Christ Ivan Grigoriev; the other prisoner, “the forerunner or confidant of Christ,” Ivan Artemyev, a peasant of the village of small Novouzenka, looked shorter and less prominent. , looked at Ivan Grigoriev."

The missionaries had soul-saving conversations with the two prisoners, but it was not the head of the Mormons who succumbed to their persuasion to return to the bosom of the mother church, but his confidante. It is difficult to say what had a greater effect on Ivan Artemyev—exhortations or the opportunity to be released immediately after repentance, but he gave in after the second meeting with the missionaries. And during a two-week probationary period in the monastery, he spoke a lot and willingly to Father Arseny about the life of Samara Mormons.

As Artemyev said, Kanygin was hiding from military service in Turkey near Mount Ararat, where he and other seekers of a new faith were waiting for the coming of Christ. Returning to his native place, he began to preach his new teaching, and he had many supporters who believed that this preacher could do whatever he wanted with their souls. At that time, he taught his followers to lead a strict and correct life.

In 1855, as Abbot Arseny recorded, Kanygin decided to go to Turkey again:

“Ivan Grigoriev commanded his followers to carry out long and strict fasts (for some he ordered them to eat nothing for two days); and he also forbade them to touch their wives. In conclusion, he ordered his followers to send him money to Turkey, “as the scripture says: for sins you need to pay Jerusalem to send."

In his absence, as the missionary noted, the Mormon community not only did not disintegrate, but also continued to live according to his precepts:

Every girl intending to get married must live with Grigoriev for a month or two in advance.

“His disciples began to diligently carry out what he commanded them... To cleanse themselves from their sins, they twice sent Ivan Grigoriev, or, as they said, to “Jerusalem,” a very respectable amount of money: the first time 15 thousand, in the second - 10 thousand rubles in banknotes. At the same time, they paid special attention to “vows” or alms. It consisted mainly in the fact that each new believer organized a dinner for the poor, the poor, etc., and did not spare it. They treated neither their sheep, nor calves, nor even adult cows and bulls. Each one tried to surpass his fellow believer in generosity. At the same time, of course, they did not forget other types of charity. Orthodox Christians who were weak in faith... were seduced by the apparently pious life of new and spiritual Christians, especially by the free treats, and hurried to join their ranks."

During Kanygin's absence, an attempt was made to take his place as the leader of the community, but its senior members did not accept the impostor. They, however, changed the order during prayers - they started jumping during prayers, for example. But the returning mentor quickly stopped this initiative.

“I started taking from rich people”

“In 1858,” wrote abbot Arseny, “after a three-year stay in Turkey, Ivan Grigoriev appeared in Orlov Gai and gathered his followers here. He did not like much in his sect. He called jumping and clapping his hands a “wild fever” and ordered stop them completely."

In addition, most of the community members who spoke to him complained about the elderly who made their righteous life unbearable:

“These latter imposed unbearable fasts on them and ordered husband and wife to separate and not have marital intercourse, but to live like brother and sister. These complaints were partly unfair: Ivan Grigoriev himself ordered not to touch the wives before his departure to Turkey, and the old people only supported this will of his."

Kanygin actively took up reforming his community. First of all, in organizational terms:

“Ivan Grigoriev chose 18 respected elders, named them apostles, bishops and presbyters, and assigned them parishes.”

Then he took up the financial side of things:

“The Grigorievs laid the foundation for a public chest or circle. From its sums it was supposed to be taken: for hiring hunters for military service (instead of community members - “History” ), for handouts to the right people from the Orthodox, for the maintenance of “preachers of the Word of God”, for issuing for some reason, his ruined followers and the poor of them in need (both of them, however, had to pay for this later, if only the need passed them, if they recovered), etc. It was decided to put fines into the mug along with voluntary donations money for sins, in the assessment of which Grigoriev was guided, in addition to their comparative severity, by the degree of wealth of the sinner. Instead of money, women could bring products of their own hands, which were converted into money and brought into the circle. Four old men were assigned to the social circle, who were entrusted with guarding it. and with whose consent the expenditure of its sums was to be made.”

At first, the public treasury was replenished sluggishly and reluctantly. Community members donated no more than three to five kopecks. But their leader knew what and how to provoke them. At the next prayer meeting, he announced that those who give little are deviating from their new true faith. After all, when they were in the old church, they bought candles, gave money for icons, donated not to God, but to man-made idols. And now they spare money for the true God. Members of the community, as abbot Arseny wrote from the words of Ivan Artemyev, “came to their senses”:

“Empty with each other, they hurried to put rubles and tens of rubles into the mug; after a year, according to Ivan Artemyev, it had accumulated, according to Ivan Artemyev, as much as 100,000 rubles in banknotes, “because there were many believers,” so notes Ivan Artemyev to explain the enormity this figure."

To cleanse themselves of their sins, they twice sent Ivan Grigoriev a very respectable amount of money

The next step was the transfer of community money for personal use. Kanygin began to convince his supporters that their main defense before God was he. Therefore, one must sacrifice for sins to Jerusalem, that is, to him.

“Easy prey,” wrote the abbot, “only further strengthened Ivan Grigoriev’s love of money. He took measures to increase the already enormous amount of sacrificial money. The main measure was to increase taxes on sins. He began to take especially much from rich people. used to say: “You are a family man and rich and not without sin. You are not ashamed to give 100, 200 and 300 rubles for your sins: you know that I must intercede with my heavenly Father for every sin of yours."

But I wanted more and more money. And for this, there had to be even more people in the community who should sin as much as possible. At first, Kanygin allowed the use of alcohol and himself set an example for his followers. And then he decided to make his community even more attractive to converts.

"Had two concubines"

Kanygin began to explain that couples married in a church marriage, without love, live incorrectly and contrary to the will of God. You need to be with someone with whom you are connected in spirit.

“Between husband and wife,” he taught, “very often there is no love and harmony. It is fitting for you to be married not by a man, but by God, because you came out of darkness into His wonderful light. So, where the spirit leads, there you sit down. Now you need to stick joint to joint and bone to bone."

The people present at this sermon sat in pairs with whomever they wanted, and their spiritual director told them to multiply. True, in order to preserve the household, he ordered husbands and wives to continue living under the same roof, and for physical cohabitation to choose a mate with the help of the spirit.

The new order attracted many new members to the community. First of all, tired of the endless persecution of the whips. After all, polygamy in the Mormon way did not cause such a violent reaction from the authorities as the Khlysty sin.

Kanygin himself began to show his followers an example of a new bodily life and, guided by the spirit, chose for himself the most beautiful girl from the community. Then his appetite, as Ivan Artemyev said, increased:

“Every girl intending to get married must first live with Grigoriev for a month or two, then enter into marriage, which in this case was blessed by him himself.”

This did not prevent him from acquiring more or less permanent girlfriends in life.

“In the last years of his life, Ivan Grigoriev had two concubines, whom he called “spiritual wives”, “theotokos”, “goddesses” and “prophets”. One goddess lived as Grigoriev’s wife for quite a long time, so that she had three children from him. But when he became somewhat tired of her, he found himself a new, young goddess, without completely abandoning the old one.”

The sweet life of the head of Russian Mormons ended completely unexpectedly for him. The authorities, who had turned a blind eye to his art for a long time, decided to put a stop to his activities. Most likely, he simply ran out of money, which previously paid for the tolerant attitude of officials towards his tricks. Continuous payments "to Jerusalem" brought Mormon families almost to complete ruin. And after he once ordered not to plow or sow for one year, they became extremely poor, and there was nothing left to take from them. After the hungry year, a considerable number of followers went over to the former students who left Kanygin, who formed new Mormon communities. So he could only remember the time when he rode across the steppes in a troika, reclined on expensive carpets, surrounded by beauties and ate deliciously.

The ending of Kanygin’s life turned out to be quite logical and natural.

“Ivan Grigorievich died,” wrote abbot Arseny, “mysteriously and, it seems, a violent death. Having become quite bored in prison, he expressed a desire to convert to Orthodoxy and marry the “younger goddess.” The latter circumstance was especially disliked by the elder goddess, who had three children, the goddesses took turns bringing food and gifts to the prison. After the “cakes” of the eldest of them, one day Grigoriev suddenly fell ill, and he suddenly died. The younger goddess, convinced that his rival, the elder goddess, had poisoned him, initiated legal proceedings against the latter. “The investigation began, Grigoriev’s body was opened, but the case ended without any consequences for the accused or the accuser.”

“I found myself a young goddess, without completely abandoning the old one”