Malakans, or Milk-eaters (Russian Molocani, i. c. those who, contrary to the rule of the Eastern Church, take milk on fast-days), is the name of a religious sect in the Russo-Greek Church. The name Malakans is a term of contempt apj)lied to these religionists, and orig- inated, as the word Shaker, ]\Iethodist, etc., among those who did not approve of the movement. They them- selves like to be called Gospel-Men. They were first brought into notice bj' the zeal of a Prussian prison- er of war, about the middle of last century. He set- tled in a village of southern Russia, and spent his life in explaining the Scriptures to the villagers, and in visit- ing from house to house. After his death they ac- knowledged him as the founder of their new religious belief. The Malakans acknowledge the Bible as the Word of God, and the Trinity of the (^.odhead. They admit the fall of Adam, and the resurrection of Christ. They teach that Adam"s soul only, and not his body, was made after God's image. The Ten Commandments are received among them. Idolatry and the worship of images are forbidden. It is considered sinful to take an oath, and the observance of the Sabbath is strictly en- joined ; so much so that, like many of tlie Oriental sects, they devote Saturday evening to iireparation for the Sabbath. They are firm believers in 1 he Millennium, and are improperly described as followers of the fanatic Te- renti BelorefT, who was, in fact, a member of their body. He announced in 1R33 the coming of the Lord within two years and a half. INIany IMalakans, in consequence, abandoned their callings, and wailed the event in pray- er and fasting. BelorctT jirTsuaded liimself that, like Elijah, he should ascend to heaven on a certain day in a chariot of fire. Thousands of the I\Iilk-eaters came from aU parts of Russia to witness this miracle. BelorefF ap- peared, majestically seated in a chariot, ordered the mul-
titude to prostrate themselves, and then, opening his arms like an eagle spreading his wings, he leajit into the air, but, dropping down on the heads of the gaping multitude, was instantly seized and dragged oil' to pris- on as an imposter. He died soon after, no doubt in a state of insanity, declaring himself to be the prophet of God. But many of the Malakans still believe in his di- vine mission. A considerable number of his followers aftenvards emigrated to Georgia, and settled in sight of Mount Ararat, expecting the Millennium. They spend whole days and nights in prayer, and have all their goods in common. See Millenakians in Russia. These milk-people deny the sanctity and use of fasts, holding that men who have to work require good food, to be eaten in moderation all the year round — no day stinted, no day in excess. Thej^ prefer to live by the laws of nature, asking and giving a reason for even.'- thing they do. They set their faces against monks and popes. In Russia they suflfered sore persecution under the late emperor Nicholas. Sixteen thousand men and women -(vere seized by the police, arranged in gangs, and driven with rods and thongs across the drearj' steppes and yet more dreary mountain crests into the Caucasus. In that fearful day a great many of the Milk- eaters fled across the I'ruth into Turkey, where the Sidtan gave them a village called Tulcha for their resi- dence. The Methodist mission at that place, under the leadership of Mr. I'locken, labored among them for some time ; at present, however (1872), the mission is discon- tinued. See Dixon, Free Russia, p. 138 sq. ; IMarsden, History of Christian Chm-ches and Sects, ii, 234: ; Le Ras- kol, Fssai historique et critique sur les sectes reliqievses de la Russe (Paris, 1854, 8vo). See Russia. (J. H. W.) Malan, Abrahaji Hemri C^sar, D.D., one of the most noted of Swiss I'rotestant divines of our day, was born at Geneva Jidy 7, 1787. When but an infant of three years INIalan exhibited great powers of intel- lectual superiority, and the hopes which he awakened while yet an inmate of the cradle by securing a prize for reading at the Geneva Academy were more than realized in his manhood and hoary age. The poverty of liis parents induced him to turn aside from an intel- lectual career to which he so much inclined, and to en- ter the mercantile profession at eighteen, but he soon returned again to his former mode of life, and decided upon the ministrj'. In 1810 he was consecrated for this sacred work by the Venerable Compagiiie, or Presbytery of Geneva, and he at once made a name for himself as a pidpit orator of unusual eloquence. He was appointed preacher at the Geneva cathedral, and from the puljiit whence formerly the immortal Calvin had thundered forth the unalterable decrees of the Holy One. Malan now tauglit the Word of God in a most brilliant orators-. Unfortunately, however, the spiritual life built up liy Calvin and his successors in the hearts of their forefa- thers had been sufTcred to die out, and in the hearts of the hearers of Malan, as well as in the heart of the preacher himself, there was a lukewarmness, aye a cold- ness, to all religion — rationalism sat enthroned in the pulpit and the pew of Geneva; the forms of the Church founded by Calvin remained, but the spiritual life had dejiarted. The young preacher endeavored to infuse the vitality of his own fervid spirit into the lifeless forms and the latitudinarian creed of the '•Venerable Compagnie," but in vain ; both the preacher and the auditor lacked that most essential element of a Chris- tian life, the iiossession of the truly orthodox belief and trust in a divine Saviour. In the midst of his de- spair JIalan was brought under the influence of those noble-hearted Scotchmen, the Haldane brothers, and by them and our late Dr. John M. IMason (q. v.), and jMat- thias Bruen, was led to see the error of a faith built on a hiunan Saviour, and brought to acknowledge the di- vinity of Jesus the Christ. From this time forward Malan became a champion of the orthodox faith. The first opportunity to display his ability as a polemic he found against the Venerable Compagnie itself. Tliis