35. Permian. The Permians, occupying the seat of the ancient Bjarmaland, are divided into three divisions — the Permians proper, composed of about .50,000 souls, partial- ly Christianized, but without the Scriptures in their lan- guage except the Gospel of St. Matthew, which had been executed for nrince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, not with a view to circulation, but to aid linguistic studies. The Sirenian and Wotjak will be menlioued iu the proper place.
36. Persian.
37. Polish. See Slavonic Vkrbions.
See Slavonic Veksionb.
38. Ponmanian,
39. P%issian.
40. tiamoyitian.
41. Slavonic.
42. Servian..
43. Sirenian. This dialect is spoken by the Sireuians, another section of the I'ermians ; their number is about 70,000. The Russian Bible Society translated the Gospel of St. Matthew into their language, of which 1400 copies were printed iu 1823.
44. Swedish. See Scandinavian Veksions.
45. Si/riac in Hebrew Characters.
46. Transcaiicasian Tartar.
47. Tcheremissian is a dialect spoken by a people dwell- ing along the banks of the Volga and Kama, in the gov- ernments of Kazan and Simbirsk. The ccmiplete New Test. ai)peared in the Tcheremissian languaire in lS2n. being printed at the expense of the Russian Bible Society during the reign of the emperor Alexander. While the work was in progress, the archbishop of Kazan collected a number of the people and read to them from one of the books of the New Test, to ascertain whether it was intel- ligible to them. The people wept aloud for joy that they had received the Word of Jesus in their own tongue. Au edition of 3000 copies was printed, l)Ht the dissolution of the Russian Bible Society that followed brought the work lo a termination.
48. Tchuwaschian is spoken by a people inhabiting both sides of the Volga, numbering about 670,000 individuals, partially Christianized. In 1817 an attempt was made by the Russian Bible Society at Simbirsk to translate the New Test. In ISIS the Foitr Gospels were translated, and two years later the entire Test., under the care of the arch- bishop of Kazan, to whose diocese the people belong. The edition, consisting of 5000 copies, was printed in Russian characters.
49. Voimlian is spoken In the governments of Perm and Tobolsk, in a district between the Tobol, the Beresov, the Obi, and the Uralian Mountains. A translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew into Vogulian is contained in the collection of prince Lucien Bonaparte.
50. Wotjakian. The third section of the Permian race consists of the Wotjaks, about 200,000, located in the LFp- per Kama, and generally Christianized. In 1820, Lewan- dowski, a learned Woljak, commenced a translation of the New Test. Tlie Russian Bible Society encouraged him to continue; and thus under the care and ins|iection of the Viatka Branch Bible Society, the gospels of SS. Matthew and Mark were completed duiing the year 1823. From the first sheets of these gospels some portions were read ill their churches, and it is related that the people demand- ed to hear more, but a change came; the Russian society became extinct, and all its printing operations were nec- essarily suspended.
Besides the Annual Reports of the British and For- eif/H Bible Society, see The Bible of Eveiy Land, but es- pecially Dalton, Das Gebet des Herrn in den Sprachen Russlunds (St. Petersburg, 1870). (B. P.)
Russian Sects. Religious sects abound in Rus- sia, and under the most absolute moiiarchj' in Europe we have the singular phenomenon of large bodies of dissenters defying the sovereign's power, and living in open secession from the National Church. All of these sects are included under the general name of JJaskol- iiiks (q. v.), i. e. Schismatics. The RaskolniUs are di- vided into two great branches, the Popoftchins and the Bezpopoftchins, the former having priests and the lat- ter none. (For much of the following article we are indebted to the Rev. F. W. Flocken, missionary to Bul- garia.)
I. The Popoftchins are divided into five principal sects.
1. The Diaconoftchins. This sect was started in 1706 at Veska, under the leadership of Alexander the Deacon, from whom it takes its name.
2. The Ejiefunoftchim (q. v.).
3. The Peremayannftchins (q. v.).
4. The Starovertzi (men of the ancient faith) is the name assumed by the majority of those who refused to acquiesce in the reforms introduced in the 17th cen- turj% especially the revision of the Scriptures and the liturgical books effected by the patriarch Nikon (A.D. 1().54). The following are the points which, they strenuously maintain, justify their separation from the National Church : a. The service should be according to the old books before their alteration by Nikon, b. In the Creed the article on the Holy Ghost should read, "And in the Holy Ghost, the true and living Lord." c. The Hallelujah should be sung only twice,
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RUSSIAN SECTS
not three times; after the second adding "Glorj' to God." (/. The processions around the churches should go with the course of the sun, and not against it. e. That the sign of the cross should be made by unit- ing the fourth and fifth fingers, and not the first three fingers, with the thumb. /. To acknowledge, respect, and adore only the eight-ended cross, g. The name of Jesus is to be written and pronounced Isus, and not Jesus.
There were other and still smaller points of dispute,
and the tendency to fanaticism so universally foinid in Russian dissent did not fail to appear among them. They were persecuted under Peter I (A.D. 1G89-1725), who laid double taxes on them ; hut his successors, es- pecially Catharine II and Alexander I, have adopted a milder policy with tlie hope of winning them back to the Eastern Church. But little success has attended , these attempts at reconciliation.