The Khlysty were an underground Spiritual Christian movement in Russia, known from the late seventeenth century onward, whose members called themselves People of God. Rejecting the priesthood and sacred books of the Orthodox Church, they sought direct possession by the Holy Spirit through ecstatic dancing and singing called radeniye. Persecuted by church and state, they gave rise to the Skoptsy and were wrongly rumored to count Rasputin as a member.
Khlysty at a glance
| Name | Khlysty, Khlysts (Russian: whips); self-name People of God |
|---|---|
| Origin | Central Russia, 17th century (by tradition 1645, Kostroma region) |
| Traditional founder | Danila Filippov |
| Worship | Radeniye: ecstatic dancing, singing and prophecy |
| Offshoot | Skoptsy (late 18th century) |
| Status | Largely extinct by the late 20th century |
Name and origins
The name Khlysty is usually explained as an outsiders' corruption of khristy or khristovshchina, referring to the sect's many "Christs," though it also means "whips" and was linked by opponents to reports of self-flagellation. Members called themselves Lyudi Bozhii, People of God, or simply Christians.
According to the sect's own oral tradition, in 1645 the peasant Danila Filippov of the Kostroma region proclaimed himself God the Father incarnate, threw sacred books into the Volga and gave his followers twelve commandments, including abstinence from alcohol and from marriage. His disciple Ivan Suslov was venerated as a Christ. No written evidence confirms these stories, and the first secure references to such groups come from later in the seventeenth century, in the troubled period after the schism of the Old Believers.
Beliefs
The Khlysty believed that the Holy Spirit could descend upon ordinary people, as it had on Jesus at his baptism. A man or woman filled with the Spirit could become a "Christ" or "Mother of God," and each congregation, called a ship, might be led by such figures. This teaching of repeated incarnation of the divine set them sharply apart from Orthodox doctrine.
Because the Spirit spoke directly, priests, sacraments and even scripture were considered unnecessary. Members were expected to live ascetically, avoiding alcohol, tobacco and often meat, and to renounce sexual relations, sometimes remaining in formal marriages lived as spiritual partnerships. Outwardly many continued to attend Orthodox services to avoid detection.
Radeniye worship
The center of Khlysty religious life was the radeniye, a night gathering in which members, often dressed in white, sang hymns and spiritual songs and then began to dance or whirl in circles until they reached ecstasy. In that state individuals prophesied, spoke in unknown tongues or delivered messages believed to come from the Spirit. The meeting often ended with a shared meal.
Hostile clergy and officials accused the sect of orgies following the dances. Modern historians treat these charges cautiously: they came mostly from opponents, informers and interrogations under pressure, and they echo accusations made against many secret religious groups in history. The ascetic rules of the sect point in the opposite direction, even if practice varied between communities.
Persecution and offshoots
The Russian state and Church regarded the Khlysty as dangerous heretics. Major investigations in the 1730s and 1740s led to hundreds of arrests and sentences of exile, and in some cases execution, and the remains of revered leaders were exhumed and burned. Persecution continued intermittently in the nineteenth century.
In the late eighteenth century Kondraty Selivanov, who had moved in Khlysty circles, founded the Skoptsy, who sought to enforce chastity through castration. Other groups, such as the New Israel movement, also grew from the Khlysty milieu. Under Soviet rule remaining communities were suppressed, and by the late twentieth century only scattered groups survived.
How historians study the sect
Research on the Khlysty is difficult because the movement was secret and left few writings of its own. Much of what is known comes from police files, church investigations and the accounts of converts who later denounced their former communities. Ethnographers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries collected Khlysty hymns, which reveal a rich poetry of the Spirit, the heavenly ship and the suffering of the righteous. Modern historians read the older hostile sources critically and place the sect within a wider world of Russian popular religion, including Old Believers, Dukhobors and Molokans, where ordinary people sought direct experience of God outside the official Church.
Rasputin and the Khlysty in culture
The Siberian holy man Grigori Rasputin was repeatedly accused of being a secret Khlyst, and church authorities investigated the claim in the early twentieth century without proving it. Historians today generally conclude that he was not a member, though the rumor fed hostile portraits of him. The sect also fascinated Russian writers and thinkers of the Silver Age: Andrei Bely's novel The Silver Dove (1909) depicts a mystical sect modeled on such groups. For comparative context see the dualist Bogomils and the broader history of mysticism.
Related entries
Frequently asked questions
What does Khlysty mean?
The word literally means whips in Russian, and opponents connected it with reports of ritual flagellation. Many scholars think it is a distortion of khristy, meaning Christs, because the sect venerated living people believed to embody Christ. Members themselves preferred the name People of God.
Was Rasputin a member of the Khlysty?
He was accused of it during his lifetime, and the Orthodox Church looked into the allegation, but no proof was found. Most historians conclude that Rasputin was not a member, although his unconventional piety and the rumors about him made the charge politically useful to his enemies.
What was radeniye?
Radeniye was the central worship practice of the Khlysty: a gathering, usually at night, where members sang hymns and then danced or whirled in circles until they reached ecstasy. In that state some prophesied or spoke in tongues, which they understood as the Holy Spirit speaking through them.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.