Скопцы и Царство Небесное: Скопческий путь к искуплению

by Laura Engelstein, Лора Энгельштейн, Вадим Михайлин (Translator)

Книга известного ученого, профессора истории Йельского университета (США) описывает быт и мировоззрение русской секты, члены которой `сделали сами себя скопцами для Царства Небесного` (От Матфея 19:12). Возникнув в XVIII веке, секта дожила до советского периода, сохраняя свою веру и обряды вопреки упорному преследованию. Работа Энгельштейн вводит читателей в контекст важнейших современных дискуссий о групповой и индивидуальной идентичности, о формировании культурных границ и норм, а также социокультурных последствий их нарушений.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Russia, Christianity

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Laura Engelstein is an American historian who specializes in Russian and European history. She served as Henry S. McNeil Professor Emerita of Russian History at Yale University and taught at Cornell University and Princeton University.

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engelstein's book is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive look at the Skoptsy that exists in the English language. She does an excellent job of providing a balanced, nuanced look at the sect that doesn't just focus on the lurid details of castration (though there's plenty of that). Much of the book is translated primary source documents that are fascinating to read. Most importantly, Engelstein treats the Skoptsy as sincere believers, and even though much of their beliefs were inconsistent and strange she portrays them as sincere and thoughtful. Such a solid treatment of religious believers can be hard to find, especially for a group as strange as the Skoptsy.

My only complaint is that the book repeats itself, and a few times I felt like I was re-reading something that had already been covered.

[Christopher Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is certainly conversant with her subject but I found the book rather repetitious. There's only so much one can say about the cult, their practices,and the persecutions they suffered under various regimes over 200 years. The documentation and extracts from personal stories are impressive but the book did not completely satisfy my curiosity about these God-fearing if misguided peoples, a curiosity that stemmed from a mention in a biography of Peter the Great. The single biggest question that I did not find an answer to was "Why?" I read intensively for about a hundred pages and skimmed the rest.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially picked up this book and looked at the photos of the Skoptsy's self mutilation. I then sat down to browse the book at greater depth. I didn't read it cover to cover (read: I read perhaps one or two chapters) but I really enjoyed Laura's tone in talking about a group of people that were perhaps greatly misunderstood. Engelstein made a beautiful comment that I have never forgotten, “we must not cast the shadow of our own distress on the story of the Skoptsy. Their physical suffering was something they willingly embraced.”

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty fascinating look at a pretty fascinating sect, contextualising both the Skoptsy themselves and nonfiction writing about the Skoptsy in their times and places. If you’re not into reading about religious trials this probably isn’t the book for you, but if you, like me, read more about heresy trials than is probably good for you, it’s a good read. Also a fairly fascinating look at how the rhetoric of antisemitism was used to demonise Christian outgroups through implicit (or explicit) comparison to Jews in the Russian Empire and in the 1930s Soviet Union.

[Emil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I know it's impossible to write a history book without letting your own personal editorializing and embellishments slip in, but at the very least you could try to do it less. Makes one wish they could just read the source material.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

you ever love God so much you chop off your dick and balls?

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that’s good to read before going on a first date with a woman, preferably a blind date. That way, when over dinner she asks, “You reading anything interesting?” you can honestly answer in the affirmative. “Yes, in fact I am. I am reading about the Skoptsy, a heretical sect of Christian dissenters who castrated themselves in hopes of achieving liberation from earthly appetites. Men who merely cut off their testicles were called receivers of the ‘Minor Seal,’ while those who cut off their penises were recipients of the main or ‘Major Seal.’ Would you like to have a glass of wine before dinner? I’m thinking maybe a merlot.”
The book has other things to recommend it, aside from its utility as an icebreaker when trying to impress members of the fairer sex. It is a well-researched and balanced account of a religious movement that, while extreme when viewed from the outside, is also undeniably fascinating. It is also one of which I was totally ignorant before reading the book, and one I feel fairly well-informed about having now read it. And considering it is only a shade over two-hundred pages, that is no small achievement.
Part of that has to be put down to Laura Engelstein, the rare academic who can rummage through mountains of archival material to find the most essential bits. No doubt she strained her eyes and got more than a few papercuts, but we owe her for doing yeowoman’s work. Not only that, but she fashions these piecemeal parts together into not just a work of scholarship, but a compelling story. The picture that emerges of the Skoptsky is a complex one, and it was received by the Russian people in the 19th and early 20th century with mixed reactions. Some admired their fanatical devotion, while others considered them bizarre cultists and—like the Jews consigned to the Pale Settlement—avaricious and hostile to the general peasantry. Because the Skoptsy were without issue, they tended to have a lot of extra disposable income. And because they weren’t chasing women or carousing in pubs, they had a lot of time to invest said-money. Thus, they were both admired for their thrift and prosperity but also envied and distrusted for what some perceived as their cunning.
Regardless of their general alienations and isolation—sometimes literally imposed via exile courtesy of Tsarist edict—the Skoptsy’s fortunes rose and fell with the rest of their countrymen. They endured the harsh dictates of their rulers and suffered through the early years of communism. When famine claimed the land, many of their number starved. And of course since they were not fruitful and did not multiply, it was only a matter of time until their numbers dwindled, and their movement died. Maybe there are a few left out there, or even an entire sleeper cell of Skoptsy, waiting to convert others to their castrated ranks?
Perish the thought.
Recommended. With photos.