Philippons
The Philipponen (also Philipponen , Filiponen, Philippowzy, Filippowzy ) are a direction of the priestless old Orthodox (Bespopowzy) , which goes back to a Russian monk named Philipp.
The Philippons were considered the most radical group among the old Orthodox Raskolniki, as they rejected the oath, marriage and prayer for the tsar and, in their radicalism, went to the point of self-immolation. In the (German) literature, however, there is often no clear distinction between these Russian Filipinos and the less radical tendencies such as B. the Pomorzy (existing today as the Old Orthodox Pomoric Church ) and the Fedossejewzy in Poland and East Prussia .
The latter settled mainly in Masuria , where they founded entire villages or closed settlements. In 1823, the Prussian authorities also welcomed the Philippones and settled them on the Dusssee ( Jezioro Duś in Polish ) near Eckertsdorf ( Wojnowo in Polish ), where one of their monasteries is still located today. During the 19th century their religious views approached those of the Pomorzy.
The religious community was founded by the Novgorod Strelizen Photius (* 1675), who became a monk and was called Philip as such. According to him, there was only one tsar, namely the tsar in heaven, and only one hierarchy, namely the hierarchy of angels. The earthly Tsarina Elisabeth was not very open to such teachings . The persecution that soon began (initially in the form of a doubled tax) drove Philip's followers into the wilderness or into exile - and into religious extremism, especially since Philip taught: “Only self-exemption is the way to bliss. Only fire can cleanse the souls from the stains of this world that has fallen into the hands of the Antichrist . ”The prophet himself consequently set fire to himself when a father, enthusiastic about such words, gave himself over to the flames in a wooden hut with his family for the purpose of saving souls. The example caught on and there was an epidemic of self-immolation. As soon as the Tsarina's soldiers approached, the Philippons set fire to themselves: 240 followers burned in the vicinity of Kargopol , the center of the community, 400 in other places, 600 in Nizhny Novgorod and 3,000 in the Olonez district . Philip was also among the victims.
The Philipponians subsequently spread across the borders of Russia to Finland , Lithuania , Poland and East Prussia . But not everyone who was driven into exile as a Philippon was actually a follower of Philip: As mentioned, Tsarina Elisabeth imposed a double poll tax on the followers, with the result that the tax revenue could easily be increased through denunciation, slander and pure suspicion .
The community of the "Brothers and Sisters of the Red Death" echoes the self-immolations on the threshold of the 20th century. In the vicinity of Kargopol , 862 of them met on October 31st July. / November 13th 1900 greg. to seek bliss in the flames. The authorities learned of the plan, but for more than a hundred of the supporters, the incoming aid came too late.
literature
- Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon. 14th edition. F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig / Berlin / Vienna 1894–1896, vol. 13, p. 91f.
- A. Rammelmeyer: On the origin and language of the Philippons in East Prussia: Ost u. West. In: Essays on Slavic Philology 1 (1966), pp. 113–122.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Bernhard Stern: History of Public Morality in Russia; Culture, superstition, manners and customs. Own investigations and collected reports. Berlin 1907, Vol. 1, pp. 250-252 digitized
- ^ Paul Tabori: The art of folly. Philadelphia 1961, pp. 18f
