Egovists-Ilyins

Initial period. N. S. Ilyin

The founder of the Egovists movement was N. S. Ilyin, a professional military man who retired and settled in 1847 in the village of Baranchinsky in the Perm province as an inspector at the artillery factory there. Vividly interested in religious issues, Ilyin saw his task in uniting Judaism and the different branches of Christianity on the basis of the doctrine of universal brotherly love. Ilyin showed interest in German pietism , especially in the mystical works of Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling . Ilyin attached particular importance to the New Testament book of Revelation and the idea of ​​uniting all true believers. Ilyin gradually departed from Orthodoxy , and in 1850 wrote the religious and philosophical essay The Zion Message, containing the main provisions of the new religious teaching. Ilyin called his doctrine "evangelism" and heralded the impending battle between God and Satan and the division of mankind into those who, on trial, will be on the right ( church-glory. Right hand ) and left ( oshuyu ) from the throne of God. This idea gave its original name to a group of followers of Ilyin, which can still be found both in religious studies and in popular literature - "Descent Brotherhood." Ilyin’s followers referred to themselves as the Descent Brotherhood in the initial period of the community’s activity, and then adopted the name “Egovists”.

Soon, a circle of followers formed around Ilyin, among which S. Laletin stood out ^{[ who? ]} , wealthy merchants , former Old Believers , Volgin brothers ^{[ who? ]} and others. The emergence of a new “ heresy ” did not go unnoticed, and soon civil and ecclesiastical authorities initiated an investigation into the activities of the Destern Brotherhood. Ilyin and a number of his followers were accused of "seducing souls from Orthodoxy." Ilyin was exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery for "spiritual correction." The Solovetsky Monastery was the largest monastery prison of the time, but more than a dozen other monasteries throughout Russia performed the same functions. A well-known scholar of Russian religious disagreement, Prugavin noted in his work on monastery prisons that the conditions in them were often unbearable. In particular, the cells of the cells did not open in the Solovetsky Monastery, which made the air stale in them, the food was scarce and of poor quality, and the prisoners' contact with the outside world was extremely limited. Other followers of Ilyin were punished by removal from their posts, compulsion to church repentance, or transfer to service in remote places of the country.

Ilyin was imprisoned on Solovki from 1859 to 1873, and from 1873 to 1879 in the Savior Euthymius Monastery in Suzdal , after which he was released at the numerous requests of relatives and friends and due to his health deteriorated and sent to a settlement in Polangen (and then Mitau ) in Courland province under strict police supervision. This choice of place for settlement is explained by the desire of the authorities to protect the Orthodox population from the influence of Ilyin’s sermon, since he did not show repentance and a desire to return to Orthodoxy. Neither during his imprisonment in the monasteries, nor while living in the Courland province, Nikolai Ilyin did not stop writing compositions that set forth his teachings, and by all possible means transmit them to his followers, who treated Ilyin as the messenger of Yegova and the teacher of truth. Ilyin himself often signed his writings as the “World Illuminator,” as modern Ieginists often call him. Ilyin died in Mitava (now Jelgava, Latvia ) in 1890. The place of his burial is unknown. ^[2]

The Ilyo Egovists Before the Revolution

Even during the lifetime of Ilyin, thanks to the mass distribution of pamphlets , both by Ilyin and his followers, groups of Ilyins emerge in different parts of the Russian Empire . The Ural remained the center of the movement in pre-revolutionary times, but communities appear in Transcaucasia , the North Caucasus and Ukraine . In pre-revolutionary times, the Ilyin residents were periodically persecuted, often an administrative link is applied to them, including to Central Asia . In addition to exile, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Russians colonized parts of present-day Kazakhstan and northern Kyrgyzstan . Among them were the Yegho-Ilyinists, who soon discovered that the new places provided them with greater religious freedom than they had in Russia.

Yegovist Ilyinians during the Soviet period

The Ilyin residents perceived the 1917 revolution as a whole indifferently. Their creed forbids participation in military clashes and murder , however, immediately after the revolution, the Ilyinians counted on greater religious freedom. In 1939, the NKVD discovered and destroyed the secret center of the Ilyins in the city of Nizhny Tagil in the Urals. During the Soviet period of their history, the Ilyins remained a deeply underground movement, periodically subjected to harassment, arrest, and confiscation of religious literature. Often, young egovists refused military service , which entailed criminal prosecution . Nonetheless, the Yeghist Ilyinists never stopped distributing Ilyin's brochures, either clandestinely printed, or handwritten or printed using carbon paper . Iguilinists are not registered with the authorities.

In Soviet religious studies, there was a point of view according to which the Ilyo-Yeghovists are a part or branch of Jehovah's Witnesses ^[3] , but the Ilya themselves do not agree with this.

Elijah Yugovites Currently

Currently, a certain number of Iego-Yeghistists apparently continue to live in Central Asia . In the Kazakh and Russian press, there were often reports of consignments of Egyptian literature detained by the customs authorities of these countries when trying to import them from Kazakhstan to Russia. ^[4] In the Kazakh press, Iego-Yeghists are sometimes referred to as one of the “anti-social sectarian” organizations. ^[5] The current period of activity of the Yeghovists is marked by new forms of dissemination of religious literature, in particular, the active use of the Internet and the translation of Ilyin’s writings into different languages. Thus, the multilingual website of the Iego-Ilyinists http://svetoch.org is presented on the Internet, containing both Russian originals of many Ilyin brochures addressed to the general public, as well as their translations into English, German, Hebrew, Greek and Kyrgyz. Invitations to visit the site and learn more about Ilyin’s teachings periodically appear on forums and message boards in the Russian-language segment of the Internet.

The number of Ieginist Yeghovists is small, but there is no precise information on this subject, since the organization’s activities are quite closed. The Ilyin residents never publish or disseminate any data on their numbers, as well as on the internal life and activities of the communities. There is reason to believe ^{[ what? ]} , that the number of Iego-Yeghists has a tendency to increase due to proselytism .

Ilyin’s teaching in its present form is a rather original religious- philosophical system, in which the main attention is paid to such topics as the millennial kingdom , the bodily immortality of man, the coming decisive battle of Egova with Satan . According to Ieginists, there are two equivalent Gods in our solar system - Egov and Satan. There are other Gods outside the Earth and the Solar system, but they do not deal with the fate of mankind, and people do not need to worship them: ^[6]

Gods, like humans, exist only in bodily form. Egovism completely denies the existence of the soul , spirits and other intangible entities in the modern sense. Therefore, Egova is often referred to in the Yeghov literature as the Man-God. According to Ilyin, Egova is “A MAN, and even a JEWISH, but only ETERNAL IMMORTAL ...” ^[7] . Egova is the God of immortal people, otherwise called egovists, and Satan is the God of mortal people, Satanists, to whom followers of traditional forms of Christianity and Judaism belong.

Some famous religious figures of the past, according to the writings of Ilyin, were representatives of egotism at the time. Among them - Jan Hus , Quaker George Fox , German mystic Jacob Boehme , Socrates , Pythagoras , Princess Medici, Elizabeth Kridner, Mohammed , Confucius and others. Egov, according to Ilyin, is identical with Jesus (or Jesus, as the Yegoists prefer to write). Jesus Christ was a temporary embodiment of Egov on Earth . Thus, he was crucified , died on the cross, and the Jewish God of Yegov himself was resurrected . The Trinitarianists are completely denied by the Yeghists, considering them to be Satan’s latest invention.

Egova and Satan are waging an ongoing battle with each other. Egovists stand on the side of Egova in this struggle, distributing the writings of Ilyin and following the moral and ritual prescriptions of egovism. As a reward, they receive eternal life in bodily form. A decisive battle between the two Gods, which Ilyin calls Armageddon, will soon take place. As a result, Egov will defeat, who will establish the thousand-year-old Jerusalem Republic. It will be a period of prosperity for humanity. After a thousand years, Satan will be freed, and another battle will take place with Egova, in which Satan himself and his supporters will be finally destroyed. After this, Egova will radically renew the Earth, and then will periodically improve it. Ilyin never mentioned any specific dates and dates for the beginning of Armageddon or the establishment of a millennial kingdom.

Ighovist Yeguists consider the text of the present Christian (and Jewish) Bible to be corrupted by Satan. Although, in principle, they do not deny that the Bible contains certain truths, its text is considered so distorted that the egovists do not use it at all, since they believe that the reader cannot separate the seeds of truth from later Satanic distortions and additions. Although the writings of Ilyin contain numerous references to the Bible, to read it, as well as the sacred books of other religions, is forbidden to members of the egovist organization. Instead of the Bible, the sacred book in egovism is a special edition of the last biblical book of the Revelation of St. John, known as the "Book from Heaven." This book is considered a mystery and is studied only by members of the egovist community. In addition to the “Book from Heaven,” the works of Ilyin have the status of sacred writings in egoism. They are divided into several types depending on the period of writing and the nature of use. Some books written by Ilyin in the initial period are considered obsolete, some are intended for reading by members of the community or by people who already have a good understanding of the Egyptian teachings. Entry-level works are known among the egovists as “handouts”, because it is them that are recommended to be distributed in order to disseminate the Ilyin teachings. All the works of Ilyin are reproduced by the Ilyo-Yeghists (both in print and in manuscript form) exclusively with the complete preservation of the pre-reform Russian spelling. This is done to eliminate any possibility of distortion of the text as a result of reproduction.

Distribution of "handout" brochures is the only authorized method of preaching among the Iego-Yeghists. Nikolai Ilyin strictly forbade his followers to preach verbally, relying, firstly, on the prophecy of Isaiah. 41:25 “... so that no one can publicly preach him ... no one can hear him on the street ...” ^[8] , secondly, such a sermon can easily lead to disputes and debates with representatives of other faiths, and thirdly, believing that the likelihood of distortion in the oral transmission of his message increases. Brochures are distributed to everyone in a row who can and who wants to accept them.

The worship of the Egovists is closed, and only members of the organization can take part in it. According to indirect data, it can be concluded that it consists in prayers, singing, reading the sacred texts and smoking incense (incense). Egovists use the collection of hymns compiled by Ilyin for singing, both during divine services and informal meetings.

Ilya worship services take place on Saturdays (or from Friday evening), since Saturday is a holy day of rest, as in Judaism. Unlike Judaism, the rules for keeping the Sabbath rest are not so strict. Saturday is the only religious festival of the Igo-Yeghists. The celebration of Christmas, Easter, and similar traditional Christian religious holidays is not allowed. However, the egovists use secular public and private holidays, such as the New Year or birthday, as an occasion for a meeting. ^[9]

The Yegovist Ilyin people strictly abide by food restrictions, which in general terms coincide with the Jewish ones. In particular, eating pork, hare, and many seafood is strictly prohibited. ^[ten]

Egovists-Ilyins do not carry out military service, do not participate in hostilities. In general, moral rules are universal in nature. Hatred, slander, injustice, falsehood, theft, alcohol, smoking and the like are condemned.

The Yego-Ilyinists highly value secular education. Ilyin repeatedly emphasized that his sermon was addressed primarily to educated and enlightened people. In practice, the majority of Ilya residents have a relatively low level of education, but this is mainly due to the persecution of their communities by the authorities and limited educational opportunities, especially in rural areas. There are no formal restrictions on obtaining education, including higher education, with the exception of theological, legal, military and theatrical. The latter is due to the fact that Ilyin condemned mass spectacles and "hypocrisy."

Egovism claims to be exceptional as the only true religion of the God of Egov. Accordingly, according to the teachings of Ilyin, other religions are declared untrue. Participation in services, and even simple visits to religious buildings of other religions is prohibited. In his writings, Ilyin often spoke with praise of some religious figures of the past, such as Quakers , Novgorod strigolniki , etc. In general, Ilyin's attitude to other religions is extremely critical.

Often, Iego-Yeghists are accused of hatred of other faiths. Indeed, many of the statements of Ilyin and modern publications of the Ilya people abound in criticism and do not differ in the correctness of the expressions. It should be noted, however, that such an attitude towards other religions does not carry over to people who profess them. Ilyin repeatedly warned his followers to live in harmony and friendship with all people, regardless of their views. The language of the works of Ilyin in general, with all its colorfulness, is distinguished by a significant proportion of soldier rudeness and directness. This can often surprise and even shock an unprepared reader. Hostility towards the Bible, disrespect for the objects of the Christian cult, denial of sacraments, and indiscriminate demonization of the totality of modern Christianity and its culture can also push away many representatives of traditional forms of Christianity. Also, for a number of conservative representatives of the fundamental Christian tradition, syncretism with other non-Christian religious traditions may be unacceptable (for example, the recognition by the prophet of the founder of Islam Muhammad as a prophet).

In Russia, the brochure of the Yeghovists-Ilyinians “Testimony of ISUS-HRISTOVO” was twice recognized by the courts as extremist . In November 2013, it was banned by the Kuntsevsky District Court of Moscow , and in August 2014, the Sverdlovsk District Court of Belgorod ^[11] .

• The Zion News // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1900 .-- T. XXX. - S. 152-153.
• Universal Theological Truth