Chlysty

The Chlysty who practised the attainment of divine grace through sin in ecstatic rituals that sometimes seem to have turned into mass orgies. Flagellation, on the other hand, was also a frequent practice. Secret Chlysty cells existed throughout pre-revolutionary Russia; they were most common in the factories of the Perm district. Each cell was normally led by a male and a female leader, who were called the "Christ" and the "Mother of God" respectively.

Grigori Rasputin was reputed to have, at some stage, been a Chlyst, and to have led some sort of secret Chlysty cell among the society ladies of Saint Petersburg