For the present, at least, they are rapidly spreading.

I have seen large villages where, according to the testimony of the inhabitants, there was not a single heretic fifteen years before, and where one-half of the population had already become Molokanye; and this change, be it remarked, had taken place without any propagandist organisation.

The civil and ecclesiastical authorities were well aware of the existence of the movement, but they were powerless to prevent it.

The few efforts which they made were without effect, or worse than useless.

Among the Stundisti corporal punishment was tried as an antidote--without the concurrence, it is to be hoped, of the central authorities--and to the Molokanye of the province of Samara a learned monk was sent in the hope of converting them from their errors by reason and eloquence.