Etymology of Khlyst

[Daniel Rancour-Laferriere]

Dear colleagues,
I have come across conflicting reports on the Russian word "Khlyst,"  
referring to the sectarian movement.  Some speak of a derivation from  
"Khristos," or from some related word such as "khristovshchina."   
Others relate the word to "khlestat'" or "khlyst" (in the meaning of  
whip or switch).  Obviously the problem has something to do with  
whether or not these sectarians actually practiced self-flagellation.   
Al. Etkind's lengthy treatise KHLYST (1998) has little to say about  
the actual rituals practiced by Khlysty.  Apparently there were  
ecstatic "radeniia" in which participants danced, sang, shook, etc,  
and were infused with the Holy Spirit (think of Pentecostals).  Some  
of the Khlysty were understood to be "Christs," literally, not by mere  
imitation in the sense of Thomas a Kempis.  But was flagellation part  
of the process of achieving that status?  I am looking for both a true  
etymology and a plain ethnographic description - something like the  
following passage from work in progress:

> From the Penitentes of nineteenth- and twentieth-century New Mexico  
> a similar picture emerges, as in this description by Michael P.  
> Carroll of a procedure performed by a junior member of the Brothers  
> of Blood (Hermanos de Sangre):
>
>
>
>             The most common form of penitential mortification  
> practiced during Holy Week was flagellation.  Dressed only in white  
> trousers, and if in public, with his face covered by a hood or  
> kerchief, a Brother of Blood would whip himself over the shoulders  
> with a disciplina made from plaited yucca fibre or be whipped by  
> another Brother.  Other forms of penitential activity common during  
> Holy Week included: the carrying of large crosses made of rough  
> timber, wrapping the torso tightly with chains, strapping pieces of  
> cactus to various parts of their bodies, and kneeling on sharp  
> stones.[1]
>
>
>
> The crosses these penitentes carried gives away their imitation of  
> Christ.  When the ritual was public, as in the Good Friday  
> procession to the Calvario (usually a cemetery or three crosses on a  
> hilltop – a place of skulls, a Golgotha [cf. …]) where one of the  
> Brothers, the Cristo, would be lashed to a cross in a mock- 
> crucifixion, then the element of imitation of Nuestro Padre Jesús  
> Nazareno became extreme: “The Cristo was only allowed to hang on the  
> cross for a brief time, no more than thirty minutes, and was removed  
> immediately if he lost consciousness.”[2]
>
>
> [1]   Carroll 2001, 175.
>
> [2]   Carroll 2001, 177.
>


Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

With regards to the list -

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere

http://Rancour-Laferriere.com



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