Etymology of Khlyst

[Olga Meerson]

Two of the most vivid descriptions I know both
belong to the prose of the Symbolists -- Andrey
Bely's The Silver Dove (Серебряный
голубь) and Merezhkovsky's Alexander I and the
Decembrists (Александр I и
декабристы). Merezhkovsky has other
relevant descriptions in other parts of this cycle
of novels.  Both books -- by Bely and Merezhkovsky
--  are highly tinted with their authors' respective
styles and visions but both sincerely attempt to
understand the phenomenon of хлысты /
хлыстовство. Etkind and Billington may
help somewhat but they little interest themselves
with the khlysty's own vision of their sect and its
mission. An attempt of that latter sort was made by
Nadezhda Bodanskaia in a study that she subsequently
abandoned (had too much extra-academic stuff on her
plate), but I still vividly remember the discussion
of her work with her and her husband Andrey A.
Arkhipov. What was truly novel about her approach
was precisely trying to see the phenomenon from the
sectarians' own point of view. Otherwise, I believe,
it was done only in fiction and, as far as I know,
adequately, only by the two Symbolists I have
mentioned.
o.m.