Postniki ("Fasters"). The leaders of the sect were now seen as "personifications of Christ", rather than only playing host to his spirit. It was no longer considered possible for ordinary members to receive the Holy Spirit during radenie, although the ritual still held a central position in their worship. In 1840, a new splinter sect broke away from the Postniki. Calling themselves Israelites, they shortly afterwards split again into Old Israel and New Israel. The beliefs of the latter group departed considerably from the traditional teachings of the Khlysts. These schisms weakened the movement, and their numbers began to decline. By the start of the twentieth century, estimates of the Khlysty's numbers ranged at around one hundred thousand. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, there were reported to be around 20,000 New Israelites, 15,000 Old Israelites and 3,000 Postniki in Russia. By the 1970s, there were only "a few isolated groups" remaining. Influence The Khlysty are said to have been "the root of all Russian sectarianism", having spawned sects such as the Skoptsy, the Dukhobors and the Molokans. Connection to Rasputin Grigori Rasputin was twice investigated (in 1903 and 1907) by the Tobolsk Theological Consistory, under charges of spreading Khlyst doctrine. Both investigations were closed without any evidence being found against him, but popular rumour continued to link Rasputin to the sect. C. L. Sulzberger, in 1977, claimed that Rasputin "adopted the philosophy (if not proven membership)" of the Khlysts. In The Man Behind the Myth, co-authored by Rasputin's daughter Maria, it is claimed that Rasputin attended several Khlyst gatherings in the years before his arrival in St. Petersberg, but ultimately became disillusioned with the sect. The factual accuracy of this book has been called into question, and according to Brian Moynahan, Maria's story is the only evidence that Rasputin had any Khlyst connections. The consensus of modern historians is that Rasputin was never a member of the sect. See also Kartanolaisuus, Finnish cult with influences from Khlysts and Skoptsys The Silver Dove, Andrei Bely's first novel (1909), is based on the Khlysts References Footnotes Sources Further reading Emeliantseva, E. "Situational Religiosity: Everyday Strategies of the Moscow Christ-Faith Believers and of the St Petersburg Mystics Attracted by This Faith in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century," in Thomas Bremer (ed), Religion and the Conceptual Boundary in Central and Eastern Europe: Encounters of Faiths (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)