Subbotniks (, "Sabbatarians") is a common name for adherents of Russian religious movements that split from Sabbatarian sects in the late 18th century. The majority of Subbotniks were converts to Rabbinic or Karaite Judaism from Christianity. Other groups included Judaizing Christians and Spiritual Christians. There are three main groups of people described as Subbotniks: Judaizing Talmudists: Subbotnik converts to Rabbinic Judaism, also described as "Gery" (), "Talmudisty" (), or "Shaposhniki". Karaimites or Karaite Subbotniks (): also described as "Russian Karaites" (), considering themselves as adherents of Karaite Judaism. They recognize only the scriptural authority of the Torah and reject the Talmud; however, it has been reported that they do not practice circumcision. Subbotnik Molokans (): in contrast to the other Subbotnik sects, they recognize the Gospel, but also practice some of the rules and precepts of the Old Testament. A 1912 religious census in Russia recorded 12,305 "Judaizing Talmudists", and 4,092 "Russian Karaites", and 8,412 Subbotniks who "had fallen away from Orthodoxy". On the whole, the Subbotniks probably differed little from other Judaizing societies in their early years. They first appeared toward the end of the 18th century during the reign of Catherine the Great. According to official reports of the Russian Empire, most of the sect's followers circumcised their boys, believed in a unitary God rather than in the Christian Trinity, accepted only the Hebrew Bible and observed the Sabbath on Saturday rather than on Sunday as in Christian practice (and hence were called "sabbatarians") There were variations among their beliefs in relation to Jesus, the Second Coming, and other elements of Eastern Orthodox doctrine. Prior to the First Partition of Poland in 1772, few Jews had settled in the Russian Empire. The Subbotniks were originally Christian peasants of the Russian Orthodox Church. During the reign of Catherine the Great (1729–1796), they adopted elements of Mosaic Law from the Old Testament and were known as "Sabbatarians", part of the Spiritual Christianity movement. Subbotnik families settled in the Holy Land at the time part of the Ottoman Empire, in the 1880s, as part of the Zionist First Aliyah in order to escape oppression in the Russian Empire and later mostly intermarried with Jews. Examples of Israeli Jews descended from Subbotniks include Alexander Zaïd, Major-General Alik Ron, and former Israeli foreign, prime minister, and general Ariel Sharon. History Subbotniks, meaning sabbatarians for their observance of the Sabbath on Saturday, as in