Maxim Gavrilovich Rudometkin (also Rudomyotkin; ; c. 1818 – last seen in 1877) was the leader of the Spiritual Christian Molokan (Jumpers) Pryguny ( : Jumpers), and some are called Maksimisti. In 1928, in Los Angeles, his writings were collectively published with four other Molokan Jumper leaders as a Russian religious text titled Kniga solntse, dukh i zhizn (Book of the Sun, Spirit and Life), placed next to the Russian Synodal Bible on the alter table. Early life He was born in the village of Algasovo, Tambov Governorate, central Russia (c. 1818 – 1822). At the age of eight, according to a letter written by him to his followers, his parents forsook the Orthodox faith Russian Orthodox Church and joined the Spiritual Christian Molokan faith. At sometime during the years 1838 and 1842, the Rudomyotkin family moved to the South Caucasus during a period of massive resettlement of undesirable (non-Orthodox) heretics to the periphery of the Russian Empire where he played a major role in the founding of a new sect of Molokan Jumpers Pryguny in Erivan Governorate. Most of his adherents resettled from the Molochna River area, Novorossiya (New Russia, South Ukraine) and from Central Russia to colonize the South Caucasus. The Rudomyotkin family eventually settled in the village of Nikitino in 1842, Erivan Governorate, renamed Fioletovo in 1936, where he along with his wife, Maria Feodorovna Halopova, raised three boys, Ermolai, Alexei and Vassya. He prophesied of the apocalypse often, and as his reputation grew he was given the leadership role (presviter, presbyter) by L.P. Sokoloff. An eyewitness account reports the ceremony was performed by the laying on of hands by Sokoloff with a blessing of the Holy Spirit. General history After his anointment by Sokoloff, Rudomyotkin then introduced through spiritual inspiration, a new form of worship which involved jumping and leaping while under the influence of the Holy Spirit during church services. This was done as a fulfillment of the prophecies of Sokoloff, who wrote that a time would come when the righteous would skip and jump like the calves and lambs of the field. Previously, his followers only experienced a form of prophecy and raising of hands during their worship services. This form of worship took place during home meetings or when working in the fields. Rudomyotkin preached a high reliance on spiritual inspiration. When his adherents would feel the Spirit come upon them, they would