Skoptsy

SKOPTSY, a Christian sect that first appeared in the 3rd century AD in Palestine. Its founder was the Arabian philosopher Valens. An essential part of this doctrine was the removal or mutilation of the sexual organs. The appearance of the S. sect in Russia is dated to the end of the 18th century. Despite severe persecutions, the number of sectants increased over the past century. According to incomplete data, from 1805 to 1871, the number of discovered Skoptsy of both sexes reached 5,444 people. Skoptsy communities, "ships," were discovered throughout the then Russian territory, from Bessarabia to the Yenisei Governorate. Among the followers of the sect, the majority were peasants, but among the convicted Skoptsy there were nobles, merchants, clergy, civil officials, military and naval officers. In men, the castration operation, at the beginning of the appearance of S. in Russia, consisted only in the removal of the testicles-"miraculous twins," which along with part of the scrotum were cauterized with heated iron ("fiery baptism"). Subsequently, Skoptsy began to use various sharp cutting instruments, while heated iron was used to stop bleeding. According to the descriptions of the Skoptsy themselves, the operation consisted of cutting off the testicles with part of the scrotum. Before this, the scrotum above the testicles was tied with a thick thread, ribbon, or rope. The wound was covered with a rag soaked in cold water, wooden oil, or smeared with some ointment, fresh lard. Sometimes to stop bleeding, the wound was sprinkled with alum and other substances. The wound healed in 4-6 weeks, leaving behind a half-moon shaped scar. This operation was called the "small seal" or "first seal," "first purification," or "first purity" ("to sit on a piebald horse"). The testicles were called the "key of hell," and the penis-"the key of the abyss" ("abyss"-female sexual organs). Another operation, called the "second" or "royal seal," "second purity" or "second purification" ("to sit on a white horse"), consisted in the testicles with part of the scrotum and the penis being tied and cut off, or chopped off with an axe. More often, however, the penis was removed later. Skopttsy inserted tin or lead spigots into the urethral opening. In rare cases, castration was limited to the removal of one penis or part of it. In addition to damage to the sexual organs, scars of various parts of the body, mostly cross-shaped, from cut wounds or burns from molten sulfur, heated iron, were occasionally observed among Skopttsy. In one Skoptsy peasant, the nipples were cut off, in another-both breasts. In women, so-called Skoptsy women or Skoptsy, during examination, the following injuries were noted: 1) cutting out, burning out, or cauterizing the nipples from one side, or more often from both sides; 2) partial or complete amputation of both breasts, after which longitudinal scars remained; 3) various incisions on both breasts, located mostly symmetrically; 4) removal of part of the small lips with or without the clitoris; 5) cutting out the upper part of the large lips together with the small ones and the clitoris, which led to improper fusion of these parts and the formation of scars that significantly narrowed the vaginal opening. These injuries were also produced with some sharp instruments (knives, scissors, razors, etc.) and left scars behind. Membership in the Skoptsy sect was prosecuted by law, and suspected persons underwent forensic-medical examination. The unfamiliarity of experts with the peculiarities of injuries in Skoptsy and the consequences that these injuries left behind (e.g., the nature and location of scars) led to misunderstandings and incorrect conclusions, because sometimes experts took the consequences of pathological processes (gangrene of the scrotum, penis, etc.), developmental defects (cryptorchidism, etc.) for castration and vice versa. This deficiency was compensated for by the publication of Pelikan's monograph on forensic-medical investigations of Skoptsy.

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