Kondraty Selivanov

Kondraty Selivanov (Russian: Кондрáтий Селивáнов; 1730/40–1832) was a Russian religious leader who was one of the founders of the Skoptsy, a Spiritual Christian sect whose members practiced castration as a means of achieving salvation. He was worshipped by the members of the sect as a second Christ and redeemer and as Peter III, the Russian emperor who was overthrown and assassinated in 1762.

Origin and early activities

Contradictory reports exist about Selivanov's date of birth and his real name. According to Selivanov's own testimony, he was about five years old during the reign Peter I (r. 1682–1725) and castrated himself in the fourteenth year of his life, during the reign of Empress Anna (r. 1730–1740); but this is unlikely as it would mean that he died about 120 years after his birth. He was reportedly about 35 years old when he was arrested in 1775. The Orthodox Encyclopedia gives the date range of 1730–1740 for his birth. He may have used, at various times, the names Andreyan, Foma, Ivan, or Andrey.

The Skoptsy emerged as a breakaway movement within the Khlysts—a preceding Russian sect—at the end of the 1760s. Their earliest documented appearance is in an investigation conducted in the Orlovsky Uyezd (county) in 1772, which resulted in the arrest of 60 people, about half of whom had been castrated. The investigation identified three leaders of the movement: the escaped serfs Andrey Ivanov Blokhin and Kondraty Nikiforov (sometimes called Trifonov or Trofimov); and Mikhayla Nikulin, a Khlyst preacher.