Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 167
about the internal milieu of Falun Gong pertain largely to phenomena subsequent to severe
persecution.
Persecution and Apocalyptic Frenzy
At this point it is necessary to give some attention to the historical evidence for severe
persecution having the effect of producing or substantially extrapolating apocalyptic
excitation and its sometimes extreme behavioral concomitants. In the context of the
Roman persecution of Christians, the apocalyptic, prophetic, and ecstatic Montanist sect (a
sort of movement within a movement) emerged in the second century in Phrygia (in Asia
Minor). ―Montanism blended the prophetic and orgiastic native Phrygian religion with
exalted preaching about the approaching end. The orthodox [Christian] clergy took
fright.‖23 But why did Montanism develop? Referring to the work of Eusebias of Caesarea,
the first great Church historian, a modern scholar notes, ―we can probably date the
emergence of Montanism to circa 172 and associate it with a reaction against the pogroms
and persecutions that were being inflicted there on the Christians.‖24
Ecstatic and glossalalic, the prophet Montanus traveled with two female sub-prophets,
Maximilla and Priscilla. ―People summoned by the prophets to attend the inauguration of
the Millennium abandoned homes, families and work to stream into the countryside. Wars
and rumors of wars were freely prophesied, and death by martyrdom was prepared for by
continence and fasting was enjoined as the command of the Holy Spirit.‖25 Given both the
apocalyptic origins of Christianity (i.e., the earliest Christians had expected Christ‘s
imminent return) as well as the threatening persecutions, Montanus‘ message did not
appear all that implausible.
The Christians of Lyons were somewhat sympathetic to Montanism. ―They too believed that
the approach of antichrist and the end of all things was near and that their own sufferings
were an indication of this.‖26 ―The new prophecy spoke for an age that awaited the end of
the age.‖27 However, after peaking in the second and third centuries, Montanism declined
particularly in the cities and became mainly a religion of the Christian peasantry. It
retreated back to Phyrgia where it had started. The remnant of Phyrgian Montanism was
later persecuted by the early Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. The later
Phyrgian Montanists responded by burning themselves in their churches,28 an act which
may have begun a Byzantine-Muscovite tradition of incendiary collective suicide in a context
of rigorous persecution. This tradition culminated in the huge mass suicides associated with
the schismatic, severely persecuted Old Believer movement, on which the present author
has written and which may have entailed twenty thousand deaths in the late seventeenth
century and two or three thousand deaths in each of several particular spectacular
incidents.29 In an article on Russian Messianism Vatro Murvar describes the rationale of
ritual suicide in an emergent Russian tradition of martyrdom:
The basic doctrine, professed repeatedly in various periods by religious
virtuosi, was that true believer‘ commitment calls for baptism by fire, gar,
through which the seal of Antichrist is finally broken ....The favorite way of
practicing gar was to lock themselves up and perish together by setting fire to
the building during the religious ceremony.30
Interestingly not all the various communities of Russian Old Believers during the most
stressful period near the turn of the eighteenth century were suicidal. There were
―moderates‖ who denounced the suicidal proclivities of extremists and accused suicidal
leaders of tricking their followers into death pacts through deception (false reports of troop
movements) and hallucinogenic drugs. These in-movement critics sounded somewhat like
contemporary ―anticultists,‖ as I have noted.31
about the internal milieu of Falun Gong pertain largely to phenomena subsequent to severe
persecution.
Persecution and Apocalyptic Frenzy
At this point it is necessary to give some attention to the historical evidence for severe
persecution having the effect of producing or substantially extrapolating apocalyptic
excitation and its sometimes extreme behavioral concomitants. In the context of the
Roman persecution of Christians, the apocalyptic, prophetic, and ecstatic Montanist sect (a
sort of movement within a movement) emerged in the second century in Phrygia (in Asia
Minor). ―Montanism blended the prophetic and orgiastic native Phrygian religion with
exalted preaching about the approaching end. The orthodox [Christian] clergy took
fright.‖23 But why did Montanism develop? Referring to the work of Eusebias of Caesarea,
the first great Church historian, a modern scholar notes, ―we can probably date the
emergence of Montanism to circa 172 and associate it with a reaction against the pogroms
and persecutions that were being inflicted there on the Christians.‖24
Ecstatic and glossalalic, the prophet Montanus traveled with two female sub-prophets,
Maximilla and Priscilla. ―People summoned by the prophets to attend the inauguration of
the Millennium abandoned homes, families and work to stream into the countryside. Wars
and rumors of wars were freely prophesied, and death by martyrdom was prepared for by
continence and fasting was enjoined as the command of the Holy Spirit.‖25 Given both the
apocalyptic origins of Christianity (i.e., the earliest Christians had expected Christ‘s
imminent return) as well as the threatening persecutions, Montanus‘ message did not
appear all that implausible.
The Christians of Lyons were somewhat sympathetic to Montanism. ―They too believed that
the approach of antichrist and the end of all things was near and that their own sufferings
were an indication of this.‖26 ―The new prophecy spoke for an age that awaited the end of
the age.‖27 However, after peaking in the second and third centuries, Montanism declined
particularly in the cities and became mainly a religion of the Christian peasantry. It
retreated back to Phyrgia where it had started. The remnant of Phyrgian Montanism was
later persecuted by the early Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. The later
Phyrgian Montanists responded by burning themselves in their churches,28 an act which
may have begun a Byzantine-Muscovite tradition of incendiary collective suicide in a context
of rigorous persecution. This tradition culminated in the huge mass suicides associated with
the schismatic, severely persecuted Old Believer movement, on which the present author
has written and which may have entailed twenty thousand deaths in the late seventeenth
century and two or three thousand deaths in each of several particular spectacular
incidents.29 In an article on Russian Messianism Vatro Murvar describes the rationale of
ritual suicide in an emergent Russian tradition of martyrdom:
The basic doctrine, professed repeatedly in various periods by religious
virtuosi, was that true believer‘ commitment calls for baptism by fire, gar,
through which the seal of Antichrist is finally broken ....The favorite way of
practicing gar was to lock themselves up and perish together by setting fire to
the building during the religious ceremony.30
Interestingly not all the various communities of Russian Old Believers during the most
stressful period near the turn of the eighteenth century were suicidal. There were
―moderates‖ who denounced the suicidal proclivities of extremists and accused suicidal
leaders of tricking their followers into death pacts through deception (false reports of troop
movements) and hallucinogenic drugs. These in-movement critics sounded somewhat like
contemporary ―anticultists,‖ as I have noted.31
