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All this in spite of the fact that their beliefs did not in any way threaten to undermine the foundations of society. "There are six religions contained in the books which the Tsar has given to his people" they said, when brought before the tribunal "and there is a seventh oral religion, that of the Tcheremis. The seventh recognises neither the sacraments nor the gospel.
It glorifies God in person, and the faith which has been handed down from father to son. It has been given to the Tcheremis exclusively, because they are a poor, unlettered people, and cannot afford to keep up priests and churches.
But that of the Tcheremis is the best. . . . The written Bible, known to all men, has been falsified by the priests, but the Tcheremis have an oral Bible, which has been handed down intact, even as it was taught to their forbears by God. . . . The Tsar is the god of earth, but he has nothing to do with religion, which is not of this world."
In 1890, at the time of the Scientific and Industrial Exhibition at Kazan, an appeal was made to the Tcheremis to send some objects of anthropological and ethnographical interest. They responded by sending those representing their religion, for, having rejected orthodoxy, they wished the beauties of their "new faith" to be admired.
Further, the missionaries complained with horror that, in addition to seven principal religions, the Tcheremis acknowledged seventy-seven others, in accordance with the division of humanity into seventy-seven races. "It is God," they said, "who has thus divided humanity, even as He has divided the trees. As there are oaks, pines and firs, so are there different religions, all of heavenly origin.
They therefore exhibited at Kazan large spoons and candles, drums that were used to summon the people to religious ceremonies, and various other articles connected with their mysterious beliefs, and the Committee of the Exhibition awarded them a medal for "a collection of invaluable objects for the study of the pagan religion of the Tcheremis."
The "great god" was seized and carried off, and forced to submit, subsequently, to all kinds of humiliations. On the outskirts of Jaransk, in the Viatka district, a race called the Tcheremis has dwelt from time immemorial.
When questioned by the judge, the accused complained that the orthodox clergy expected too many sacrifices from them, and charged them heavily for marriages and burials, this being their reason for returning to "the more merciful religion of their forefathers." According to the Journal of the Religious Consistory of the Province of Viatka, the Tcheremis were guilty of many other crimes.
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