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A word meaning people who left Islam, mainly critics of Islam. [129] Mushrik A person who doesn't believe in Tawhid (Islamic monotheism) and practices polytheism, worships idols, saints, ancestors or graves. Pagan A person who believes in a non-Abrahamic religion. Synonymous with heathen. [130] Savage
Metonymously, sect refers to a discipline or school of thought as defined by a set of methods and doctrines. The various modern usages of the term stem largely from confusion with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) Latin word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut).
The appellation "Khlysty" is a derogatory term applied by critics of the sect. The origin of the term is disputed. It is probably a corruption of the group's aforementioned self-designation of Khristy, but may also allude to the sect's practice of ritual self-flagellation; the Russian word khlyst means a "whip" or "thin rod". [1] [3]
"Nazirite" comes from the Hebrew word nazir meaning "consecrated" [9] or "separated", [10] and may be ultimately derived from a root meaning "to vow", similar to Hebrew nadar. [10] The word nazir is also sometimes used to refer to a prince, who fills a special position of secular power, [ 11 ] and the cognate word nezer can refer to either the ...
The Hebrew term kareth ("cutting off" Hebrew: כָּרֵת, ), or extirpation, is a form of punishment for sin, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish writings. The typical Biblical phrase used is "that soul shall be cut off from its people" or a slight variation of this. [1]
Emasculated Skoptsy male (left) and Skoptsy female with breasts cut off (right) Emasculation was one form of genital mutilation practiced by the Skoptsy, a Russian Christian sect. For males, the other form of mutilation available was castration. Females could remove their nipples, breasts, labia majora, labia minora or clitoris. [36]
If the sect withers in membership, it will dissolve. If the membership increases, the sect is forced to adopt the characteristics of denominations in order to maintain order (e.g., bureaucracy, explicit doctrine, etc.). And even if the membership does not grow or grows slowly, norms will develop to govern group activities and behavior.
Skoptsy is a plural of skopets, at the time the Russian term for "castrate" (in contemporary Russian, the term has become restricted to referring to the sect, in its generic meaning replaced by the loanwords yévnukh е́внух, i.e. eunuch, and kastrat кастрат). [6]