Sabatniki

Sabatniki, a sect of Russian Sabbatarians, or "Sabbath-honorers," which arose in Novgorod (cir. A.D. 1470), where some clergy and laity were persuaded by a Jew of Kiev, named Zacharias, into a belief that the Mosaic dispensation alone was of divine origin. They accepted the Old Testament only, of which, being unacquainted with Hebrew, they used the Slavonic translation. Like the Jews, they were led to expect the advent of an earthly Messiah. Some of them denied the Resurrection; and, being accused of practicing several cabalistic arts, for which points of Jewish ceremonial may have been mistaken, were regarded by the common people as soothsayers and sorcerers. They were gradually becoming a powerful sect, one of their number, named Zosima, having even been elected archbishop of Moscow, when in A.D. 1490 they were condemned by a synod, and a fierce persecution nearly obliterated them. But here and there, in remote parts of Russia, travelers have within the last century discovered fragmentary communities holding Jewish views, which have been thought to be relics of the older sect of Sabatniki. In Irkutsk they continue to exist under the name of Selesnewschschini. See Platon, Present State of the Greek Church in Russia (Pinkerton's transl.), p. 273.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.