Spiritual Christians

Spiritual Christianity (Russian: духовное христианство) in the Russian Empire, and its successors and diaspora, is a type of Christian thought associated with various sects - outside the established Russian Orthodox Church - "which rejected ritual and outward observances, believing in the direct revelation of God to the inner man". Its adherents are called Spiritual Christians (Russian: духовные христиане) or, less accurately, "Molokans" in the United States, often confused with "Doukhobors" in Canada. (Molokane proper comprised the largest and most organized of many Spiritual Christian sects at the beginning of the Soviet Union).

Pavel Milyukov traced the origins of Spiritual Christianity to the Doukhobors, and believed it reflected developments among Russian peasants similar to those underlying the German Peasants' War in the German Reformation. Many Spiritual Christians embraced egalitarian and pacifist beliefs, considered politically radical views by the Imperial government. It deported some groups to internal exile in Central Asia; others escaped suppression to emigrate to North America.

Spiritual Christians believe that the validity of an individual's observance of God's Law was suppressed and prohibited as Israel became politicized; they believe that Jesus Christ promoted the New Covenant of Jeremiah by sacrificing his life to initiate the Messianic Era. The religion of the Spiritual Christians encourages individual spiritual interpretation and substitute observances of Biblical Law, with individual approaches to be understood and respected by all. Spiritual Christians have taken an inclusive approach to Christianity; they embrace all relevant aspects of the collective human experience which can be related to timeless Biblical themes.

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