The one party retained all the sacraments and ceremonial observances in the older form; the other refrained from the sacraments and from many of the ordinary rites, on the ground that there was no longer a real priesthood, and that consequently the sacraments could not be efficacious.  The former party are termed Staro-obriadsti, or Old Ritualists; the latter are called Bezpopoftsi—­that is to say, people “without priests” (bez popov).

The succeeding history of these two sections of the Nonconformists has been widely different.  The Old Ritualists, being simply ecclesiastical Conservatives desirous of resisting all innovations, have remained a compact body little troubled by differences of opinion.  The Priestless People, on the contrary, ever seeking to discover some new effectual means of salvation, have fallen into an endless number of independent sects.

The Old Ritualists had still, however, one important theoretical difficulty.  At first they had amongst themselves plenty of consecrated priests for the celebration of the ordinances, but they had no means of renewing the supply.  They had no bishops, and according to Orthodox belief the lower degrees of the clergy cannot be created without episcopal consecration.  At the time of the schism one bishop had thrown in his lot with the Schismatics, but he had died shortly afterwards without leaving a successor, and thereafter no bishop had joined their ranks.  As time wore on, the necessity of episcopal consecration came to be more and more felt, and it is not a little interesting to observe how these rigorists, who held to the letter of the law and declared themselves ready to die for a jot or a tittle, modified their theory in accordance with the changing exigencies of their position.  When the priests who had kept themselves “pure and undefiled”—­free from all contact with Antichrist—­became scarce, it was discovered that certain priests of the dominant Church might be accepted if they formally abjured the Nikonian novelties.  At first, however, only those who had been consecrated previous to the supposed apostasy of the Church were accepted, for the very good reason that consecration by bishops who had become heretical could not be efficacious.  When these could no longer be obtained it was discovered that those who had been baptised previous to the apostasy might be accepted; and when even these could no longer be found, a still further concession was made to necessity, and all consecrated priests were received on condition of their solemnly abjuring their errors.  Of such priests there was always an abundant supply.  If a regular priest could not find a parish, or if he was deposed by the authorities for some crime or misdemeanour, he had merely to pass over to the Old Ritualists, and was sure to find among them a hearty welcome and a tolerable salary.