Much later, in the eighteenth century, in the Russian Skoptsy sect, it became the custom after fathering two children to have not just the testicles but the greater part of the penis removed. First the testicles were destroyed (originally with red-hot iron bars, but later a knife was preferred). The second procedure comprised the removal of the penis. After the first stage the result was referred to as ‘The Minor Seal’ and after the second as ‘The Great Seal’. Seal is a concept that features extensively in the impenetrable Book of Revelation. After castration there was an interval of several years before the penis was removed, which may be the reason why, according to the records, no serious complications occurred. The Skoptsy regarded the testicles as the keys to hell. Removal gave them the right to remount ‘the pale horse’, undoubtedly a reference to passages from Revelation, 6:
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The penis too, then, was simply the key to hell. In her fascinating book on the sect (Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom) Laura Engelstein shows that the hell was of course a metaphor for the vagina.
After cutting off the penis the person conducting the operation would say a prayer and cry out: ‘The Lord has truly risen!’ The castrato was now ready to mount the pale horse:
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying,
 |
 |
 |
Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. [Revelations 6]
To make urinating possible after the operation, though, the follower concerned did temporarily require a tin or lead tube in his urethra.
Female members of the sect did not damage their ovaries, but did mutilate their labia, clitoris, breasts and nipples.
The sect originated from a group of flagellants, which included a certain Andrey Ivanov. He and his followers wanted to take a stand against the Klysty family, who had been accused of licentiousness, and founded the Skoptsy sect, after the Russian word skopets, eunuch. The sect rejects most of the dogmas of the Russian Orthodox Church, specifically redemption by Jesus Christ on the cross. The sect preached castration as salvation, basing themselves mainly on passages from Isaiah 56:
Neither let the eunuch say, Behold I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters:
I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
These eunuchs could no longer have sons and daughters, but God promised them something better than the transience of descendants.
The founder of the Skoptsy, Andrey Ivanov, met a less glorious fate. He was arrested and deported to Siberia, and the leadership passed to Kondrati Selivanov, one of his first followers. Selivanov later preached in St Petersburg under the protection of Baroness von Krudener, one of the Czar’s mistresses, who regarded the preacher as a saint.
The Skoptsy denied themselves not only sexual pleasure, but also parties, gambling and alcohol. Meanwhile many bankers and moneylenders were converted, which might explain why many members of the sect became millionaires, using their wealth mainly to propagate their ideology. For me, the story of the Skoptsy echoes that of the Church of Scientology, with its celebrity converts such as Tom Cruise. At its height the sect is thought to have had almost 150,000 members, but it was struck a severe blow in 1917 when the Bolsheviks passed antireligious legislation and there was widespread persecution. In 1929 a big anti-Skoptsy trial was held in Leningrad, and many sect members sought asylum in Romania, where there was still freedom of religion.