**This webpage contains sacrilegious and nsfw content, including the topic of religious castration - be warned!**

Godiva "Godya"

Class: hard labor convict to settled exile

This is my character Godiva but in Pepsiharlot's 1880's Sakhilin story. Tons of info about Sakhilin here.

Godya Lazarev is the self proclaimed embodiment of both Jesus Christ and Mary, though their stories are inconsistent and others know little about their true background, if they are from 'typical' Orthodox origins, an Old Believer, or a member of the Khlysty or Skoptsy cult. They claim to be both male and female (since they are both the son and mother). They demonstrate their miracles with other inmates and residents of the island, such as healing, prophesying, and future telling. Like most peasants at this time, they cannot read or write, but Kirill is teaching them to read through the Bible.


They wear a Lestovka as part of Old Believer prayer.



Themes and visuals: Sheep/lamb/shearing. Angels/beings of light. Chains/restrains. Whips. Covered in dirt and blood. Scars/stigmata. Speaking incoherently/chanting/prophesying/speaking in tongues. Healing others and performing miracles.

Deeply religious and kind of an asshole about certain things. Other inmates don't know if they are really an Old Believer or Khlysty or Skoptsy... it's very unclear. They are generally written off as a lunatic.

They have some interesting views on sex. They consider themselves an exception- so intercourse for the sake of pleasure is okay.

Chooses to keep practicing their religion even though they may be punished for it.

Inconsistent with the way they view sinners, they are close friends with Nikita, a convict, and believe him to be 'saved' in the eyes of God. Multiple times Godya looks out for Nikita, who does the same for them in return. Nikita respects Godya since they are one of the few residents of the island to treat him like a real human person.

Their predictions and 'miracles' are sometimes eerily accurate, though most often they are just saying shit to get on someone's nerve.

Legerages the insane rumors about God's People (the Khlysty) to intimidate other inmates.

Close friends with Oksana, an ex-Skoptsy. Her personality and views on religion are opposite of Godya's, but after an incident where they are injured, they become very close friends. Something about the religiously sanctioned top surgery woman and the breast-having jesus christ something something. Can you tell I'm normal about this topic.

Awesome image by Pepsi



Go read this book- Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom by Laura Englestein. I'm not even joking. This is sadly the one of the only books I can find on this subject, and there is basically nothing written (in English) about the Khlysty. I freaking love the Skoptsy I think they're so interesting:



Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skoptsy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_in_tongues

This wiki article has a lot of inaccurate information according to the research of Eugene Clay (he states that there's little evidence to say they actually whipped themselves) but still discusses some of their foundational beliefs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khlysts

MORE IMAGES!