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Sergei Aleksandrovich Nilus (also ''Sergius'', and variants; russian: Серге́й Алекса́ндрович Ни́лус; – 14 January 1929) was a Russian religious writer and self-described mystic. His book ''Velikoe v malom i antikhrist, kak blizkaja politicheskaja vozmozhnost. Zapiski pravoslavnogo'' ("The Great within the Small and Antichrist, an Imminent Political Possibility. Notes of an Orthodox Believer", 1903), about the coming of the Antichrist, is now primarily known for the fact that in its second edition, in 1905, Nilus published '' The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' as its final chapter. This was the first time that this text was published in full in Russia (an abridged version had reportedly been published in 1903 in the newspaper ''Znamya''). He wrote a number of further books, mostly on topics of the end times and the Antichrist, published between 1908 and 1917. After the
Russian revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, his warning of the coming of the Antichrist were interpreted as a warning of the impending communist revolution, and his works were banned as
anti-Soviet propaganda Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) (russian: антисове́тская агита́ция и пропага́нда (АСА)) was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. To begin with the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolu ...
in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.


Life

Sergei Nilus was born on in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, the son of Alexander Petrovich Nilus, a landowner in the governorate of Orel. His father was a
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
of Livonian extraction (the surname Nilus is a Livonian form of Nicholas), his mother was from Russian nobility. Sergei was baptized in the Russian Orthodox rite. He studied law and graduated from the University of Moscow, and was a magistrate in
Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
. He later moved to
Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...
, living there with a mistress named Natalya Komarovskaya until his estates went bankrupt and she broke off their relationship. Though he was raised in the Russian Orthodox faith, Nilus did not seem to care much about religion until an accident with his horse caused him to recall an unfulfilled childhood vow to visit the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. Later he met St.
John of Kronstadt John of Kronstadt or John Iliytch Sergieff ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform russian: Иоа́нн Кроншта́дтский; 1829 – ) was a Russian Orthodox archpriest and a member of the Most Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. ...
, whom he credited with healing a throat infection and turning him fully back to his native faith. In 1903, Nilus published his book ''Velikoye v malom i antikhrist kak blizkaya politicheskaya vozmozhnost'. Zapiski pravoslavnogo veruyushchego'' (''The Great Within the Small and Antichrist, an Imminent Political Possibility. Notes of an Orthodox Believer''). The text of the ''Protocols'' appeared as Chapter Twelve of the 1905 edition of the book. The newly appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers,
Pyotr Stolypin Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin ( rus, Пётр Арка́дьевич Столы́пин, p=pʲɵtr ɐrˈkadʲjɪvʲɪtɕ stɐˈlɨpʲɪn; – ) was a Russian politician and statesman. He served as the third prime minister and the interior minist ...
, ordered an investigation into the provenance of the text, and it was soon discovered that it had first appeared in antisemitic circles in Paris, around the year 1897 or 1898. In 1906, Nilus married Yelena Alexandrovna Ozerova, who had served as a lady-in-waiting to Alexandra Feodorovna, last empress of Russia. In 1907, Nilus moved to
Optina Monastery The Optina Pustyn (russian: Óптина пýстынь, literally ''Opta's hermitage'') is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for men near Kozelsk in Russia. In the 19th century, the Optina was the most important spiritual centre of the Russian Ortho ...
, where he lived until 1912. During that time he published several books on spiritual topics, including his most widely read work, ''On the Bank of God's River'', a portrait of his years at Optina and of the many Orthodox Starets living there. Nilus "discovered" the papers of
Nikolay Motovilov Nikolay Aleksandrovich Motovilov (russian: link=no, Николай Александрович Мотовилов; 3 May 1809 – 14 January 1879)
, a Russian landowner and
Fool for Christ Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting socie ...
, who was a disciple of St.
Seraphim of Sarov Seraphim of Sarov (russian: Серафим Саровский; – ), born Prókhor Isídorovich Moshnín (Mashnín) ро́хор Иси́дорович Мошни́н (Машни́н) is one of the most renowned Russian saints and is venerate ...
. Nilus published one of the manuscripts as "A Wonderful Revelation to the World: The Conversation of St. Seraphim with Nicholas Alexandrovich Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit".St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral - St. Seraphim of Sarov: A Wonderful Revelation to the World
at www.stseraphim.org That manuscript would become one of the most-read Orthodox texts of modern times. In 1912, a report was received by the Holy Synod that Nilus was living at the monastery with his wife. Although the Niluses were not actually living within the monastery, but rather as guests in a small house nearby, Nilus was ordered by the Synod to leave Optina. Nilus circulated several editions of ''The Protocols'' in Russia during the first decade of the twentieth century. Though the early prints were in Russian, ''The Protocols'' soon spread to the rest of Europe via expatriates who left Russia after the 1917 revolution. The Russian text was also reprinted in Berlin, in 1922. In Soviet Russia, Nilus was not able to publish any further writings until his death in 1929. Under the new Soviet government, Nilus was arrested and imprisoned several times, in 1924, 1925 and 1927. He died on 14 January 1929 in Krutets village,
Vladimir Oblast Vladimir Oblast (russian: Влади́мирская о́бласть, ''Vladimirskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its closest border 66 Meter, km east of central Moscow, the administrative cen ...
,
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, after a heart attack. In the USSR, possession of Nilus' books was punished as "anti-Soviet propaganda" by up to ten years of imprisonment. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Nilus' works were again edited in Russia, beginning in 1992, with an edition of his collected works appearing in five volumes in 2009.


Bibliography

* 1903 «Великое в малом» ("The Great Within the Small"), 2nd ed. 1905, 3rd ed. 1911. * 1908 «Сила Божия и немощь человеческая» ("The Power of God and the Weakness of Man") * 1908 «Пшеница и плевелы» ("The Wheat and the Tares"), Holy Trinity-St. Sergeius Lavra. * 1911 «На берегу Божьей реки» ("On the Bank of God's River"), 2nd ed. 1916; reprinted by Orthodox Christian Books and Icons, San Francisco, Calif., 1969. * 1911 «Святыня под спудом. Тайны православного монашеского духа» ("Holiness Under a Bushel. Secrets of the Orthodox Monastic Spirit") * 1911 «Близ грядущий антихрист и царство диавола на земле» ("The Coming Antichrist and the Kingdom of the Devil on Earth Is Near"); reprinted 1992. * 1917 «Близ есть при дверех. О том, чему не желают верить и что так близко» ("Close by, at the Gates. What They Do Not Want to Believe and Which Is That Close By"); reprinted 1997, 2012, 2013. Posthumous editions: * «С. А. Нилус. Полное собрание сочинений» (Collected Works in Five Volumes), Moscow, 2009.


References

*
Michael Hagemeister Michael Hagemeister (born 9 January 1951 in Ellwangen, Baden-Württemberg) is a German historian and Slavist, an authority on ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and on Sergei Nilus. Hagemeister was employed at the universities of Marburg, B ...
: "Vladimir Solov’ev and Sergej Nilus: Apocalypticism and Judeophobia" in ''Reconciler and Polemicist'' (eds.) Wil van den Bercken, Manon de Courten, Evert van der Zweerde, and Vladimir Solov’ev (Leuven: Peeters, 2000), pp. 287–296. *Michael Hagemeister:"Sergei Nilus" in ''Antisemitism. A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution'' vol. 2, pp. 508–510, ed. Richard E. Levy (Santa Barbara, CA.: ABC-Clio, 2005). *


External links

*
Alexandre du Chayla Count Armand Alexandre de Blanquet du Chayla (25 March 1885 – 1945) was a French nobleman who converted to Russian Orthodoxy. He is chiefly remembered for giving crucial evidence and/or testimony for the prosecution at the Berne Trial in 1935 aga ...

"Nilus and the Protocols"
''La Tribune Juive'': Paris, 14 May 1921, translated from the French by Herman Bernstein, New York, Covici, Friede . 1935
Autobiographical notes
translated from ''Na Beregu Bozhyei Reki'', published by St. Elias Publications, Forestville, 1975 * Michael Hagemeister
"''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'': Between History and Fiction"
* Michael Hagemeister
"''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and the Myth of a Jewish Conspiracy in Post-Soviet Russia"
* Michael Hagemeister
"In Search of Testimony About the Origins of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'': A Handwritten Edition that Disappeared from the Lenin Library"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilus, Sergei 1862 births 1929 deaths 19th-century people from the Russian Empire 20th-century Christian mystics 20th-century Russian people Antisemitism in the Russian Empire Eastern Orthodox conspiracy theorists Eastern Orthodox mystics Members of the Russian Assembly People from Moskovsky Uyezd Protocols of the Elders of Zion Russian anti-communists Russian conspiracy theorists Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia