Russian Old Believers — Bezpopovtsy (priestless)

After the 1666 Great Council deposed Patriarch Nikon's opponents and excommunicated Old Belief, the Bezpopovtsy concluded that the apostolic priesthood had ceased and that lay nastavniki should preside over a baptism-and-confession-only sacramental life. Subgroups include the Pomortsy (Vyg-river community), Fedoseyans, Filippovtsy and the Spasovo Soglasiye. Communities are strongly endogamous, plain-dressed, ban shaving for men in many subgroups, and historically practised mass self-immolation (gari) under Tsarist persecution. Modern communities in Oregon, Alaska, and Romanian Lipovan villages remain largely closed.