Editing Inochentism (section)

===Inochenție's leadership===
[[File:Inochenție of Balta.jpg|thumb|Inochenție of Balta in a contemporary photograph]]
Inochenție, a "Heavenly Emperor", began constructing a "[[New Jerusalem]]" in Balta<ref name="hs105">Sanielevici, p. 105.</ref> and, by 1911, became known as a [[miracle worker]].<ref name="clark">[[Charles Upson Clark]], [http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/clark/bc_11.shtml  ''Bessarabia. Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea'': Chapter XI, "Russification of the Church"], [[University of Washington]] Electronic Text Archive.</ref><ref name="king">[[Charles King (professor of international affairs)|Charles King]], ''The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture'', [[Hoover Institution|Hoover Institution Press]], Stanford, 2000, pp. 74–75. {{ISBN|0-8179-9792-X}}</ref> The ensuing phenomenon was a mass religious movement of peasants from various parts of Bessarabia, but also from [[Podolia Governorate|Podolia]] and [[Kherson Governorate|Kherson]]; scholar [[Charles Upson Clark]] describes Inochenție's Balta as a "Moldavian [[Lourdes]]".<ref name="clark"/> The new converts considered Inochenție the personification of the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]].<ref name="Kolarz">[[Walter Kolarz]], ''Religion in the Soviet Union'', [[St. Martin's Press]], New York, 1961, pp. 365–367.</ref>

The hieromonk was at first encouraged by his monastic superiors, but the Imperial Russian government was alarmed by the political implications and the spread of unorthodox practice, including [[glossolalia]]. Officials brought in psychiatrists to investigate the "Balta psychosis"; their reports had it that Inochentism was either an issue of poor nutrition and lack of education (V. S. Yakovenko) or just charlatanism from its leaders (A. D. Kotsovsky).<ref name="Clay, pp. 254–256">Clay, pp. 254–256.</ref> When the large crowds of Bessarabian(Moldavians) who gathered around Inochenție's cloister were identified as a threat, in February/March 1912 he was transferred to a monastery north of [[Saint Petersburg]], in [[Murmansk]], [[Olonets Governorate]].<ref>Clay, p. 258.</ref>

The community of Balta continued to thrive even in the absence of their leader and in December 1912, in response to a letter of Inochenție,<ref name="Clay259">Clay, p. 259.</ref> hundreds of Bessarabian peasants sold their belonging to move in with him in Murmansk.<ref name="clark"/> On February 5, 1913, the local abbot, Archimandrite Merkuri, called on the authorities to remove Inochenție and his disciples from the monastery. Within a few days, the [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian Army]] arrested Inochenție, who was sent to prison in [[Petrozavodsk]], while his followers were sent home in a [[military convoy]].<ref name="Clay259"/>

On August 23, 1913, the Holy Synod condemned Inochenție, whom they found responsible for "spreading demonic and nervous illnesses and even deaths among the people". He remained in prison until he repented; on November 26, 1914, he was released under the supervision of the local bishop.<ref name="Clay259"/> He continued to preach, but in May 1915, he was exiled to [[Solovetsky Monastery]], on the [[White Sea]], living in a [[skete]] on the remote [[Anzersky Island]].<ref name="clark"/><ref name="Clay259"/> Reportedly, the group preserved a mythical version of these events, which presumes that the church founder died a [[martyr]]'s death: "In 1914, the Russians set fire to New Jerusalem, and Inochenție was subject to the most horrifying tortures and torments. For 40 days, he was chained, [[Crown of Thorns|crowned with thorns]] and made to sit naked on broken glass. The saint's hair and nails were torn out with pliers; and for the course of seven days his left rib was poked at with a spear. Upon seeing that the Holy Prophet has braved all these torments, they proceeded to bury him in the earth, leaving only his head above ground, and for 33 more days they kept feeding him poison. On the fortieth day of torture and martyrdom, the sun went dark, and the saint rose to heaven."<ref name="hs105"/>