Sergei Nilus

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 pseudohistory Protocols of the Elders of Zion as his final chapter.

Though he was raised in the Russian Orthodox Church, Nilus did not care much about his 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, whom Nilus credited with both healing a throat infection and turning him back to his Christian faith.

The newly appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers, Pyotr Stolypin, 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.

For example, Nilus wrote, "A nun arrived... and told me that it is impossible now for nuns to travel by train: there is no abuse, mockery, or oath that Satanic malice will not pour down on their poor heads... She has to put on a dark blue skirt so as to pass for a peaceable old woman, since otherwise she would be unable to walk down the aisle for all the cursing of monasteries and those who practice the monastic life.

"[4] At another point in the same book, an Optina Starets confided in Nilus, "A godless, faithless time has come for Orthodox Russia.

"[5] Nilus discovered the papers of Nikolay Motovilov, a member of the Russian nobility, Fool for Christ, and a disciple of St. Seraphim of Sarov.

Nilus published one of Motoviliv's manuscripts as "A Wonderful Revelation to the World: The Conversation of St. Seraphim with Nicholas Alexandrovich Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit".