" For the purpose of convincing novices
of the Scriptural foundation of their rites and belief they are
referred to Matthew xix., 12: "and there be eunuchs which have
made themselves for the kingdom of Heaven's sake," etc.; and Mark
ix., 43-47; Luke xxiii., 29: "blessed are the barren," etc., and
others of this nature. As to the operation itself, pain is
represented as voluntary martyrdom, and persecution as the
struggle of the spirit of darkness with that of light. They got
persons to join the order by monetary offers. Another method was
to take into service young boys, who soon became lost to society,
and lied with effrontery and obstinacy. They had secret methods
of communicating with one another, and exhibited a passion for
riches, a fact that possibly accounts for their extended
influence. The most perfect were those "worthy of mounting the
white horse," the "bearers of the Imperial seal," who were
deprived of the testicles, penis, and scrotum. The operation of
castration among these people was performed at one stroke or at
two different times, in the former case one cicatrix being left,
and in the latter two. The greater number--those who had
submitted to the "first purification," conferring upon them the
"lesser seal"--had lost testicles and scrotum.
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