Sergei Nilus

Sergei Aleksandrovich Nilus (25 August 1862 – 14 January 1929) was a Russian religious writer, publicist, and self-described mystic whose works focused on Orthodox Christian spirituality, eschatology, and warnings of impending apocalypse. Born into a prosperous landowning family in Moscow, Nilus initially pursued a worldly life influenced by the secular currents of his milieu before undergoing a profound spiritual transformation that led him to monastic-like existence and prolific authorship on acquiring the Holy Spirit and discerning end times.

Nilus gained notoriety for appending the text known as The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to the 1905 edition of his book Velikoe v malom i antikhrist (The Great in the Small and the Antichrist), presenting it as purported evidence of a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy aligned with satanic forces ushering in the reign of the Antichrist. This publication, which Nilus claimed derived from secret documents obtained from the Okhrana archives, framed the Protocols within an apocalyptic religious narrative rather than mere political intrigue, influencing its reception in Russian Orthodox and conservative circles despite later exposures of the text as a plagiarism from earlier satirical works. His other key writings, such as dialogues on Christian life aims and collections of spiritual testimonies from Russian elders, emphasized hesychasm and vigilance against spiritual deception, earning him a following among traditionalist believers amid revolutionary upheavals.