The New York herald., 1922-03-05


would not have gone SO far as Abraham
went. 1t cannot be accounted possible that
the mother of Isaac would have sacrificed
her son, even at the cost of her own saliva
ton.
No, "Petuishka" has never been diso-
beyed. His word is the additional COM
mandment He believes firmly that he
would be obeyed should he give this order
that the children and aged be done away
with and that the long journeying be be-
gun to forewarn Of the Day of Reckoning.
But if he gives the order there is the
strong possibility that he would be dis
obeyed. Mothers are strong in the love OF
their children and weak in their cleaving
to doctrine or creed or command which
would take their little ones from them
Records of all times In the kept memo
ries of mankind and the legends prove that
no love is SO fine, so deep, so great, SO en-
during, as the love Of mother for her
child.
"Petuishka" has not been taken seriously
curiosity excited by it. And yet the re-
port is true And on the word of one
who has lived with the Doukhobours,
there is not much doubt that anything
verigin wants his followers to do they
will do, even If it should be the Staying
of their own children or self-destructiop
of the entire sect"
What Doukhobour Means:
Literally Spirit Fighter
The word "Doukhobour'' means spirit
fghter" warrior for the Holy Ghost"
The sect first appeared in Russia some two
hundred years ago. To be more exact the
sect first was known in the year 1888 It
was formed by Russian who had been
under the influence of a foreigner of OBJ
scure origin-said to have been a Quaker
who had escaped from Siberia and lived
secretly in the domain of the Government
of Kharkoff.
The tenets of the faith even now bear
faint trace Of kinship to the Quaker
religion, but the present day Doukhobours
regard the Quakers as neither better nor
worse than others who assent to an out
side creed
as the chosen people. They trace their
origin through David, King of Israel. back
to Abel, son of Adam, who was killed by
his brother Cain, according to the Scrip
lures.
The truest among the Doukhobours is the
leader. He inherits his leadership from
his parents. He is the "son of God" He
is the living God" himself. Whatever the
leader says is "the word of God" What
he does is "the act of God"
In spite Of the fact that they trace their
lineage through David and Abraham to
Abel, son of Adam, and in spite of the fact
that that is Scriptural, the Doukhobours
do not take the Scriptures as we have them.
Through the ages and through their elected
isolation they have lost the Bible. No
doubt they had 1t or a part of it at the
inception Of their faith. But there are few
Of them who can read now. They live
apart to themselves, and certain fragments
OF what might have at one time been por-
tions OF the Scriptures live in their men,
ories. These fragments, inclusive of many
of the Psalms OF David, are much dis
torted.
story illustrating their ignorance OF
Scripture is that of verigin's letters from
Siberia to his people in the Russian wars
Banished to Siberia,
But Still Wouldn't Yield
Back in the eighties, soon after yeriein
became the accepted leader OF the Don.
khobours, he began to preach the abolition
of private property That was during the
period of the sect's greatest prosperity in
Russia, and when some OF the capitalists
among his followers called the attention OF
Car Nicholas to the preachments of yeri-
gin the monarch was only too glad to in.
terfere, and the result was that yerigin
was banished to Siberia.
But verigin would not yield; his power.
full will his inordinate ambition to rule
only chafed and increased in his confine-
ment. II was from Siberia that he urged
his followers to carry on, despite the perse.
cutions at the hands of the Government
He wrote them letters-for he can read and
write. While in Siberia he was accustomed
to copy the Epistles of Paul and send them
home to the Doukhobours as his own mes.
sages They never detected this plagiarism
because of their illiteracy and because
verigin does not allow them to read the
New Testament.
During their days In Russia the Doukho.
bours were almost constantly prosecuted.
The Government and the church drove
them from place to place. banished their
leaders and killed many Of them. It was
only during the reign Of Alexander I. that