page_title: Peter Verigin
section_title: In Transcaucasia
hierarchical_section_title: Peter Verigin / Biography / In Transcaucasia
caption_attribution_description: English: Sirotski dom, the main building of the Dukhobor spiritual complex in Gorelovka, Gerogia. Also the Dukhobor leader Petr Kalmykoff lived here. Built in 1847. ქართული: სიროტსკი დომ - სოფელი გორელოვკის დუხობორული სათემო-რელიგიური კომპლექსის მთავარი სახლი, აშენებულია 1847 წელს პეტრე კალმიკოვის მიერ, ნინოწმინდის რაიონი, ჯავახეთი. Русский: Сиротский дом, главный дом духоборского духовного комплекса в Гореловке, Грузия. Построено в 1847 год. Здесь жил Петр Калмыков.
context_page_description: Peter Vasilevich Verigin often known as Peter "the Lordly" Verigin was a Russian philosopher, activist and leader of the Community Doukhobors in Canada.
context_section_description: Peter Vasilevich Verigin was born on July 11 [O.S. June 29] 1859, in the village of Slavyanka in Elisabethpol Governorate of Russian Empire. The village, located in the north-west of what is today the Republic of Azerbaijan, was one of the settlements founded by the Doukhobors, a large sect of communally living peasants, exiled to the Transcaucasia from Ukraine and southern Russia in the 1840s. His father, Vasily Verigin, was an illiterate, but reportedly rich peasant, who, once elected a village headman, "showed himself a real despot".
  June 29 happens to be the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Although the Doukhobors don't venerate saints per se, this day - often known as St. Peter's Day (Russian: Петров день) is still a traditional day of celebration, and thus it may have been the case that young Verigin was named after St. Peter.
  Peter was one of seven brothers. His four older brothers did not study anything at all, but Peter and two other brothers, Vasily and Grigory, were home-schooled, at least to the extent of learning to read and write. There were no formal schools in Doukhobor villages at the time.
  At quite a young age, Peter Verigin married Evdokia Georgievna Kotelnikova. In 1882, soon after his marriage, while his wife was expecting their first child (Peter P. Verigin), he started working as a secretary and administrative assistant for the leader of the Transcaucasian Doukhobors, Lukerya Vasilyevna Gubanova (born 18??—died December 15, 1886; Russian: Лукерья Васильевна Губанова).
  Lukerya Gubanova was the widow of the community's previous leader, Peter Kalmykov and was also known as Kalmykova, by her late husband's surname.
  The Kalmykov dynasty resided in the village of Gorelovka, one of Doukhobor communities in Georgia (shown on one of J.J. Kalmakoff's maps.), in the Sirotsky Dom (Russian: Сиротский дом), or "The Orphanage" - the facility serving as the Doukhobor headquarter, as well as, indeed, home for orphans and the aged.
  Lukerya was respected by the provincial authorities, who had to cooperate with the Doukhobors on various matters. While working for her and living at her residence, Verigin received an extensive religious education, and was prepared by childless Lukerya to become her successor as the leader of the Doukhobors. He became acquainted with the Doukhobor ideas of administration - rejecting secular government. The Doukhobors rejected the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Bible, and were naturally pacifists and conscientious objectors who refused to participate in wars and battles.
  The death of "Queen Lukerya" in 1886 was followed by a leadership crisis. However, only part of the community ("the Large Party"; Russian: Большая сторона) accepted her designated successor, Peter Verigin, as the leader; others, known as "the Small Party" (Малая сторона), sided with Lukerya's brother, Michael Gubanov, and the village elder Aleksei Zubkov.
  While the Large Party was a majority, the Small Party had the support of the older members of the community and the local authorities. So, on January 26, 1887, at the community service where the new leader was to be acclaimed, the police walked in and took Verigin away. He was to spend the next 16 years in government custody. Still, the Large Party Doukhobors maintained contact with him and continued to consider him their spiritual leader.
caption: "The Orphanage"
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