Doukhobors - The Canadian Encyclopedia Religion & Philosophy Doukhobors Doukhobors are a sect of Russian dissenters, many of whom now live in western Canada. They are known for a radical pacifism which brought them notoriety during the 20th century. Today, their descendants in Canada number approximately 20,000, with one third still active in their culture. Doukhobors are a sect of Russian dissenters, many of whom now live in western Canada. They are known for a radical pacifism which brought them notoriety during the 20th century. Today, their descendants in Canada number approximately 20,000, with one third still active in their culture. Origins and migration Since they arose as a peasant group in southern Russia with orally transmitted teachings and traditions, their origin is obscure. Their doctrines appear to have been at least partially derived from those of a 17th-century renegade preacher Danilo Filipov, who dissented radically from the Orthodox Church . The Doukhobors rejected church liturgy, believing that god dwells in each human being and not in a church; they rejected secular governments; and practiced pacifism .

They replaced the Bible with orally transmitted psalms and hymns, which they called the Living Book. These are sung to this day at the molenie (religious gatherings). Group decisions are made collectively at sobranie (community meetings). Doukhobors do not use any religious symbols at these meetings except for the display of bread, salt and water, which represent the elements that sustain life. Some Doukhobors revere their chosen leaders, whom they regard as especially inspired by god, but Doukhobors generally believe that all people are equal because all have god within them. Many of them still live by the slogan coined by one of their leaders, "toil and peaceful life." Most Doukhobors no longer live communally, but many are still vegetarians and all practice pacifism. During the late 18th century, the group was persecuted by the tsars and the Russian Orthodox Church for heresy and pacifism.

In 1785, an Orthodox archbishop called them Doukhobors, or "Spirit-Wrestlers." It was intended to mean "Wrestlers against the Holy Spirit," but the group adopted it, interpreting it as "Wrestlers for and with the Spirit." Under Tsar Alexander I persecution lapsed, and in 1802 the Doukhobors were gathered in settlements in the Crimea, which was then a frontier region. Forty years later, under the less sympathetic Nicholas I, they were resettled among the fierce tribesmen of the recently conquered Caucasus. There they overcame initial difficulties and eventually prospered, particularly under their female leader, Lukeriia Kalmikova. Kalmikova died in 1886, and the ensuing struggle for leadership split the sect. Her adopted son Peter Verigin , later called Peter Gospodii (the Lordly), emerged as the majority leader, but he was immediately arrested by the authorities and sent into exile in Siberia. From afar, Verigin was able to exhort his followers to reaffirm their ideals and become even more radical, as the Doukhobors added vegetarianism, communal living and abstinence from alcohol to their other practices.

In 1895, they publicly burned their weapons in what is now known as The Burning of Arms, which may have been the first pacifist protest in modern times. Arrival in Canada Persecuted again, many of the Doukhobors were allowed to emigrate to Canada, assisted by novelist Leo Tolstoy and his followers in addition to British and American Quakers and Russian anarchists. More than 7,500 sailed to Canada in 1899 and settled in what was to become Saskatchewan, where they lived as a community. With 500 more Doukhobors, Verigin was allowed to join them there in 1902, making the migration of the Doukhobors the largest single mass migration in Canadian history. Initially, Doukhobors were permitted to register for individual homesteads but not to live communally. They received concessions regarding education and military service. Frank Oliver , who succeeded Clifford Sifton as minister of the interior in 1905, interpreted the Dominion Lands Act more strictly. When Doukhobors refused to swear an oath of allegiance — a condition for the final granting of homestead titles — their homestead entries were cancelled.

In 1908, Verigin led most of his followers to southern British Columbia, where he bought land and established a self-contained community of 6,000 members. Some Doukhobors split off to establish their own farms and became independents. Radical protests and government intervention A tiny, radical splinter, called Sons of Freedom, rejected any control by Canadian authorities and saw themselves as "ringing bells" destined to remind other Doukhobors to adhere to traditional values. To show their freedom from material possessions, from the 1920s onward they marched, burned their own homes, the homes of other Doukhobors and torched public buildings, rail lines and schools in disputes with the government of British Columbia over education and other issues. Many in this group were later imprisoned for nude protest parades and had their children taken from them. Mainly because of their opposition to military service, the War-time Elections Act disenfranchised several religious groups including Doukhobors and Mennonites .

The Doukhobors were disenfranchised in 1917, and again in 1934–55, partly because of their faith and adherence to pacifism which prevented them from bearing arms. During the 1930s, the effects of the Depression, internal disenchantment and mismanagement, combined with the incendiarism of fanatics and the unsympathetic policies of finance companies and government, ruined their communal living system. It had been one of the largest and most complex undertakings in communal living in North American history. In 1939, foreclosure took place and the land passed to the BC government. Members of the community group of Doukhobors bought it back in the 1960s under the leadership of John J. Verigin, a great-nephew of Peter the Lordly. New Denver Survivors After much Sons of Freedom unrest during the 1950s and 1960s, which included nude protests, parades and in some cases bombings of buildings, the children of protestors were captured by the RCMP and schooled in a compound, a former tuberculosis sanatorium, in New Denver, BC.

Some were held there for up to six years, but eventually the mothers of these children agreed to send their children to public schools, and the children were released. By the 1980s, fanatical activism had died down. However, 100 of the nearly 200 children sent to the compound — calling themselves the New Denver Survivors — launched a class action lawsuit in the 1990s over alleged physical, psychological and sexual abuses they endured at the school. They sought an apology and compensation from the government of British Columbia. None of the lawsuits succeeded, but a 1999 BC Ombudsman report called for an unconditional, clear and public apology to the victims. In 2004, the BC government issued a statement of regret instead. Some survivors were angry and appealed to the BC Human Rights Tribunal in 2012.

However, in 2013, tribunal member Enid Marion stated that she could not conclude "that the survivors’ race, ancestry or religion was a factor in the Ministry’s refusal to implement any of the report’s recommendations." Cultural rediscovery In the 1970s and 1980s, many Doukhobors returned to the Kootenay region and rediscovered their heritage. They formed Doukhobor choirs, Russian language programs, peace groups and other organizations that sought to instill Doukhobor values and practices in the next generation. They and independent Doukhobors started molennie and Doukhobor choirs in other regions of Canada. Others travelled to Russia to meet with and help Russian Doukhobors who had chosen not to migrate in the 19th century. Doukhobor artists, historians, journalists and writers began to create works that expressed their heritage and values while coming to terms with the modern world. Today, many members of the various Doukhobor groupings still struggle to forestall the effects of encroaching assimilation and declining membership.

Descendants of the original Doukhobor settlers number approximately 25,000 across Canada, but about one third of that number remains active in the culture, maintaining their spiritual practices, Russian language and pacifism to varying degrees. Most of these Doukhobors live in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, with smaller groups residing in other areas of BC, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Since 2008, the largest group, known as the Community Doukhobors, or Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC), led by John J. Verigin Jr., has maintained a strong presence in the interior of British Columbia, while Sons of Freedom Doukhobors live in or near Krestova, BC. Other members of Doukhobor groups or independent Doukhobors live throughout western Canada. Doukhobor : definition of Doukhobor and synonyms of Doukhobor (English) History Early days The origin of the Doukhobor movement dates back to the 17th and 18th century Russian Empire . Believing in God 's presence in every human being, they considered clergy and rituals unnecessary.

Their rejection of secular government , the Russian Orthodox priests, icons , all church ritual, the Bible as the supreme source of divine revelation, and the divinity of Jesus elicited negative response from the government and the established church, attested as early in 1734, when a Russian Government edict was issued against ikonobortsy ( Iconoclasts ). [3] The first known Doukhobor leader, in 1755-75, was Siluan (Silvan) Kolesnikov ( Russian : Силуан Колесников), originating from the village of Nikolskoye in Yekaterinoslav Governorate in what is today south-central Ukraine . [3] He was thought to be a well-read person, familiar with the works of Western mystics such as Karl von Eckartshausen and Louis Claude de Saint-Martin . [4] The early Doukhobors called themselves "God's People" or simply "Christians".

Their modern name, first in the form Doukhobortsy ( Russian : Духоборцы, Dukhobortsy, 'Spirit wrestlers') is thought to have been first used in 1785 or 1786 by Ambrosius, the Archbishop of Yekaterinoslav [3] or his predecessor, Nikifor ( Nikephoros Theotokis ) [5] [6] The archbishop's intent was to mock them as heretics fighting against the Holy Spirit ( Russian : Святой Дух, Svyatoy Dukh); but later on (around the beginning of the 19th century, according to S.A. Inikova [5] ) the dissenters picked the name, usually in a shorter form, Doukhobory ( Russian : Духоборы, Dukhobory), implying that they are fighting not against, but along with the Spirit. [3] As pacifists , the Doukhobors also ardently rejected the institutions of militarism and wars. For these reasons, the Doukhobors were harshly oppressed in Imperial Russia .

Both the tsarist state and church authorities were involved in the persecution of these dissidents, as well as taking away their normal freedoms. The first known use of the spelling Doukhobor is attested in a government edict of 1799, exiling 90 of them to Finland [3] (presumably, the Vyborg area, which was already part of the Russian Empire at the time) for their anti-war propaganda. In 1802, Tsar Alexander I encouraged resettlement of religious minorities to the so-called 'Milky Waters" (Molochnye Vody): the region of Molochnaya River (around Melitopol in today's southern Ukraine ). This was motivated by the desire both to quickly populate the rich steppe lands on the north shore of the Black and Azov Seas , and to prevent the "heretics" from contaminating the population of the heartland with their ideas. Many Doukhobors, as well as Mennonites from Prussia , accepted the Tsar's offer, coming to the Molochnaya from various provinces of the Empire over the next 20 years.

[7] Transcaucasian exile The village of Gorelovka in southern Georgia, the "capital" of the Doukhobors of Transcaucasia (1893) The Doukhobor worship place in Georgia As Nicholas I replaced Alexander, he issued a decree (February 6, 1826), intending to force assimilation of the Doukhobors by means of military conscription , prohibiting their meetings, and encouraging conversions to the established church. [3] On October 20, 1830, another decree followed, specifying that all able-bodied members of dissenting religious groups engaged in propaganda against the established church should be conscripted and sent to the Russian army in the Caucasus , while those not capable of military service, as well as their women and children, should be resettled in Russia's recently acquired Transcaucasian provinces. It is reported that, among other dissenters, some 5,000 Doukhobors were resettled to Georgia between 1841 and 1845. The Akhalkalaki uyezd (district) of the Tiflis (Tbilisi) Governorate was chosen as the main place of their settlement.

Doukhobor villages with Russian names appeared there: Gorelovka, Rodionovka, Yefremovka, Orlovka, Spasskoye (Dubovka), Troitskoye, and Bogdanovka . [8] [9] Later on, other groups of Doukhobors - resettled by the government, or migrating to Transcaucasia by their own accord - settled in other neighboring areas, including the Borchaly uyezd of Tiflis Governorate and the Kedabek uyezd of Elisabethpol (Ganja) Governorate ). After Russia's conquest of Kars and the Treaty of San Stefano of 1878, some Dukhobors from Tiflis and Elisabethpol Governorates moved to the Zarushat and Shuragel uyezds of the newly-created Kars Oblast (north-east of Kars in today's Republic of Turkey ). [9] The leader of the main group of Doukhobors that arrived to Transcaucasia from Ukraine in 1841 was one Illarion Kalmykov ( Russian : Илларион Калмыков).

He died in the same year, and was succeeded as the community leader by his son, Peter Kalmykov (? - 1864). After Peter Kalmykov's death in 1864, his widow Lukerya Vasilyevna Gubanova (? - December 15, 1886; ( Russian : Лукерья Васильевна Губанова); also known as Kalmykova, by her husband's surname) took his leadership position. [10] The Kalmykov dynasty resided in the village of Gorelovka, one of the Doukhobor communities in Georgia (shown on one of J. Kalmakoff's maps). [9] Lukerya was respected by the provincial authorities, who had to cooperate with the Doukhobors on various matters. The number of Doukhbors in the Transcaucasia reached 20,000 by the time of her death in 1886. By that time, the Doukhobors of the region had become vegetarian , and become aware of Leo Tolstoy 's philosophy, which they found quite similar with their traditional teachings.

[10] Religious revival and crises The death of "Lukerya", who had no children, was followed by a leadership crisis. Lukerya's own plan was for leadership to pass after her death to her assistant, Peter Vasilevich Verigin . However, only part of the community ("the Large Party"; Russian : Большая сторона Bolshaya Storona) accepted him as the leader; others, known as "the Small Party" (Малая сторона Malaya Storona), sided with Lukerya's brother Michael Gubanov and the village elder Aleksei Zubkov. [10] [11] 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 arrested Verigin. He was to spend the next 16 years in exile in Russia's Far North; some of his associates were sent to exile as well.

Still, the Large Party Doukhobors continued to consider him their spiritual leader and to communicate with him, by mail and via delegates who traveled to see him in Obdorsk , Siberia. [10] [11] At the same time, the government applied greater pressure to enforce the Doukhobors' compliance with the laws and regulations that they found vexatious, such as registering marriages and births, contributing grain to state emergency funds, or swearing oaths of allegiance. Even worse, the universal military conscription that had been introduced in most of the Russian Empire, was now (in 1887) imposed in its Transcaucasian provinces as well. While the Small Party people would cooperate with the state, the Large Party, wounded by the arrest of Verigin and other leaders, and inspired by his letters from exile, [12] only felt strengthened in their desire to abide in the righteousness of their faith. Under instructions from Peter V. Verigin, they stopped using tobacco and alcohol, divided their property equally between the members of the community, and resolved to adhere to the principles of non-violence. They would refuse to swear the oath of allegiance required by the new Czar Nicholas II in 1894.

[3] [11] Under further instructions from Verigin, as a sign of absolute pacifism, the Doukhobors of the three Governorates of Transcaucasia made the decision to destroy their weapons. As the Doukhobors assembled to burn them on the night of June 28/29 (July 10/11, Gregorian Calendar ) 1895, with the singing of psalms and spiritual songs, arrests and beatings by government Cossacks followed. Soon, Cossacks were billeted in many of the Large Party Doukhobors' villages, and over 4,000 of their original residents were dispersed through villages in other parts of Georgia. Many of those died of starvation and exposure. [11] [13] Migration to Canada The port of Batumi as it was in 1881.

Here the Doukhobors embarked on their transatlantic journey in 1898 and 1899 [14] As persecution seemed to be unsuccessful in making the Doukhobors comply with the conscription laws, and the entire affair was an embarrassment in the face of international public opinion, the Russian government agreed in 1897 to let the Doukhobors leave the country, subject to a number of conditions: the emigrants should never return; they would migrate at their own expense; community leaders currently in prison or in exile in Siberia would have to serve the balance of their sentences before they could leave. [3] Some of the emigrants went first to Cyprus , but the climate there did not suit them. Meanwhile, the rest of the community chose Canada for its isolation, peacefulness, and the fact that the government welcomed them. Around 6,000 migrated there in the first half of 1899, settling on land granted to them by the government in what is now Manitoba and Saskatchewan .

More people, including the Cyprus colony, joined later that year, bringing the total count to 7,400 [13] - about one-third of the total Doukhobor population in Transcaucasia . Several smaller groups joined the main body of migrants in the later years, directly from Transcaucasia, or from various places of exile. [11] Among these late-comers were some 110 leaders of the community that were in prisons or in exile in Siberia in 1899 and were obliged to serve out their term of punishment before they could join their community in Canada. [13] The Doukhobors' passage across the Atlantic Ocean was largely paid for by Quakers and Tolstoyans , who sympathized with their plight, and by the writer Leo Tolstoy , who arranged for the royalties from his novel Resurrection , his story Father Sergei, and some others, to go to the migration fund. He also raised money from wealthy friends. In the end, his efforts provided half of the immigration fund, about 30,000 roubles.

The anarchist Peter Kropotkin and James Mavor , a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto , also helped the migrants. [15] Prairies of Canada Vosnesenia ('Ascension') village, NE of Arran, Saskatchewan (North Colony). A typical one-street village, modeled on those back in the Old World In accordance with the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, Canadian government would grant 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land, for a nominal fee of $10, to any male homesteader able to establish a working farm on that land within three years. Living on single-family homesteads would not fit Doukhobors' communitarian tradition. Fortunately, the Act contained the so-called Hamlet Clause , adopted some 15 years earlier to accommodate other communitarian groups such as Mennonites , which would allow the beneficiaries of the Act to live not on the actual land grant, but in a village ("hamlet") within 3 miles (4.8 km) from their land. [16] This would allow the Doukhobors to establish a communal life style, similar to the Hutterites .

Even more importantly, by passing in late 1898, Section 21 of the Dominion Military Act, the Canadian Government exempted the Doukhobors from military service. [16] The land for the Doukhobor immigrants, in the total amount of 773,400 acres (3,130 km2), was granted in three " block settlement " areas ("reserves"), plus an "annex", within what was to soon become the Province of Saskatchewan : [17] The North Colony, also known as the "Thunder Hill Colony" or "Swan River Colony", in the Pelly and Arran districts of Saskatchewan. It became home to 2,400 Doukhobors from Tiflis Governorate , who established 20 villages on 69,000 acres (280 km2) of the land grant. The South Colony, also known as the "Whitesand Colony" of " Yorkton Colony", in the Canora , Veregin and Kamsack districts of Saskatchewan.

Some 3,500 Doukhobors from Tiflis Governorate , Elisabethpol Governorate , and Kars Oblast , settled there in 30 villages on 215,010 acres (870.1 km2) of land grant. The Good Spirit Lake Annex, in the Buchanan district of Saskatchewan, received 1,000 Doukhobors from Elisabethpol Governorate and Kars Oblast. Russia settled there in 8 villages on 168,930 acres (683.6 km2) of land grant. The annex was along the Good Spirit River, flowing into Good Spirit Lake (previously known as Devil's Lake). The Saskatchewan Colony, also known as the " Rosthern colony", [16] " Prince Albert Colony" or " Duck Lake Colony", was located along the North Saskatchewan River in the Langham and Blaine Lake districts of Saskatchewan, north-west of Saskatoon . 1,500 Doukhobors from Kars Oblast settled there in 13 villages on 324,800 acres (1,314 km2) of land grant.

Geographically, North and South Colonies, as well as Good Spirit Lake Annex (Devil's Lake Annex, to non-believers) were around Yorkton , not far from the border with today's Manitoba ; the Saskatchewan (Rosthern) Colony, was located north-west of Saskatoon , quite a distance from the other three "reserves". At the time of settlement (1899), all four "reserves" were located in the Northwest Territories : Saskatchewan (Rosthern) Colony in the territories' provisional District of Saskatchewan, North Reserve, straddling the border of Saskatchewan and Assiniboia districts, and the other two entirely in Assiniboia. After creation of the Province of Saskatchewan in 1905, all reserves found itself within that province. Doukhobor women pulling a plough Peter Verigin, the Doukhobor leader induced followers to free their "brethren" (animals) and pull their wagons and ploughs themselves. On the lands granted to them in the prairies, the settlers established villages along the same lines as back in the old country.

Some of the new villages were given the same Russian names as the settlers home villages in Transcaucasia (Spasovka, Large and Small Gorelovka, Slavianka etc.); others were given more abstract, "spiritual" names, not common in Russia: "Uspeniye" (' Dormition '), "Terpeniye" ('Patience'), "Bogomdannoye" ('Given by God'), "Osvobozhdeniye" ('Liberation'). [17] The settlers found Saskatchewan winters much harsher than those in Transcaucasia, and were particularly disappointed that the climate was not as suitable for growing fruits and vegetables. Many of the men found it necessary to take non-farm jobs, especially in railway construction, while the women stayed behind to till the land. [16] Due to Doukhobors' leaders aversion to private ownership in land, Petr Verigin (who had served his sentence and was able to come to Canada in 1902) managed to have land registered in the name of the community.

But by 1906, the Dominion Government, in the person of Frank Oliver , the Minister of Interior , started requiring registering the land in the name of individual owners. Many Doukhobors' refusal to do so resulted in 1907 in the reverting of more than a third (258,880 acres (1,047.7 km2)) of Doukhobor lands back to the Crown. Another problematic issue raised by Oliver was that, in contradiction to the previous minister, Clifford Sifton 's assurances given before the Doukhbors arrival to Canada, the Doukhobors would now have to become naturalized citizens (i.e., British subjects) and to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the Crown - something that was always against their principles. [18] A new crisis was to develop just a decade after the conscription crisis in Russia. The crisis resulted in a three-way split of the Doukhobor community in Canada: [3] The edinolichniki ('Independents'), who constituted by 1907 some 10% of the Canadian Doukhobors.

They maintained their religion, but abandoned communal ownership of land, rejecting hereditary leadership and communal living as being non-essential to it. The largest group - the Community Doukhobors - continued to be loyal to their spiritual leader Peter V. Verigin. They formed an organization known as Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) (Now USCC). The more radical Sons of Freedom group (also called the "Svobodniki" or "Freedomites"), which emerged in 1903, embraced Verigin's writings in a zealous manner. The Independents were a group most easily integrating into Canadian capitalist society. They had no problem with registering their land groups, and largely remained in Saskatchewan. It was they who, much later on (in 1939) finally rejected the authority of Peter Verigin's great-grandson, John J. Verigin . British Columbia 1900s photograph of Sons of Freedom nude protest.

To take his followers away from the corrupting influence of non-Doukhobors and Edinolichniki ('individual owners') Doukhobors, and to find better conditions for agriculture, Verigin, starting in 1908, bought large tracts of land in south-eastern British Columbia . His first purchase were near the US border around Grand Forks . Later, he acquired large tracts of land further east, in the Slocan Valley around Castlegar . Between 1908 and 1912, some 8,000 people moved to these British Columbia lands from Saskatchewan, to continue their communal way of living. [17] In the milder climate of British Columbia, the settlers were able to plant fruit trees, and within a few years became renowned orchardists and producers of fruit preserves. As the Community Doukhobors left Saskatchewan, the "reserves" there were closed by 1918.

The Sons of Freedom, meanwhile, responded to the Doukhobors conflict with Canadian policy with mass nudity and arson as a means of protesting against materialism, the land seizure by the government, compulsory education in government schools and, later on, Verigin's supposed assassination. This led to many confrontations with the Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (continuing into the 1970s). Peter V. Verigin was killed in a still-unsolved Canadian Pacific Railway train explosion on October 29, 1924 near Farron , between Castlegar and Grand Forks, British Columbia . The government initially (during investigation) had stated the crime was perpetrated by people within the Doukhobor community although the Doukhobors' customary failure to cooperate with Canadian authorities due to fear of intersect violence culminated in no arrests being made. To date, it is still unknown who was responsible for the bombing. Thus, while the Doukhobors were initially welcomed by the Canadian government, this assassination controversy, as well as Doukhobor beliefs regarding communal living and no child education, amongst other beliefs, created an air of mistrust between government authorities and Doukhobors which would last for decades.

Doukhobors at an outdoor meeting, Thrums, British Columbia, 1951 Peter V. Verigin's son, Peter P. Verigin who arrived from the Soviet Union in 1928, succeeded his father as leader of the Community Doukhobors. He became known as Peter the Purger, and worked to smooth the relations between the Community Doukhobors and the larger Canadian society. His policies, seen by the radical Sons of Freedom as ungodly and assimilationist, were answered by increasing protests on the part of the latter. The Sons of Freedom would burn the Community Doukhobors' property, and organize more nude parades. The Canadian Parliament responded in 1932 by criminalizing public nudity . Over the years, over 300 radical Doukhobor men and women were arrested for this offense, which typically carried a three-year prison sentence. [16] In 1947-48, Sullivan's Royal Commission investigated arsons and bombing attacks in British Columbia, and recommended a number of measures intended to integrate the Doukhobors into the Canadian society, notably through the participation of their children in public education.

Around that time, the provincial government entered into direct negotiations with the Freedomite leadership. But W. A. C. Bennett 's Social Credit government, which came to power in 1952, took a harder stance against the "Doukhobor problem". In 1953, 150 children of the Sons of Freedom were forcibly interned by the government agents in a residential school in New Denver, British Columbia . Abuse of the interned children was later alleged. In less than a half a century Sons of Freedom acts of violence and arson rose to 1112 separate events and over $20 million in damages (bill to taxpayers) that included public school bombings and burnings, bombings of Canadian railroad bridges and tracks, [19] the bombing of the Nelson courthouse, [20] and a huge power transmission tower servicing the East Kootenay district resulting in the loss of 1200 jobs.

Many of the independent and community Doukhobors believed that the Freedomites violated the central Doukhobor principle of nonviolence (with arson and bombing) and therefore did not deserve to be called Doukhobors.[ citation needed ] However, rifts generated during the 20th century between the Sons of Freedom and Community and Independent Doukhobors have largely been laid to rest now. Staying behind After the departure of the more zealous and non-compromising Doukhobors and many community leaders to Canada at the close of in Elisabethpol Governorate (Azerbaijan); the former Doukhobor villages now were mostly populated by Baptists . Elsewhere, many Doukhobors joined other dissenter sects, such as Molokans or Stundists . [10] Those that remained Doukhobors were required to submit to the state. Few protested against military service: for example, out of 837 Russian Court Martial cases against conscientious objectors recorded between the beginning of World War I and April 1, 1917, merely 16 had Doukhobor defendants - and none of those hailed from the Transcaucasian provinces.

[10] In 1921-23, Verigin's son Peter P. Verigin arranged the resettlement of 4,000 Doukhobors from the Ninotsminda (Bogdanovka) district in south Georgia into Rostov Oblast in southern Russia and other 500 into Zaporizhia Oblast in Ukraine. [11] [21] The Soviet reforms affected greatly the life of the Doukhobors both in their old villages in Georgia and in the new settlement areas in Russian and Ukraine. The state anti-religious campaigns resulted in the suppression of Doukhobor religious tradition, and the loss of books and archival records. A number of religious leaders were arrested or exiled: for example, 18 people were exiled from Gorelovka alone in 1930. [11] On the other hand, Communists' imposition of collective farming did not go against the grain of Doukhobor way of life. The industrious Doukhobors made their collective farms prosperous, specializing e.g. in cheese -making.

[11] Of the Doukhobor communities in the USSR, those in South Georgia were the most sheltered from the outside influence, because of the sheer geographic isolation in the mountainous terrain, their location near the international border, and concomitant travel restrictions for outsiders. [11] Current status Today an estimated 20,000–40,000 people of Doukhobor heritage live in Canada , some 4,000 of them claiming "Doukhobor" as their religious affiliation. Perhaps another 30,000 live in Russia and neighboring countries. About 5,000 live in the U.S. along the northernmost parts of the US-Canada border .[ citation needed ] Canada CCUB, the Orthodox Doukhobors organization or Community Doukhobors, was succeeded by Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ , formed by Peter P. Verigin (Peter V. Verigin's son) in 1938. The largest and most active Doukhobor organization, it is headquartered in Grand Forks, British Columbia .

[22] During Canada 2001 Census , [23] 3,800 persons in Canada (of which, 2,940 in British Columbia , 200 in Alberta , 465 in Saskatchewan , and 155 in Ontario ) identified their religious affiliation as "Doukhobor". As the age distribution shows, the proportion of older people among these self-identified Doukhobors is higher than among the general population: Age groups 2001 3,800 Of course, the number of Canadians sharing Doukhobor heritage is much higher than the number of those who actually consider oneself a member of this religion. Doukhobor researchers made estimates from "over 20,000" people "from [Doukhobor] stock" in Canada (Postnikoff, 1977 [24] ) to over 40,000 Doukhobors by "a wider definition of religion, ethnicity, way of life, and social movement" (Tarasoff, 2002 [25] ). Canadian Doukhobors no longer live communally.

Their prayer meetings and gatherings are dominated by the singing of a cappella psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in Russian . Doukhobors do not practice baptism . They reject several items considered orthodox among Christian churches, including church organization and liturgy, the inspiration of the scriptures, the literal interpretation of resurrection, the literal interpretation of the Trinity , and the literal interpretation of heaven and hell. Some avoid the use of alcohol, tobacco, and animal products for food , and eschew involvement in partisan politics. Doukhobors believe in the goodness of man and reject the idea of original sin . The religious philosophy of the Doukhobors is based on the ten commandments including "Love God with all thy heart, mind and soul" and "Love thy neighbour as thyself." The Doukhobors have several important slogans. One of the most popular, "Toil and Peaceful Life," was coined by Peter V. Verigin. Georgia and Russia Peter Kalmykov's house in Gorelovka, Georgia Since the late 1980s, many of the Doukhobors of Georgia started emigrating to Russia.

Various groups moved to Tula Oblast , Rostov Oblast , Stavropol Krai , and elsewhere. After the independence of Georgia, many villages with Russian names received Georgian names - for example, Bogdanovka became Ninotsminda , Troitskoe became Sameba , etc. According to various estimated, in Ninotsminda District, the Doukhobor population fell from around 4000 in 1979 to 3,000-3,500 in 1989 and not much more than 700 in 2006. In Dmanisi district, from around 700 Doukhobors living there in 1979, no more than 50 seem to remain by the mid-2000s. Those who do remain are mostly older people, since it is the younger generation who found it easier to move to Russia. The Doukhobor community of Gorelovka (in Ninotsminda District), the former "capital" of the Kalmykov family, is thought to be the best preserved in all post-Soviet countries .

[11] Historical sites and museums In 1995, the Doukhobor Suspension Bridge spanning the Kootenay River was designated a National Historic Site of Canada . [26] The sites of Community Doukhobors' headquarters in Veregin, Saskatchewan , was designated a National Historic Site in 2006, under the name " Doukhobors at Veregin ". Leo Tolstoy Statue at Doukhobor Discovery Centre A Doukhobor museum, currently known as "Doukhobor Discovery Centre" (formerly, "Doukhobor Village Museum") operates in Castlegar, British Columbia . It contains over a thousand artifacts representing the arts, crafts, and daily life of the Doukhobors of the Kootenays in 1908-1938.

[27] [28] Although most of the early Doukhobor village structures in British Columbia have vanished or been significantly remodeled by later users, a part of Makortoff Village outside of Grand Forks, British Columbia has been preserved as a museum by Peter Gritchen, who purchased the property in 1971 and opened it as the Mountain View Doukhobor Museum on June 16, 1972. The future of the site became uncertain after his death in 2000. But, in cooperation with a coalition of the local organizations and concerned citizens, the historical site, known as Hardy Mountain Doukhobor Village , was purchased The Land Conservancy of British Columbia in March 2004, while the museum collection was acquired by the Boundary Museum Society and loaned to TLC for display. [29] Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa has a collection of Doukhobor-related items as well. A special exhibition there was run in 1998-99 to mark the centennial anniversary of the Doukhobor arrival to Canada. [30] Popular culture Svoboda, a novel by Bill Stenson .

[31] Head Cook At Weddings and Funerals, And Other Stories of Doukhobor Life, a novel by Vi Plotnikoff. Published by Raincoast Books, 2001. Tanya by Eli Popoff. Published by Mir Publication Society 1975. Doukhobor Daze by Hazel O'Neail. Published by Gray's Publishing Ltd, Evergreen Press Limited, 1962. Man and Other Natural Disasters by Nerys Parry. Published by Great Plains Publications, 2011. [32] Non-fiction The Spirit Wrestlers: A Russian Odyssey by Philip Marsden . Published by HarperCollins, 1998. Terror in the Name of God: The story of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors by Simma Holt, 1964. The Doukhobors by George Woodcock , Ivan Avakumovic, Carleton University Institute of Canadian Studies. Published by McClelland and Stewart, 1977 Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living, by Koozma J. Tarasoff.

Published by Legas Publishers and Spirit Wrestlers Publishing, 2002. Music In 1962, the American folksinger Malvina Reynolds wrote Do As the Doukhobors Do (originally The Doukhobor Do) about the Doukhobor nude protests. The song was recorded by Pete Seeger and is available on The Best of Broadside 1962-1988 compilation. The Canadian alternative rock band Sons of Freedom took its name from the radical Doukhobor movement of the same name . In the 1967 song "Ferdinand the Imposter" by Canadian group The Band , written by Canadian-born Robbie Robertson, the title character "... claimed he was a Doukhobor, but they never heard of that in Baltimore". Television The Doukhobors: The Living Book and Toil and Peaceful Life; Two-part 1976 CBC/NFB film narrated by George Woodcock. See also Guide to Doukhobor Names & Naming Practices by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff (Doukhobor Genealogy Website) Plakun Trava: The Doukhobors, by Koozma J.

Tarasoff Songs of the Doukhobors: an introductory outline, collected and edited by Kenneth Peacock Spirit Wrestlers: centennial papers in honour of Canada's Doukhobor Heritage, by Koozma J. Tarasoff and Robert B. Klymasz ISBN 0-660-14034-9 Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living, by Koozma J. Tarasoff The Community Doukhobors: A People in Transition, by John W. Freisen and Michael M. Verigin The Doukhobors, by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic The Doukhobors of British Columbia, by Harry B. Hawthorn The Doukhobors: their history in Russia; their migration to Canada, by Joseph Elkinton Spirit Wrestlers, from Jim Hamm Productions Limited, a 2002 documentary video and DVD about the Freedomite Doukhobors. Further reading Burnham, Dorothy K. Unlike the Lilies: Doukhobor Textile Traditions in Canada. Toronto, Canada: Royal Ontario Museum, 1986.

ISBN 0-88854-322-0 Donskov, Andrew, John Woodsworth, and Chad Gaffield. The Doukhobor Centenary in Canada: A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective on Their Unity and Diversity. Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa, 2000. ISBN 0-88927-276-X Holt, Simma. Terror in the Name of God: The story of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors. McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto/Montreal,1964. Janzen, William. Limits on Liberty: The Experience of Mennonite, Hutterite, and Doukhobor Communities in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8020-2731-8 Makarova, V. 2013 (forthcoming). Doukhobor nudism: exploring the socio-cultural roots. Culture and Religion Makarova V. 2012. The use of Russian in contemporary Doukhobor prayer service.

In: International scientific research Internet conference “Current issues in philology and methods of teaching foreign languages”., 1 February – 29th February, 2012, Novosibirsk, Russia. Международнaя научно-практическая Интернет-конференция «Актуальные проблемы филологии и методики преподавания иностранных языков», 1 февраля - 29 февраля 2012 года; Makarova V. A., Usenkova, E.V., Evdokimova, V.V. Evgrafova, K. V. 2011. The Language of Saskatchewan Doukhobors: Introduction to analysis. Izvestija Vysshix uchebnyx zavedenij [The News of Higher Schools]. Serija Gumanitarnyje nauki [Humanities]. Razdel Lingvistika [Linguistics section]. Vol 2 (2), pp 146-151. Mealing, Francis Mark. Doukhobor Life: A Survey of Doukhobor Religion, History, & Folklife.

[S.l.]: Kootenay Doukhobor Historical Society, 1975. O'Neail, Hazel. Doukhobor Daze. Surrey, B.C.: Heritage House, 1994. ISBN 1-895811-22-8 Rak, Julie. Negotiated Memory: Doukhobor Autobiographical Discourse. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7748-1030-0 Rozinkin, W. M. The Doukhobor Saga. [Nelson, B.C.: News Publishing Co.], 1974. Schaarschmidt, G. 2012. Russian language history in Canada. Doukhobor internal and external migrations: effects on language development and structure. In: V. Makarova (Ed), Russian Language Studies in North America: the New Perspectives from Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. London/New York: Anthem Press.pp 235-260. Sorokin, Stephan Sebastian, and Steve Lapshinoff. Doukhobor Problem.

Crescent Valley, B.C.: Steve Lapshinoff, 1990. Tarasoff, Koozma J. Traditional Doukhobor Folkways: An Ethnographic and Biographic Record of Prescribed Behaviour. Mercury series. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1977. Tarasoff, Koozma J. Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living. Ottawa: Legas, 2002. ISBN 1-896031-12-9 Tracie, Carl. Toil and Peaceful Life: Doukhobor Village Settlement in Saskatchewan, 1899-1918. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 1996. ISBN 0-88977-100-6 Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ. Hospitality: Vegetarian Cooking the Doukhobor Way. Grand Forks, B.C.: USCC Centennial Cookbook Committee, 2003. ISBN 0-9732514-0-9 Woodsworth, John.

Russian Roots and Canadian Wings: Russian Archival Documents on the Doukhobor Emigration to Canada. Canada/Russia series, v. 1. [Manotick, Ont.]: Penumbra Press, 1999. ISBN 0-921254-89-X External links

Question: The name of the Doukhobor religious sect means what?
Answer: Spirit wrestler