Doukhobor Totally Explained

Everything about The Doukhobors totally explained

The Doukhobors or Doukhabors (Dukhobory), earlierDukhobortsy are a Christian group of Russian origin. The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a 'way of life' - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. Starting no later than the 18th century, they rejected secular government, the Russian Orthodox priests, icons, all church ritual, the Bible as the supreme source of divine revelation and the divinity of Jesus. Their Pacifist beliefs and desire to avoid government interference in their life lead to an exodus of the majority of the group from the Russian Empire to Canada at the close of the 19th century. However, their interaction with the Canadian authorities was anything but peaceful.
Assimilated to a various extent into the Canadian mainstream, the modern descendants of the first Canadian Doukhobors continue to live in south-eastern British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

History

Early days - Ukraine and southern Russia

The origin of the Doukhobor movement dates to 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).
The first known Doukhobor leader, in 1755-75, was Siluan (Silvan) Kolesnikov, originating from the village of Nikolskoye in Yekaterinoslav Governorate in what's today south-central Ukraine.
The early Doukhobors called themselves "God's People" or simply "Christians". Their modern name, first in the form Doukhobortsy (Dukhobortsy, 'Spirit wrestlers') is thought to have been first used in 1785 or 1786 by Ambrosius, the Archbishop of Yekaterinoslav The archbishops intent was to mock them as heretics fighting against the Holy Ghost (Spirit;, Svyatoy Dukh); but later on (around the beginning of the 19th century, according to S.A. Inikova

Transcaucasian exile

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. 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 (in today's Georgia) and the Kedabek uyezd of Elisabethpol (Ganja) Governorate (in the north-west of today's Republic of Azerbaijan).
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).
The Kalmykov dynasty resided in the village of Gorelovka, one of Doukhobor communities in Georgia. (Shown on one of J. Kalmakoff's maps.. 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. only felt strengthened in their desire to abide in the righteousness of their faith. 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 wouldn't want to swear the oath of allegiance required by the new Czar Nicholas II in 1894.]] As persecution seemed to be unsuccessful in making the Doukhobors comply with the conscription laws, and the entire affair appeared an embarrassment in front 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 shall never return;
that'll migrate at their own expense;
community leaders currently being in prison or in exile in Siberia would have to serve the balance of their sentences before they can leave the country.
On the Prairies of Canada
In accordance with the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, Canadian government would grant 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 wouldn't 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 from their land. 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, Canadian Government exempted the Doukhobors from military service.
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 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 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 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", 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:
During Canada 2001 Census, 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, proportion of older people among these self-identified Doukhobors is higher than among the general population:

Age groups	Total	0-14 years	15-24 years	25-44 years	45-64 years	65-84 years	85 years and over
All Canadians, 2001	29,639,035	5,737,670	3,988,200	9,047,175	7,241,135	3,337,435	287,415
Self-identified Doukhobors, 2001	3,800	415	345	845	1,135	950	110
Self-identified Doukhobors, 1991	4,820	510	510	1,125	1,400	1,175	100

E.g., 28% of the self-identified Doukhobors in 2001 were aged over 65 (for example, born before 1936), as compared to 12% of the entire population of Canadian respondents. The aging of the denomination is accompanied by the shrinking of its size, starting in the 1960s:

Census year	Self-identified Doukhobor population
1921	12,674
1931	14,978
1941	16,898
1951	13,175
1961	13,234
1971	9,170
1981	?
1991	4,820
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).
The 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 don't practice baptism. They reject several items considered orthodox among Christian churches, including church organization & 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 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

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's 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.
Although most of the early Doukhobor village strcutures 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. 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.

Doukhobors in popular culture

Literature

Svoboda, a novel by Bill Stenson.

Music

The Canadian alternative rock band Sons of Freedom took its name from the radical Doukhobor movement of the same name.Further Information

Get more info on 'Doukhobors'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://doukhobor.totallyexplained.com">Doukhobor Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.