History The origin of the Doukhobors dates to 17th and 18th century Russia. The term dukhobortsy (in English Doukhobors) means "spirit wrestlers."
The Doukhobors were a Christian sect, later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a 'way of life', which in the 18th century 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. As pacifists, they also ardently rejected the institutions of militarism and wars. For these reasons, the Doukhobors were harshly repressed in Russia. Both the tsarist state and church authorities were involved in the torture and exile of these dissidents, as well as taking away their normal freedoms. At the end of the nineteenth century two-thirds of the Doukhobors left Russia en masse. They chose Canada for its isolation, peacefulness, and the fact that the Canadian government welcomed them, and migrated there in 1899. 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 to go to the migration fund. He also raised money from wealthy friends. In Canada, the Doukhobors established a communal life style, similar to the Hutterites.
Perhaps the most well-known leader of the Doukhobors was Peter Vasilevich Verigin (1859-1924). 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.
In 1903, a radical faction of the Doukhobours, the Freedomites (also called the "Svobodniki" or "Sons of Freedom") embraced Verigin's writings in a zealous manner. A small Freedomite group participated in mass nudity and arson as means of protesting against materialism, the land seizure by the government, compulsory education in government schools and Verigin's assassination. This led to many confrontations with the Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that continued into the 1960s and later.
The other two factions of Doukhobors are the independents, who rejected hereditary leadership and communal living as being not essential to true Doukhoborism and took up homesteads in Saskatchewan, and the community Doukhobors, who, loyal to their spiritual leader Peter Vasilevich Verigin, moved to British Columbia to continue communal living. Many of the independent and community Doukhobors believed that the Freedomites violated the central Doukhobor principle of nonviolence (with arson and bombing) and therefore do not deserve to be called Doukhobors.

[edit] Current status

Today an estimated 30,000 Doukhobors live in Canada, and perhaps another 30,000 live in Russia. The Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, also known as Orthodox Doukhobors or Community Doukhobors, was formed by Peter P. Verigin (son of Peter V. Verigin) in 1938. It is the largest and most active Doukhobor organization, and is headquartered in British Columbia, Canada.
The 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 & 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.
Doukhobors are often associated with the Molokans, who originated in the same circumstances in Russia. At the end of the 17th century the protest movement against the official church split into Molokans and Doukhobors. These groups are distinguished more by their original social composition than by any major theological differences. Also, the Molokans chose a leadership of elders rather than a single authoritative leader as with the Orthodox Doukhobors.

[edit] See also

• Christian anarchism
• Peace church
• Simple living
• Spiritual Christians
• Freedomites
• List of pacifist faiths

[edit] External links

• Doukhobor Genealogy Website
• ISKRA, a Canadian bilingual Doukhobor magazine
• Spirit Wrestlers, a Canadian Doukhobour website
• www.Doukhobor-Museum.org
• Canadian Museum of Civilization Exhibit on the Doukhobors
• Sons of Freedom History
• CBC Archives: Doukhobor bomb blast ignites fear in the Kootenays
• Ivan Sysoev, prolific and well-known Doukhobor poet and hymnist
• Explosion on the Kettle Valley Line: The Death of Peter Verigin - Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History

[edit] References

• Doukhobor Place Names by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff
• Guide to Doukhobor Names & Naming Practices by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff
• Doukhobor Historical Maps by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff
• Songs of the Doukhobors: an introductory outline, collected and edited by Kenneth Peacock
• The Doukhobors of British Columbia, by Harry B. Hawthorn
• The Doukhobors: their history in Russia; their migration to Canada, by Joseph Elkinton
• The Doukhobors, by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic
• Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living, by Koozma J. Tarasoff
• Plakun Trava: The Doukhobors, by Koozma J. Tarasoff
• Spirit Wrestlers: centennial papers in honour of Canada's Doukhobor Heritage, by Koozma J. Tarasoff and Robert B. Klymasz
• The Community Doukhobors: A People in Transition, by John W. Freisen and Michael M. Verigin
• Spirit Wrestlers, from Jim Hamm Productions Limited, a 2002 documentary video and DVD about the Freedomite Doukhobors.