In the 17th-and-18th-century
Russian Empire, the first recorded Doukhobors concluded clergy and formal rituals are unnecessary, believing in God's presence in every human being. They rejected the secular government, the
Russian Orthodox priests, icons, all church rituals, and the belief the Bible is a supreme source of divine revelation. The first-known Doukhobor leader was Siluan (Silvan) Kolesnikov (), who was active from 1755 to 1775. Kolesnikov lived in the village Nikolskoye,
Yekaterinoslav Governorate, in modern-day south-central
Ukraine. The early Doukhobors called themselves "God's People" or "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 or his predecessor Nikifor (
Nikephoros Theotokis). The archbishop's intent was to mock the Doukhobors as heretics fighting against the
Holy Spirit (,
Svyatoy Dukh) but around the beginning of the 19th century, according to SA Inikova, The first known use of the spelling
Doukhobor is in a 1799 government edict exiling 90 of the group to Finland; The early Doukhobors were pacifists who rejected military institutions and war and were thus oppressed in
Imperial Russia. Both the
tsarist state and church authorities were involved in the persecution and deprivation of the dissidents' normal freedoms. In 1802, Tsar
Alexander I encouraged the resettlement of religious minorities to the "Milky Waters" (
Molochnye Vody) region around the
Molochnaya River around
Melitopol in modern-day southern
Ukraine. This was motivated by the desire 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 Emperor's offer and travelled to the Molochnaya from other provinces of the Empire over the next 20 years. In 1844, Doukhobors who were being exiled from their home near
Melitopol to the village of Bogdanovka carved the
Doukhobor Memorial Stone, which is held in the collection of the
Melitopol Museum of Local History. After Russia's conquest of
Kars and the
Treaty of San Stefano of 1878, some Doukhobors from Tiflis and Elisabethpol Governorates moved to the Zarushat and Shuragel uyezds of the newly created
Kars Oblast to the north-east of
Kars in the modern-day
Republic of Turkey. The leader of the main group of Doukhobors, who arrived in Transcaucasia from Ukraine in 1841, was Illarion Kalmykov (). 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; (); also known as Kalmykova) took his leadership position. The Kalmykov dynasty lived in the village of Gorelovka, a Doukhobor community in Georgia. An isolated population of exiled Doukhobors, a third "party", was about east in
Amur Oblast. At the same time, the Russian government applied greater pressure to enforce the Doukhobors' compliance with its laws and regulations. The Doukhobors had resisted registering marriages and births, contributing grain to state emergency funds, and swearing oaths of allegiance. In 1887, Russia extended universal military conscription, which applied to the rest of the empire, to the Transcaucasian provinces. While the Small Party cooperated with the state, the Large Party, reacting to the arrest of their leaders and inspired by their letters from exile, felt strengthened in their desire to abide by the righteousness of their faith. Under instructions from Verigin, the Large Party stopped using tobacco and alcohol, divided their property equally among the members of the community, and resolved to adhere to the practice of pacifism and non-violence. They refused to swear the
oath of allegiance required in 1894 by the newly ascended Tsar
Nicholas II. The resistance of the Doukhobors gained international attention and the Russian Empire was criticized for its treatment of this religious minority. In 1897, the Russian government agreed to let the Doukhobors leave the country, subject to conditions: • emigrants should never return; • emigrants must emigrate at their own expense; • community leaders in prison or exile in Siberia must serve the balance of their sentences before they could leave Russia. Several smaller groups joined the main body of emigrants in later years, coming directly from Transcaucasia and other places of exile. The
Quakers and
Tolstoyan movement covered most of the costs of passage for the emigrants; writer
Leo Tolstoy arranged for the royalties from his novel
Resurrection, his story
Father Sergei, and some others to go to the emigration fund. Tolstoy also raised money from wealthy friends; his efforts provided about 30,000
rubles, half of the emigration fund. The anarchist
Peter Kropotkin and professor of political economy at the
University of Toronto James Mavor also helped the emigrants. The emigrants adapted to life in agricultural communes; they were mostly of peasant origin and had low regard for advanced education. Many worked as loggers, lumbermen, and carpenters. Eventually, many left the communal dormitories and became private farmers on the Canadian plains. Religious
a cappella singing, pacifism, and passive resistance were markers of the sect. One subgroup occasionally demonstrated naked, typically as a protest against compulsory military service. Their policies made them controversial. The modern descendants of the first wave of Doukhobor emigrants continue to live in southeastern
British Columbia communities such as
Krestova, and in southern
Alberta and
Saskatchewan. , the estimated population of Doukhobor descent in North America was 40,000 in Canada and about 5,000 in the United States.
Canadian prairies (North Colony). A typical one-street village, modelled on those in the Old World. In accordance with the
Dominion Lands Act of 1872, for a nominal fee of , the Canadian government would grant of land to any male homesteader who was able to establish a working farm on that land within three years. Single-family
homesteads would not fit the Doukhobors'
communitarian tradition but a "Hamlet Clause" within the Act had been adopted 15 years earlier to accommodate other communitarian groups such as
Mennonites. The clause allowed beneficiaries of the Act to live in a hamlet within from their land rather than on the land itself. This allowed the Doukhobors to establish a communal lifestyle similar to that of the
Hutterites. Also, by passing Section 21 of the
Dominion Military Act in late 1898, the 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 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" or "
Yorkton Colony" in the
Canora,
Veregin and
Kamsack districts of Saskatchewan. 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, and settled there in eight villages on of land grant. The annex was along the
Good Spirit River, which flows into
Good Spirit Lake (previously known as Devil's Lake). • The
Saskatchewan Colony, also known as the "
Rosthern Colony",
Popular distrust Canadians, politicians, and the media were deeply suspicious of the Doukhobors. Their communal lifestyle seemed suspicious, their refusal to send children to school was considered deeply troubling, while pacifism caused anger during the
First World War. The oppression of the Russian Tsarist regime had entrenched its resulting pacifist beliefs into the Doukhobor tenets and they did not waver with the onset of either World War. Some Canadians who were willing to go to war did not respect a sect of people that were excused from military service. This difference in perspective produced much political prejudice towards the Doukhobors. Tumultuous political posturing and years of polarized social disagreements eventually brought some Doukhobors to the point of protests aimed at maintaining their simple, non-materialistic, and autonomous communal living. The break-away faction of
svobodniki, later called
Sons of Freedom, conducted nude marches and carried out night-time arson attacks, which was considered unacceptable and offensive. Canadian magazines showed strong curiosity, giving special attention to women's bodies and clothing. Magazines and newspapers carried stories and photographs of Doukhobor women engaging in hard farm labour, doing "women's work", wearing the traditional ethnic dress, and in partial or total states of undress. Doukhobors received financial help from Quakers.
Clifford Sifton, the Minister of the Interior, wanted the Doukhobors in Canada; he arranged financial subsidies to allow them to migrate.
Loss of land rights Due to the community's aversion to private ownership of land, Verigin had the land registered in the name of the community. By 1906, the Canadian Government's new
Minister of the Interior Frank Oliver started requiring the registration of land in the name of individual owners. Many Doukhobors refused to comply, resulting in 1907 in the reverting of more than a third () of Doukhobor lands back to the Crown. The loss of legal title to their land became a major grievance and contributed to a three-way schism of Canadian Doukhobors.
Schism Ten years after the Russian conscription crisis, another political issue arose because the Doukhobors would have to become naturalized British citizens and swear an
Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown — something that had always been against their principles. They did not know that they could have submitted an "
affirmation" instead of an "
oath". Upon immigration in 1899 all arriving Doukhobors were united by the common communal land grants in present day Saskatchewan on which over 60 communal villages were established. Upon arrival of Peter V. Verigin from Russia in December 1902 they had already begun to divide into three distinct groups — his followers, non-followers, and zealots who sometimes protested in the nude. The "oath" issue was the major caused of this three-way split headquartered in Grand Forks, British Columbia, publishing a monthly journal
Iskra since 1943. In 1939, John J. Verigin (1921–2008), grandson of P.V. Verigin, was appointed to lead, but changed his title to "Honorary Chairman." In 2008, his son John J. Verigin, Jr. continued the hereditary post as a spokesman . Though the USCC is the largest and most visible society of Canadian Doukhobors, it does not officially represent non-members. In the past, for abandoning vegetarianism, some USCC members used the epithet
myasniki (Russian: мясники, butchers) for killing animals for food, which in the
Doukhobor dialect, also means "meat eater". •
Independent Doukhobors — (Russian: единоличники /
edinolichniki, individual farmers). In 1907 they comprised about 10% of the Canadian Doukhobors, maintained their traditions and values, but abandoned communal ownership of land. Most acquired land by affirmation, some by oath. They also rejected hereditary leadership and communal living as non-essential, therefore they have many independent local societies and meeting halls, most in Saskatchewan, and a few in Alberta and British Columbia. The Independents generally integrated sooner into Canadian capitalist society than the USCC families. They took oaths for citizenship, registered their own land, their children attended public schools, intermarried, and most remained in Saskatchewan close to their original land. In 1939, they rejected the authority of the Verigin hereditary leadership, and did not join the CCUB nor the later USCC. In the 1950s •
Sons of Freedom — Abbreviated as "SOF" and "Sons". SOF are not Doukhobors. Originally self-named
svobodniki (free/ sovereign people) (Russian: свободники), in 1902 these immigrants tried to return to Russia then to the United States, refused to obey new Canadian laws, and attacked law-abiding Doukhobors. They misinterpreted P. V. Verigin's writings in such a zealous manner that he banned them from community membership, and Independent Doukhobors repeatedly declared them "not Doukhobors". In the 1920s they were called "Sons of Freedom" (Russian: сыновья свободы / ''synov'ya svobody
) and "Freedomites" by the media. Since 1902, the media, scholars and government have persistently mistakenly confused the svobodniki'', and later Sons of Freedom with all Canadian Doukhobors when reporting their sensational protests. Since the 1950s, the USCC and Independent Doukhobors have united in opposition to the SOF. After decades of SOF incarceration, many SOF descendants have integrated into Canadian society and with nearby USCC members and participated in reconciliation efforts. The USCC Beginning in the 2000s, the three divisions united in a common "Doukhobor" heritage, a cultural network of toleration and respect for their family differences. Many have relatives and friends in other divisions, and with non-heritage Doukhobors, and have tried to unite for the common cause of world friendship and peace.
British Columbia and Verigin's assassination In 1908, to remove his followers from the corrupting influence of non-Doukhobors and
edinolichniki (individual owners) Doukhobors, and to find better conditions for agriculture, Verigin bought large tracts of land in south-eastern
British Columbia. His first purchase was around
Grand Forks near the US border. He later acquired large tracts of land further east in the
Slocan Valley around
Castlegar. Between 1908 and 1912, about 8,000 people moved from Saskatchewan to these British Columbia lands to continue their communal way of living. 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" (
Chistiakov) and worked to smooth relations between the Community Doukhobors and wider Canadian society. The governments in Ottawa and the western provinces concluded he was the closet leader of the Sons of Freedom and was perhaps a dangerous
Bolshevik. The governments decided to deport him, use the justice system to impose conformity to Canadian values on the Doukhobors, and force them to abide by Canadian law and repudiate unacceptable practices. With a legal defence managed by
Peter Makaroff, the deportation effort failed in 1933. The Sons of Freedom repudiated Verigin's policies as ungodly and assimilationist, and escalated their protests. The Sons of Freedom burnt Community Doukhobors' property and organized more nude parades. In 1932, the
Parliament of Canada responded by criminalizing
public nudity. Over 300 radical Doukhobor men and women were arrested for this offence, which typically carried a three-year prison sentence.
Nudism and arson The Sons of Freedom, a break away protest sect identifying as
svobodniki (sovereign, free people) in 1902, used nudism and arson as visible methods of protest. They protested against materialism, the land seizure by the government, compulsory education in government schools, and Verigin's assassination in 1924. This led to many confrontations with the Canadian government and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which continued into the 1970s. Nudism was first used after the Doukhobors' arrival in Canada. During 1947 and 1948, Sullivan's
Royal Commission investigated acts of arson and bombing attacks in British Columbia and recommended several measures intended to integrate the Doukhobors into Canadian society, notably through the education of their children in public schools. Around that time, the provincial government entered into direct negotiations with the
Freedomite leadership.
W. A. C. Bennett's
Social Credit government, which came to power in 1952, took a harder stance against the "Doukhobor problem." In 1953, 174 children of the Sons of Freedom were forcibly interned by government agents in a residential school in
New Denver, British Columbia. Abuse of the interned children was later alleged. In less than fifty years, the Sons of Freedom committed 1,112 separate acts of violence and arson, costing over $20 million in damages; these acts include bombing and arson attacks on public schools, bombings of Canadian railway bridges and tracks, the bombing of a courthouse at
Nelson, and the destruction of a power transmission tower servicing
East Kootenay district, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Many of the independent and community Doukhobors believed the Sons of Freedom's arson and bombings violated the Doukhobor central principle of nonviolence, and that they did not deserve to be called Doukhobors. The Soviet reforms greatly affected the lives of the Doukhobors, both in their old villages in
Georgia and in the new settlement areas in southern Russian and Ukraine.
State anti-religious campaigns resulted in the suppression of Doukhobor religious tradition, and the loss of books and archival records. Many religious leaders were arrested or exiled; for example, 18 people were exiled from Gorelovka in 1930. Communists'
imposition of collective farming did not contradict the Doukhobor way of life. Industrious Doukhobors made their
collective farms prosperous, often specializing in
cheesemaking. Of the Doukhobor communities in the Soviet Union, those in South Georgia were the most sheltered from outside influence because of their geographic isolation in mountainous terrain, their location near the international border, and concomitant travel restrictions for outsiders. == Hymnody ==