This is the Canadian version of Doukhobor history. It also relates more of the Canadian experience compared to the Wikipedia source.
1653 Reforms to the Russian Orthodox Church introduced in 1653 by Patriarch Nikon caused a major schism (or raskol) among Russian Orthodox believers. The group whose members clung to the old, traditional ways was known as the Raskolniki (Old Believers). Among these were two groups: the Popovstsi (with priests) maintained that religious services were to be led by an anointed priest, while the Bezpopovtsi (without priests) disposed of the need to have priests leading the services. Some members of the Bezpopovtsi also rejected the use of church icons in worship, arguing that God exists within all living beings, and that every human being is a living church. This general movement eventually gave rise to the Doukhobor philosophy and beliefs.
1750 The first known leader of the Doukhobor movement was Sylvan Kolesnikov from Nikolskoye village, Ekaterinoslav province. He believed in pacifism and material simplicity. He rejected icon worship, arguing that external symbols and rituals are not necessary to religious faith, and introduced bread, salt, and water to replace traditional church icons. A loaf of bread, a bowl of salt and a jug of water have been used at Doukhobor prayer meetings ever since, as symbols to represent basic human needs, as well as the virtues of hospitality. Sylvan Kolesnikov was the first organizer and teacher of the Doukhobor philosophy.
1775 A wool dealer from Tambov province, Illarion Pobirokhin introduced the “Living Book” (a set of oral teachings intended to replace reliance on the Bible) and “divine leadership,” proclaiming himself as an incarnation of Christ. On the death of Kolesnikov in the Ekaterinoslav province, Pobirokhin gained influence over both colonies. A third colony—formed of exiles from the other two regions—survived for centuries and became known as the Amur Doukhobors. Illarion Pobirokhin composed the Doukhobor psalm, Be Devout, which is similar in meaning to the Desiderata, written by Max Ehrmann in 1927.
1785 The first use of the term dukho-borets (spirit wrestler) is attributed to Russian Orthodox Archbishop Ambrosius of Ekaterinoslav. He intended to use the term in a divisive way, suggesting that the dissidents were fighting “against” the spirit of God.
1799 When dissidents protested against militarism, the word “Doukhobor” was used for the first time in a government order: “Everybody who shall be convicted of belonging to the sect of Dukhobortsi shall be condemned to life-long labour.” Ninety dissidents were deported to Finland as a result.
1802 To prevent schism and further discontent, Tsar Alexander I attempted to isolate dissidents so they could not influence the general populace. He invited the Doukhobors to settle in the Milky Waters region, in the Tavrida province on the Crimean peninsula near the Sea of Azov. Mennonite dissidents were also moved to region in the period from 1787 to 1840. Consisting mainly of peasants from scattered parts of the Russian Empire, the first successful organized community of Doukhobors was formed.
Savely Kapustin, leader of the Tambov Doukhobors moved to Tavrida province to become the leader of all Doukhobors. Kapustin introduced communal ownership and the Sirotskii Dom (Orphans’ Home), a building which served multiple purposes—administrative centre, community treasury, official home of the leaders, and shelter to widows and orphans. Agriculture was the main occupation of the colony, and its communal enterprise flourished for a short time, before collapsing back into private ownership. Some 200 new psalms formed the oral teachings of the “Book of Life” during Kolesnikov’s leadership.
Having been accepted as divine leader (or vozhd) of the Doukhobors, on his death in 1820 Kolesnikov passed this role to his son, Vasily Kalmykov.
1825 When Tsar Nicholas I succeeded his brother, Alexander I, he decreed forced assimilation and military conscription. Movement of the Doukhobors was restricted, and they were prohibited from holding prayer meetings in an attempt to convert them to Orthodox Christianity. Serious repression, and an order to conform to state and church laws, caused the Doukhobors to protest. As a result, they were again exiled, and 4000 of them trekked from Tavrida to the mountain province of Transcaucasia.
Tiflis and Yelizavetpol, the areas where the Doukhbors settled, were at a higher elevation and had a cooler climates than Milky Waters, so the Doukhobors found themselves switching from grain farming to ranching. Pastures were held in common, but families lived in individual homes rather than communal
1864 On the death of hereditary leader Illarion Vasileyevich Kalmakov, his wife Lukeria Kalmakova took over as leader. She ably led the Doukhobors from 1864 to1886. The Sirotskii Dom (Orphan’s Home) in the village of Goreloye expanded and became wealthy with a flourishing treasury, large holdings of land, horses, sheep and cattle, and a team of full-time workers and business managers. But prosperity had its consequences. The Doukhobors begin carrying rifles to defend themselves and their properties from brigands and mountain tribes. Armed body guards accompanied Lukeria when she visited outlying settlements. Although she maintained cordial relations with Georgian and Armenian neighbors and authorities in Moscow, she warned the Doukhobors of stern times to come. During Lukeria’s leadership the Doukhobor population increased to 20,000.
1885 Lukeria Kalmakova, a childless widow, chose Peter Vasilyevich Verigin, a young Doukhobor from the village of Slavyanka in Yelizavetopol province, to groom as her successor. She divorced him from his legal wife and took him home to her village of Goreloye in the Akhalkalak district of Tiflis province.
After Lukeria’s death on December 15, 1886, her immediate relatives and all the Doukhobors from the village of Goreloye refused to acknowledge Peter Verigin as their new leader. They become known as the malaya partia (Small Party). A large majority of the Doukhobors, however, did recognize Verigin as the new leader and were called the bolshaya partia (Large Party). Common folk law recognized the Sirotskii Dom as communal property, but it was registered under Kalmakova’s name, and government law recognized the next of kin as the beneficiary. Control of Sirotskii Dom passed to Kalmakova’s brother. A major split developed between the Large and Small Parties.
Accused of instigating the disturbance among the Doukhobors, Peter V. Verigin was exiled to Siberia without a trial. During this time, compulsory military service was introduced into the Caucasus, and many Doukhobors chose to submit. However, under Verigin’s leadership from exile, a spiritual revival began among the Large Party, and pacifism became a central value once again. Tsar Nicholas II demanded an oath of allegiance from all Doukhobors, but Peter Verigin advised followers his to refuse the oath, as well as to take a stand against militarism. He also advised them to abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and meat – many became vegetarians.
1893 In exile, Peter Verigin learned about Count Lev Tolstoy and his writings, and openly adopted Tolstoy’s ideas as his own. He communicated with Tolstoy through a series of letters. Through secret couriers (trusted Doukhobors Vasil Obedkov, Vasil V. Verigin, and Vasil Vereschagin), Verigin instructed the Doukhobors to gather and burn their weapons. As a symbol of their spiritual revival, a third of Large Party Doukhobors redistributed their properties and returned to the communal system, as in former times.
1895 On Easter Day, Matvey Lebedev threw down his gun while training to be a soldier in the Yelizavetopol reserve battalion. He told his superiors that war was contrary to the teachings of Christianity. Ten Doukhobor men joined him that day. All were sent to serve in a disciplinary battalion, along with sixty other Doukhobors in active service.
At midnight on June 28-29 (according to the old Russian calendar, July 11-12 by the new calendar), on St Peter and Paul’s Day (also Peter V Verigin’s birthday), 7000 Doukhobors burned their weapons in three districts of the Caucasus: Bogdanovka, Alkhalkalak district of Tiflis province; Yelizavetopol province; and Kars region. The Doukhobors in Bogdanovka (4600 people) received beatings, floggings and exile to Gori, Signak, Tianeti, Dusheti, and Skra in Georgia. The 300 Doukhobors who handed in their military reserve papers and rejected the carrying of weapons and the oath of allegiance, were exiled to Baku, Yerevan, and Yelizavetopol province. Their acts were perceived as treason, and a policy of cultural cleansing was pursued by government officials.
1896 Lev Tolstoy sent his follower, Pavel I Biryukov, to investigate the persecutions, and later published an article in the London Times on “The Persecution of Christians in Russia.” Tolstoy brought worldwide attention to the plight of the Doukhobors, and public sympathy grew. Peter V. Verigin advised his followers to name themselves The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB).
“Pomogite!” (Appeal for Help!), seeking aid for the Doukhobors, was published in Russian, and signed by Pavel Biryukov, Ivan Tregubov, and Vladimir Chertkov, with a conclusion by Lev N Tolstoy. The three signatories were banished from Russia, but Chertkov established a successful publishing venture in England and his appearance marked a turning point for the Doukhobors. He published the first edition of Christian Martyrdom in Russia – Persecution of the Doukhobors. The book sold widely and resulted in a flow of donations to assist the Doukhobors.
Tolstoy admired the Doukhobors as peaceful workers of the soil who had the courage to live by the moral code “Thou shalt not kill,” and he proposed that the Doukhobors be awarded a Nobel Prize for peace.
When the Dowager Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna received a letter from Peter Verigin while visiting the Caucasus, the Tsarist government gave conditional permission for the Doukhobors to leave Russia. The Doukhobors sent telegrams to Tolstoy and to his followers in England, asking for guidance. Tolstoyans worked with Quakers to find a new home for the Doukhobors. They considered Texas, Hawaii, Brazil, Syria, Egypt and Central America. Over 1100 Doukhobors found temporary refuge on the island of Cyprus, but the climate was too hot and many perished.
1899 The Russian anarchist and exile Peter Kropotkin had been impressed by Mennonite settlements in the North-West territory of Canada when he visited in 1897. Chertkov and Kropotkin informed James Mavor, professor of Political Economics at the University of Toronto, and he wrote to Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior under Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier. Sifton was in charge of immigration policy for western Canada. In negotiations, Doukhobor representatives were assured that the community could hold their lands in common, rather than registering individual titles, and that the Doukhobors would have some control over the education of their children.
7500 Doukhobors migrated to Canada and settled on the prairies in three large blocks of land, establishing 61 villages.
Lev Tolstoy had dedicated the proceeds of his novel Resurrection to the Doukhobor cause. He raised $17,000 to finance Doukhobor migration and settlement.
1901 The Canadian government changed its policy toward the Doukhobors. It now required individual homesteads to be registered and began to enforce statistical census registration requirements. With their leader, Peter V Verigin still in exile, the Doukhobors were confused.
1902 After nearly 16 years in exile, Peter V Verigin arrived in Canada and took control of Doukhobor leadership.
1903 The Doukhobors had refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Tsar in Russia, and also refused to do so in Canada. They believed that land should not be owned by individuals but that communities as a whole should be stewards of the land.
They were told to accept citizenship and swear an oath of allegiance or lose their lands. Original settlement provisions under the Hamlet Clause of the Homestead Act were rejected by Frank Oliver, successor to Clifford Sifton as Minister of the Interior. Some Doukhobors were satisfied to “affirm” in conscience rather than take the oath, while others took the oath and registered land on an individual ownership basis.
1905 Individual registration of homesteads and oaths of allegiance were now required to acquire land. Just over 230 independent Doukhobors entered into the agreement and acquired land. But the rest refused, and about two-thirds of the original land that was improved by the Doukhobors reverted to the Crown and was dispensed to other land-hungry immigrants. The total of land lost by the community was worth $11 million.
1908 Some 5000 Doukhobors began another migration to British Columbia – the largest internal migration in Canadian history. Large plots of private land were purchased in the Kootenay area. Since the land was privately owned and did not belong to the Crown, an oath of allegiance was not required for purchase. To finance the purchase, the Doukhobors borrowed money from the banks, and also raised funds from the sales of their machinery and livestock on the prairies. Because the Kootenay region was a heavily forested, mountainous landscape, the community had to change its primary economic activity from grain farming to logging and, once the land was cleared, fruit growing.
1912 Militia and rifle training, which was contrary to Doukhobor beliefs, was introduced into British Columbia public schools. The Doukhobors boycotted public schools until 1915 when a compromise was reached. The James Blakemore Royal Commission advocates that the military exemption clause be rescinded and Doukhobors further resist the public school system. The Doukhobor community’s request that Russian be taught in the public system was rejected. (In the early 1970s, the Canadian Multicultural Act finally allowed Doukhobors to add Russian language classes to the public school curriculum in two test areas of the interior of British Columbia.)
1913 With plans drafted by a professional engineer, the mostly illiterate Doukhobors undertook the building of the Doukhobor Suspension Bridge across the Kootenay River to connect the communities of Ootischenia and Brilliant.
1917 With $1 million in capital, the organization of community Doukhobors became incorporated as the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood Ltd (CCUB). There were fourteen directors, with Peter V Verigin serving as president. The CCUB’s original head office was established in Veregin, Saskatchewan and relocated to Brilliant, BC in 1931. The most successful of the CCUB’s operations in British Columbia was the Kootenay Columbia Jam Factory which became famous throughout Canada for the quality of its jam.
1924 Peter Vasilyevich Verigin (known as “the Lordly”), leader of the community Doukhobors, was killed on October 29 in a train explosion near Farron, BC – between Castlegar and Christina Lake. Eight others, including one member of the provincial legislature, were also killed. The explosion remains a Canadian Unsolved Mystery.
To try to solve this mystery yourself, go to canadianmysteries.ca
1927 Peter Petrovich Verigin (known as “Chistyakov” or “the cleanser”), arrived from the USSR at the request of the Canadian Doukhobors to succeed his father as leader. He brought with him his six-year-old grandson, John J Voykin, adopting him and giving him the Verigin name. Peter Petrovich promoted public education for all Doukhobor children, including after-school Russian language classes. Administration of the CCUB was decentralized, with each village responsible for paying its own assessment to the central office.
1938 During the economic depression, trust and mortgage companies foreclosed on the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) properties. The CCUB was the largest experiment in communal ownership undertaken in North America. The properties, whose worth was estimated at $6 million, were seized for a debt of only $300,000. Added to the loss of $11 million in 1907, this foreclosure resulted in the Doukhobors’ total loss of trust in the government, which refused to offer special protection for the largely successful cooperative enterprises of the Doukhobors. A new non-profit society, the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC), succeeded the defunct CCUB.
1939 Peter Petrovich Verigin “Chistyakov” died on February 11 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. John J Verigin, his 17-year-old grandson, became the secretary of the USCC.
1943 On February 28, ISKRA Publication was founded. Published by the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, ISKRA is still in print today.
1961 John J Verigin was elected as Honourary Chairman of the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, refusing the title of Leader. After a 32 year separation, John was reunited with his mother, Anna P Markova, who migrated to Canada following 15 years of Siberian exile in the former USSR. She passed away in Canada on September 13, 1978.
1967 A united Doukhobor choir participated at the Montreal World Exposition. Since then, many Doukhobor choirs have performed throughout Canada, the United States and Russia.
1969 Doukhobor and non-Doukhobor community members, recognizing the impending loss of the Doukhobor village tradition, endeavoured to reconstruct a typical village for the purposes of preserving Doukhobor heritage. The Kootenay Doukhobor Historical Society was incorporated in Castlegar.
1971 The first two-story dwelling was constructed on traditional orchard land near Selkirk College and across from the Castlegar airport, to commemorate the centennial of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation. Eventually a total of 11 structures were erected, including a complete traditional village, an Audio Visual Centre, blacksmith shop, barn, banya (sauna), implement shed, restaurant, and market building. Originally named the Doukhobor Village Museum, the complex was later renamed the Doukhobor Discovery Centre – a place to discover Doukhobor history.
1989 John J Verigin received the Order of Peoples’ Friendship from the Supreme Soviet of the [former] USSR, having been recognized for building bridges of understanding between the former USSR and the West.
1995 The most significant event in Doukhobor history was the 1895 Burning of Weapons in Russia. Doukhobors across Canada commemorated the event, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization created a Centennial Exhibition on the Doukhobors for its 1995 opening.
1999 The Doukhobors similarly commemorate the centennial of their ancestors’ migration from Russia to Canada, another pivotal moment in their history.
Doukhobors Today
The West Kootenay has a rich history. Because of Castlegar’s ideal location at the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay rivers, First Nations people used to fish and trade here. Explorer David Thompson first passed through in 1811. European trappers then arrived. By the end of the 1800s, prospectors came looking for gold. But perhaps the most fascinating and unique aspect of Castlegar’s history is the Doukhobors.
The Doukhobors were a group of Russians who were opposed to the excessive and authoritative practices of the Orthodox Church and the State. As pacifists who practised a simpler form of religion, they were perceived as a threat to the church and the Czar and forced to flee Russia.
About 5,000 emigrated to the Kootenay-Boundary region and constructed over 80 communal villages. One of the largest was located in Ootischenia (meaning “Valley of Consolation”), across the Columbia River from current-day Castlegar.
At its peak, the local Doukhobor holding company, the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, owned over 28,000 hectares (70,000 acres) and was the largest communal organisation in North America. Unfortunately, in 1938 it underwent foreclosure and the banks seized all its holdings. Although that marked the end of their communal life in the Kootenays, many Doukhobors still live in the region and proudly maintain their heritage.
Doukhobor Discovery Centre. The best way to get a taste of customary Doukhobor life is to visit the Doukhobor Discovery Centre, located on orchard land of the original Ootischenia settlement. This attraction replicates a communal village and comprises both original buildings and buildings constructed from reclaimed Doukhobor materials.
Visitors can browse the museum, which contains recreated rooms and over 1,500 artifacts, and wander the grounds, lush with heritage plants and home to a statue of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who sympathized with the Doukhobors’ plight. Visitors can also check out a barn, bathhouse and blacksmith shop, view documentary films and see photo archives. There’s also a gift shop and craft centre on-site, in which members of the local weavers and spinners guild often demonstrate their skills. www.doukhobor-museum.org
Verigin Memorial Park. Boasting scenic views of both the Columbia and Kootenay river valleys, the hilltop Verigin Memorial Park is a Doukhobor burial site and flower garden. Overlooking the original settlements of Ootischenia and Brilliant, it contains the remains of two of the local leaders of the Doukhobor movement: Peter V. Verigin, who died in 1924, and his son Peter P. Verigin, who died in 1939. There are also other relatives buried here. www.usccdoukhobors.org/veriginpark/veriginpark.htm
Brilliant Suspension Bridge. A bit farther up the Kootenay River, the Brilliant Suspension Bridge also honours Doukhobor history. Constructed in 1913 almost entirely by Doukhobor settlers using hand labour, it replaced a ferry that linked the Ootischenia and Brilliant communities, located on opposite sides of the river. In 1966, it was abandoned when the new Highway 3A bridge was built, but public outcry saved it from demolition. It was declared a National Historic Site in 1995, and by 2010 was restored and reopened as a footbridge. As part of the Trans Canada Trail, it’s the main attraction of the Brilliant Bridge Regional Park. www.brilliantbridge.ca
Altogether, these three sites offer great ways to get off the road, stretch your legs and immerse yourself in the past that continues to shape the modern communities around you.
Kootenay Gallery. Castlegar-based Kootenay Gallery is located next to the Doukhobor museum. www.kootenaygallery.com
