Other European Free Traditions

★977★

All-Canadian Union of Slavic Evangelical Christians

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The All-Canadian Union of Slavic Evangelical Christians traces its roots to a variety of independent evangelical Protestant activities in Russia in the late nineteenth century. Among them was what came to be known as the Shtundist movement, which began among German residents in the Ukraine in the 1860s. Two Reformed ministers, Johann Bonekmper and his son Karl Bonekmper, began to conduct devotional Bible study sessions with the idea of improving the spiritual life among the church members. Lay people who mastered the format their ministers had taught them began to conduct similar meetings elsewhere among members of other churches Mennonite, Molokon, and especially the Orthodox. As the movement grew, developed, and absorbed ideas from the various churches, a split occurred with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Shtundists became an independent sect. The church persecuted them, and they in turn forbade many of the popular element of Orthodox piety, including the veneration of the Virgin Mary and the saints, prayer for the dead, and attendance at Orthodox worship.

As the Shtundists were emerging in the Ukraine, Martin Kalweit, also a German, began to spread his Baptist faith in Tiffis, Georgia. Beginning with the first baptism in 1867, the faith spread throughout Germany. Slightly later, in the 1870s, Granville Augusta William Waldgrave Baron Radstock (1833-1913), an English Wesleyan (Methodist) converted some members of the nobility in St. Petersburg. Possibly his most important convert was Col. Vasili Petrovich Pashkov. A wealthy member of the Imperial Life Guards, Pashkov devoted time and energy (until banished by the Emperor in 1884) to the union of evangelicals Shtundists, Baptists, Molokons, and Wesleyans. His efforts were continually blocked by differences on the practice of baptism, but one of his converts, Ivan Prokanov organized the All-Russian Evangelical Christian Union in 1909.

Russian Evangelical believers migrated into Canada and the United States beginning in the 1880s, until slowed by World War I and the immigration restrictions imposed in the 1920s. Many of these believers found their way into various Baptist churches, but others formed congregations that were both independent and resistant to anglicizing forces. In 1930 a number of these congregations founded the All Canadian Union of Slavic Evangelical Christians and established headquarters in Toronto.

The union uses the "Confession of Faith of Evangelical Christians" written by Prokanov in 1910. It is a simple faith consisting of major Protestant affirmations of faith in a trinitarian God and salvation through Jesus Christ. Baptism by immersion is practiced. Russian Evangelicals had largely accepted the pacifism of author Leo Tolstoy who had befriended them early on, but have in more recent years moved away from that ideal. Some have suggested that serving in the military was part of the taxes that Christians were to pay the government (Romans 13:7).

As the union developed, it suffered most from continued tension between conservative and anglicizing forces. In 1958 a large number of members and congregations left to join in the formation of the Union of Slavic Churches of Evangelical Christians and Slavic Baptists of Canada. They have had a steady loss of younger members who have felt alienated from traditional Russian beliefs and language.

The union is in communion with the Union of Russian Evangelical Christians, which works among Russian-Americans. They have also developed missionary work in Poland and Argentina, as well as among the Doukhobors of western Canada.

Membership: Not reported. In 1980 there were eight congregations scattered across five provinces with a membership of 225.

Sources:

Piepkorn, Arthur C. Profiles in Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada. Vol. III. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979.

★978★

Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarean)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarean) traces its history to the movement begun by Samuel Heinrich Froelich (1803-1857), a Swiss clergyman who led a revival in the late 1820s. In 1830, he was deprived of a pulpit by the Swiss state church for preaching the "Gospel of reconciliation in its original purity." The movement, called "Nazarean" on the Continent, spread throughout Europe and was persecuted. Many immigrants flocked to America and congregations were established: Froehlich himself came in 1850 and began immediately to organize his followers as the Apostolic Christian Churches of America. Around 1906/1907 some members of the Apostolic Churches withdrew over several points of doctrine. They adopted the designation "Nazarean," the popular name by which the group is known on the Continent.

Members of the church believe in Christ, are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and form a covenant with God to live a sanctified life and to seek to become rich in good works. They reject the priesthood, infant baptism and transubstantiation, and refuse to be bound with oaths or to participate in war. The church consists only of baptized believers, but affiliated with it are "Friends of Truth," those being converted. Apart from refusing to bear arms and kill in the country's wars, the church is completely law-abiding.

The church is congregationally governed. Elders serve the local church with powers to baptize, lay on hands, administer the Lord's Supper and conduct worship. The Apostolic Catholic Church Foundation is a service organization. It recently moved from Akron, Ohio to its present location.

Membership: In 1985, the church reported 2,799 members, 48 congregations, and 178 ministers.

Periodicals: Newsletter.

★979★

Apostolic Christian Church of America

℅ Bill Schlatter
℅ Bill Schlatter
14834 Campbell Rd.
Defiance, OH 43512

The Apostolic Christian Church of America, originally known as the Evangelical Baptist Church, was begun in Switzerland in 1832. Samuel H. Froehlich (1803-1857), a seminary-trained, ordained minister in the Protestant State Church of Switzerland, turned away from teachings of infant baptism. Under much persecution, he began the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ's redemptive work on Calvary. Continued persecution led to the migration of believers to the United States. Benedict Weyeneth, the first American elder, began his service is Lewis County, New York, in 1847.

The doctrine of the church is built upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles as contained in the Bible, considered the infallible Word of God. Teachings and practices are similar to many of those of the Anabaptist heritage. Following repentance and conversion and a testimony to the congregation, and individual is baptized by immersion. The laying of on of hands of the elder, during a consecration prayer, symbolizes and acknowledges the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Apostolic Christians are known for a life of simplicity and obedience to the teachings of the Bible. They practice closed communion and the greeting of one another with a holy kiss. A veil or head covering is worn by women members during prayer and worship. A closely knit fellowship and strong sense of brotherhood exist throughout the denomination. These ties are nurtured by frequent visiting of ministers, members, and Sunday School students from one congregation to another, each of which follows the same worship practices, traditions, and doctrine.

Elders and ministers are chosen from among the brotherhood and serve each local congregation. It is the duty of the elder (bishop) to "shephered the flock," preach the Word, counsel converts and members, and perform the rites of baptism, marriage, and communion. Elders of all congregations serve together as an Elder Body in denominational governance matters and meet semiannually. Ministers and elders serve without salary or seminary training. Sermons are preached by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit without premeditation.

Governmental authority is respected an obeyed. Apostolic Christians serve only in a noncombatant status in the military and do not take oaths. Discipline of erring members is practiced for their spiritual welfare and for the preservation of the church. Eternal life is the gift of God to every true believer but it can be forfeited by willful disobedience and rejection of faith. The church has established a number of homes for the aged, a home for the handicapped, and a home for foster children. Outreach activities include World Relief, the Missionary Fund, and Bible distribution.

Membership: In 2001 the church reported 12,800 members and 305 ministers comprising 84 congregations in the United States, two in Canada, two in Mexico, and two in Japan.

Periodicals: The Silver Lining.

Sources:

Footsteps to Zion, A History of the Apostolic Christian Church of America. N.p., n.d.

Froehlich, S. H. The Mystery of Godliness and the Mystery of Ungodliness. Apostolic Christian Church, n.d.

——. Individual Letters and Meditations. Syracuse, NY: Apostolic Christian Publishing Co., 1926.

★980★

Christian Apostolic Church (Forest, Illinois)

Forrest, IL 61741

The Christian Apostolic Church grew out of unrest within the German Apostolic Christian Church during the 1950s. Elder Peter Schaffer, Sr., one of the founders of the German Apostolic Christian Church, protested the attempts of church leaders in Europe to direct the life of the American congregations. Beginning with members in Illinois and Oregon, he organized congregations in Forest and Morton, Illinois; Silverton, Oregon; and Sabetha, Kansas in 1955. Doctrine and practice of the parent body were continued.

Membership: In 1988 the church reported four congregations with several hundred members.

★981★

Christian Apostolic Church (Sabetha, Kansas)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Christian Apostolic Church was founded in the early 1960s when members of the German Apostolic Christian Church in Illinois and Kansas withdrew under the leadership of William Edelman. The members were protesting several points of "interpretation of the statues and customs" of the Church.

Membership: Not reported.

★982★

Christian Community and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors (Sons of Freedom)

Site 8, Comp. 42
Cresent Valley, BC, Canada V0G 1HO

The Christian Community and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors, better known as the Sons of Freedom, emerged within the larger Doukhobor community in Canada in the early twentieth century. They were the ardent supporters of Peter Verigin (d. 1924) who was the leader of the Doukhobors at the time of their migration to Canada in 1899. Verigin was left behind in prison, but was released in 1902 and rejoined the community. The Sons of Freedom were that element of the group most loyal to Verigin and most opposed to the Canadian government's varied attempts to integrate the Doukhobors into the larger social context. They particularly opposed the establishment of public schools and the government imposing secular education on Doukhobor children.

For many years they existed as an integral part of the Doukhobor community. They supported the leadership of Peter Christiakov Verigin who succeeded the elder Verigin in 1924. During his tenure in office the number of the Sons of Freedom greatly expanded, and by the early 1930s, there were more than 1,000. The actual break with the larger community came in 1933, occasioned by a letter from P. P. Verigin, at the time in prison, asking all Doukhobors to refrain from paying any dues to the directors of the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB). They followed Verigin's orders, and the CCUB expelled them from the larger body. The break was healed for a short while during World War II when the Sons of Freedom were invited into the Union of Doukhobors of Canada. Formed in 1945, the Union soon fell apart, and the Sons of Freedom emerged as a fully independent group.

The Sons of Freedom were particularly critical of John Verigin who succeeded to the leadership of the larger group of the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (Orthodox Doukhobors in Canada) after the death of P. P. Verigin in 1939. His plans to accomodate government pressure were denounced as a distortion of Doukhobor faith. They were especially resistant to any introduction of public schools which they felt would simply educate people into an acceptance of war and the exploitation of working class people, and lead to the distruction of families and communities.

In 1950 Stephan Sorokin, an immigrant from Russia and former member of the Russian Orthodox Church, came to the Doukhobors to claim a leadership role. After fleeing from Russia, he wandered from many years and successively joined the Plymouth Brethren, the Lutherans, the Baptists, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He came to Canada in 1949 and lived among the members of the Society of Independent Doukhobors in Saskatchewan, learning the ways of the community, particularly their songs. He also learned of the story of Peter P. Verigin (Christiakov), the leader who died in 1939. It would have been the place of his son, Peter Verigin III to assume the role as spiritual leader of the Doukhobors, but it was assumed that he was in a Russian prison camp. Though it was later learned that he had died in prison in 1942, many in the community awaited the arrival of the "lost" son of Peter P. Verigin (Christiakov).

Sorokin arrived among the Doukhobor settlements in April 1950. He was introduced among the Sons of Freedom by one of their prominent leaders, John Lebedoff, who departed three months later to begin serving a two year prison term. Under Lebedoff's period of influence, there was heightened violence and tension between the Sons of Freedom and the state. However, the majority of the Sons of Freedom accepted Sorokin as the lost spiritual leader and reorganized themselves as the Christian Community and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors.

Over the years of their existence, the Sons of Freedom had gained a reputation for more extreme forms of civil disobedience in their attempts to prevent the loss of Doukhobor ideals by accomodation to the government, and the late 1940s and early 1950s were years of heightened anti-government protests. The Sons of Freedom were accused of bombings and arson (of new school buildings), and periodically underscored their displeasure with demonstrations in the nude. When tried and convicted of actions associated with their protests, many of the group served prison terms. However, under the leadership of Sorokin, the group began restraining from participation in such activities, which lessened the overall tension level between the Doukhobor community, its neighbors, and the Canadian government. Stephan Sorokin died in 1984, and no new leader has been designated as his successor.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Istina.

Sources:

Lebidoff, Florence E. The Truth about the Doukhobors. Crescent Valley, BC: The Author, 1948.

A Public Indictment of J. J. Verigin. Krestova, BC: Christian Community of Reformed Doukhobors, (Sons of Freedom), 1954.

Woodcock, George, and Ivan Avakumovic. The Doukhobors. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1968.

★983★

German Apostolic Christian Church

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The German Apostolic Christian Church is the result of a schism in the Apostolic Christian Churches of America. During the 1930s the pressure to discard the German language in worship, pressure which had greatly intensified since World War I, led the majority of the church to begin to use English. A group led by Elder Martin Steidinger protested that the loss of German would be accompanied by a loss of piety and lead to the influx of worldliness. With the encouragement of some European church leaders, he led members in the founding of the German Apostolic Christian Churches with initial congregations in Sabetha, Kansas; Silverton and Portland, Oregon; and several locations in Illinois. Support came primarily from first generation immigrants. Doctrine and practice are like that of the parent body.

Membership: Not reported. There are an estimated 500 members.

★984★

Molokan Spiritual Christians (Postojannye)

841 Carolina St.
San Francisco, CA 94107

The Postojannye are those Molokan Spiritual Christian who reject the practice of enthusiastic jumping during worship services which characterize their Pryguny Molokans. The split in the Molokan community into the Postojannye (the Steadfast) and the Jumpers occurred in the mid-nineteenth century in Russia. The Postojannye also reject the authority of the charismaticprophetic leaders who arose at that same time, such as Maksim Gavrilovic Rudometkin. Otherwise the beliefs and practices of the Postojannye and Pryguny are similiar.

The first Postojannye came to the United States in 1905. They tried to work in the sugar field of Hawaii, but in 1906, shortly after the earthquake, moved to San Francisco and settled on Potrero Hill.

Membership: Not reported. There were an estimated 2,000 Postojannye Molokans in the mid 1970s. They live in San Francisco, the greater Bay area, and in Woodburn, Oregon.

Sources:

Dunn, Ethel, and Stephen P. Dunn. "Religion and Ethnicity: The Case of the American Molokans." Ethnicity4, no. 4, (December 1977): 370-79.

★985★

Molokan Spiritual Christians (Pryguny)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Among numerous free evangelical groups which derived from the Russian Orthodox Church, only a few have come to the United States. Among these few are the Molokans, founded by Simeon Uklein (b.1733). He was a son-in-law of a leader of the Doukhobors, a mystical Russian group which is now found in western Canada. Forsaking mysticism, Uklein returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and began to preach a Bible-oriented faith. He claimed that the church fathers had diluted the true faith with pagan philosophy. The true church, which existed visibly until their time, disappeared and survived only in scattered and persecuted communities. Uklein taught a form of unitarianism and gnosticism. Both the Son and the Holy Spirit were seen as subordinate to the Father; Christ was clothed in angelic, not human, flesh. Uklein tended to be anti-ritualistic and denied the sacraments and rites. Baptism means hearing the word of God and living accordingly; confession is repentance from sin; and the anointing of the sick is prayer. A ritual was constructed from Scripture and hymns. Molokans drink milk during Lent (from which the name Molokans or Milk Drinkers is derived), a practice forbidden in the Russian Orthodox Church. Uklein also adopted some of the Mosaic dietary law.

In the 1830s a great revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, began in the Molokan community. It led to much enthusiastic religious expression, especially the jumping about of worshippers and the appearance of a number of charismatic prophetic leaders, the most popular one being Maksim Gavrilovic Rudometkin(d.1877). The acceptance of these new emphases which grew out of the revival split the Molokans into the Postoiannye (the Steadfast) who reject the practice of jumping and the teachings of Rudometkin and the Pryguny (jumpers). The urge to migrate to America began among the Molokans after the introduction of universal military service by the Russian government in 1878, but came to a head with their refusal to bear arms during the Russo-Japanese War. Over 2,000 left, primarily between 1904 and 1914 (when Russia stopped legal immigration) and settled in California. After World War I, some 500 more who had originally settled in the Middle East were allowed into the United States.

The Pryguny Molokons, the largest group to migrate to the United States, settled in Los Angeles from which they have moved into surrounding suburbs and communities. Various studies of the community found an estimated 3,500 (1912), 5,000 (late 1920s), and then 15,000 (1970). Churches can be found in Kerman, Porterville, Sheridan, Shafter, Delano, Elmira, and San Marcos, California. There is also a group in Glendale, Arizona and a small group in Baja California.

Membership: Not reported. There are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Prygun Molokons as of the mid-1980s.

Sources:

Dunn, Ethel, and Stephen P. Dunn. The Molokan Heritage Collection. I, Reprints of Articles and Translations. Berkeley: Highgate Road Social Science Research Station, 1983.

Moore, Willard Burgess. Molokan Oral Tradition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973.

Samarin, Paul I., comp. The Russian Molokan Directory. Los Angeles: The Author, n.d.

★986★

Schwenkfelder Church in America

Pennsburg, PA 18073

A surviving group of the followers of Caspar Schwenckfeld (1489-1561) left Silesia in 1734 because of persecution and came to America. In 1782 they organized the Schwenkfelder Church. The present general conference is a voluntary association of six churches, all in southeastern Pennsylvania. It meets annually.

The Schwenkfelders follow the spiritual-mystical lead of their founder. Schwenckfeld, at one time a wealthy German nobleman, came to believe that all externals, though to be used, are of the perishable material world, and he sought to discover the spiritual imperishable reality behind them. He found them in the inner word, the church of those redeemed and called, the invisible spiritual sacrament, faith, and liberty–all emphasized by contemporary Schwenkfelders. Baptism is suggested for adult believers, infant baptism or dedication is practiced and communion is open to all. No distinctive dress is worn. Both public office and military service is allowed (a practice which separates them from many of the Pennsylvania German groups).

Membership: In 2002, there are six churches, 2,700 members, and 10 ministers.

Periodicals: The Schwenkfeldian. Send orders to 105 Seminary St., Pennsburg, PA 18073.

Sources:

Erb, Peter C. Schwenckfeld in His Reformation Setting. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1978.

Kriebel, Howard Wiegner. The Schwenkfelders in Pennsylvania. Lancaster, PA: Pennsylvania-German Society, 1904.

Schultz, Selina Gerhard. A Course of Study in the Life and Teachings of Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig (1489-1561) and the History of the Schwenkfelder Religious Movement (1518-1964). Pennsburg, PA: Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, 1964.

★987★

Smith Venner

℅ Lothar Dreger
470 Ediron Ave.
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R2G 0M4

The Smith Venner, more popularly known as the "friends" of Johann Oskar Smith (b. 1871), is a loosely-organized Norwegian group which emphasizes piety and living the Christian life as opposed to the emphasis placed on doctrine by the Norwegian state church. Smith Venner spread as Norwegians migrated to other countries around the world. In the 1970s, some 3,500 where reported to have attended the annual meetings, representing some 20 nations. Membership in the United States is centered in the Northwest, with additional members spread across the western half of Canada. During the 1970s, the group was served by two periodicals, Skjulte Skatter (in Norwegian) and The Way(in English), but published in Salem, Oregon. In 1979 The Way was superceded by Hidden Treasures.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Hidden Treasures.

★988★

Society of Independent Doukhobors

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Doukhobors migrated to Canada from Russia beginning in 1899. There, a communal organization, the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, was implemented. A number of members of the community, people who otherwise accepted Doukhobor belief, soon rejected the communal lifestyle. In addition, these individuals came to reject the special role of the community's spiritual leader, Peter Verigin, though they continued to live on the edge of the community and interact with its members.

The issue of the Independents, as they had come to be called, came into sharp focus as World War I began. Verigin, angered by their dissent, cut them off from the protection provided by the National Service Act of 1917. In 1918 the Independents organized the Society of Independent Doukhobors. Following the death of Peter Verigin, the society was briefly reconciled to the leadership of Verigin's son, Peter Christiakov Verigin, and cooperated in the formation of the Society of Named Doukhobors. In 1937, as the communal structures were dissolving, the Independents denounced Verigin and broke relations with his organization. During World War II, the Independents briefly joined in with the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, the successor to the Society of Named Doukhobors, and the Sons of Freedom (a third faction) to form the short-lived Union of Doukhobors of Canada. It fell apart when the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ withdrew. The Independents expelled the Sons of Freedom. Since that time the Independents have existed separately. Not bound by communal economic restraints, they have spread across western Canada as far east as Manitoba.

Membership: In the mid-1970s the society had 23 affiliated centers in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, and one center in Manitoba.

★989★

Sons of Freedom (Doukhobors)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Soon after the arrival of the Doukhobors in Canada from Russia, Peter Verigin's leadership was protested. Some felt he was compromising the teachings of his letters, which had guided the group during his exile in Siberia. They marched through the early settlements in Saskatchewan, preaching the renunciation of the world and calling themselves "Svobodniki," literally "Freedomites," but generally referred to as "Sons of Freedom." To call the members of the community to the simple life and to dramatize their own God-given Adamic nature, they marched naked. They were eventually arrested and some sent to an asylum. Through the next few decades, though often disapproving of its actions, they remained a part of the larger Doukhobor community.

In 1923 a public school in the community was burned to the ground shortly after opening. The Sons of Freedom have been blamed for that burning and the many others that have occurred over the years. The school burnings represented a new motif in the protests which had previously been directed at other community members. They began protesting outside forces, government regulations that were against the Law of God.

The Sons of Freedom initially accepted the new leadership of Peter Christiakov Verigin III, who succeeded his father as spiritual leader of the Doukhobors in 1924. But as he proceeded with the reorganization of the communal life and dealt with the governmental demands of the province, the Sons of Freedom began to voice their dissent. In 1928 they issued an open letter denouncing, among other things, the acceptance of public schools (which had been forced upon the community) and the payment of taxes.

The Sons of Freedom gained support during the 1930s as the communal corporation disintegrated and as the main body of community members formed the Society of Named Doukhobors. The Sons of Freedom were excluded from the larger body when they did not pay their annual dues. The apparent break was healed for a short time during World War II, when the Sons of Freedom were invited into the Union of Doukhobors of Canada. Formed in 1945, the Union soon fell apart and the Sons of Freedom emerged as a fully independent group. The succeeding decades have been a time of the rise and fall of leaders, periodic protests by the Sons of Freedom (including fires, bombings, and nude demonstrations), and periods of relative calm.

In 1950 the Sons of Freedom experienced a schism when Stephan Sorokin appeared among them. A former member of the Russian Orthodox Church, Sorokin appeared as a leader capable of reuniting the loosely organized group. His main rival was John Lebedoff, who in July 1950 began a prison term. Subsequently, many of the Sons of Freedom accepted Sorokin and left to found the Christian Community and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors. When Lebedoff returned in 1952, he was unable to become the sole leader of the remaining Sons of Freedom. They have remained loosely and informally organized. They have also remained in a high degree of tension with both the government of British Columbia and the surrounding non-Doukhobor society (tension ably demonstrated by the 1965 polemic against the Sons of Freedom by Simma Holt, Terror in the Name of God).

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Holt, Simma. Terror in the Name of God. New York: Crown Publishers, 1965.

Woodcock, George, and Ivan Avakumovic. The Doukhobors. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1968.

★990★

Union of Russian Evangelical Christians

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Union of Russian Evangelical Christians was founded in the 1920s as an American branch of the All-Russian Evangelical Christian Union, headquartered in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). At a later date it became an independent association. It shares a common history with, is in communion with, and is theologically identical to the All-Canadian Union of Slavic Evangelical Christians.

Membership: Not reported. In 1980 there were eight churches scattered through Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and California with an active membership of approximately 300.

Sources:

Piepkorn, Arthur C. Profiles in Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada. Vol. III. San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1979.

★991★

Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (Orthodox Doukhobors in Canada)

℅ USCC Central Office
Box 760
Grand Forks, BC, Canada V0H 1H0

The Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ is the oldest and largest of several Doukhobor, or "Spirit Wrestler," groups in western Canada. The Doukhobors originated out of the great schism in the Russian Orthodox Church which began in the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Nikon assumed control of the church in 1652. Over the years a number of sectarian groups appeared, including the Khlysty, or People of God, who originated in the early eighteenth century and perpetuated a mystical doctrine of the inner guiding light and the dwelling of God in the human soul. The Khlysty developed some extreme doctrines, especially those surrounding the claims to godhood by several early leaders. In the mystical life of the Doukhobors there was no place for water baptism, only spirit baptism. They seemed to have originated from the Khlysty, though they drew strongly from the Unorthodox Unitarian Protestantism that had also penetrated Russia from Poland.

The exact origins of the Doukhobors as a separate "sect" is a matter of controversy. But by 1730, when Sylvan Kolesnikoff formed a community of followers in the village of Nikolai, Ekaterinoslav, the Doukhobors had been established. Kolesnokoff was succeeded by Ilarion Pobirokhin as the new leader of the group. During his tenure, which ended in his exile in Siberia, Ambrosia, the Russian Orthodox bishop of Ekaterinoslav, gave the group its name, Doukhobors. Ambrosia intended "Doukhobor" to be a derisive term, implying the group's defiance of the Spirit of God in the Russian Church; the group interpreted the term as denoting their wrestling against spiritual pride and lust by the Spirit of God.

The next century saw the Doukhobors experiencing alternate periods of persecution and toleration. After Pobirokhin's exile, Sabellius Kapustin assumed leadership. In 1802, with the blessing of Czar Alexander I, Kapustin organized the Doukhobors in Molochnyne Valley, where they had been exiled in isolation from the Orthodox. He established a communal system, the memory of which periodically reappears in the larger Doukhobor community.

In 1886 Peter Verigin (d. 1924) became the leader. He was opposed by a minority group led by Alesha Zubkov, who created a schism in the community. Zubkov was also able to have Verigin arrested and exiled to Siberia. From Siberia, however, Verigin was able to stay in contact with the group and continued to exercise leadership. He also learned of Leo Tolstoy, through whom he led the group to accept pacifism and to deny the state's right to register birth and marriage. Communal ownership of property was reasserted. With Tolstoy's financial assistance and the aid of American and British Quakers, the Verigin group migrated to Canada, the first Doukhobor arriving in January 1899. They settled in Saskatchewan, and in 1902 the Russian government released Verigin so he could also migrate. He led the group until 1924 when his son, Peter Christiakov Verigin, succeeded him.

Even as plans began to be made for the migration, the Doukhobors reorganized as a communal group, named the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood. In Saskatchewan the Christian Community was almost immediately reestablished. But in 1907, when the group members refused to acknowledge the Oath of Allegiance, as required by the Homestead Act, the government took back the land upon which they had settled. A new settlement in British Columbia was begun.

Under Verigin's son, in 1928, the C.C.U.B. was reorganized as the Society of Named Doukhobors. In 1934 a Declaration outlining Doukhobor belief and practice was published. The decade proved a financial disaster for the communally organized C.C.U.B. Beset by schism of its more activist members and a slow recovery from the Depression, the CCUB went bankrupt in 1940. The land was taken over by the government, who payed the debts and became its "trustee." it was also at this time that the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ superceded the Society of Named Doukhobors.

Peter Christiakov Verigin died in 1937; his son was in Russia in prison. In his absence John Verigin, a nephew, became the group's leader, but never assumed the role of "spiritual leader," the position of his uncle. Under his leadership, a plan for reclaiming the land was pursued, and most was returned to the group in 1963.

The Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ was able to retain the loyalty of the majority of Doukhobors, though challenged by several factions in the 1930s. The Union has no creed, but its beliefs find expression in the Doukhobor Psalms and the Declaration of 1934. In the Psalms, God is seen as an eternal spiritual being, the creator. God frequently chooses to speak through the mouths of men, historically the Doukhobor leaders. Christ was the savior of whom God spoke most perfectly. Within the human self God places a divine spark, and it is the believer's duty to recognize and nurture it. Believers best approach God through worship and by following the inward law of God. The spiritual knowledge attained from this inward divinity is the sustaining force in times of persecution. The Declaration identifies the Doukhobors as of "the Law of God and Faith of Jesus." They advocate pacifism and refuse to vote, but consider themselves law-abiding in all matters not contrary to the Law of God and Faith of Jesus. They strive toward a communal life. They have taken an activist stance in the peace movement, and have frequently come into conflict with the govenment by defending their beliefs against what they consider government interference.

Membership: In the mid-1970s the Union had 36 community branches, all within a seventy-mile radius of Grand Forks, British Columbia.

Periodicals: Iskra.

Remarks: The U.S.C.C. is to be distinguished from the most activist and often violent wing of the Doukhobor movement, the Sons of Freedom, which became quite controversial in the early 1960s for their public demonstrations against Canadian-government policy.

Sources:

Maude, Aylmer. A Peculiar People. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1904.

Mealing, F. M. Doukhobor Life. Castlegar, BC: Cotinneh Books, 1975.

Tarasoff, Koozma J. A Pictorial History of the Doukhobors. Saskatoon, SK: Modern Press, 1969.

Woodcock, George, and Ivan Avakumovic. The Doukhobors. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1968.