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DOUKHOBORS

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DOUKHOBORS , a name given by the See also:

Russian Orthodox See also:clergy to a community of See also:nonconformist peasants. The word etymologically signifies " spirit-fighters," being originally intended by the priesthood to convey that they fight against the Spirit of See also:God; but the Doukhobors themselves accepted the See also:term as signifying that they fight, not against, but for and with the Spirit. Of See also:late, however, they have decided to give up this name and See also:call themselves " Christians of the Universal Brotherhood." This religious community was first heard of in the See also:middle of the 18th See also:century. By the end of that century or the beginning of the 19th their See also:doctrine had become so clearly defined, and the number of their members had so greatly increased, that the Russian See also:government and See also:Church, considering this See also:sect to be peculiarly See also:obnoxious, started an energetic See also:campaign against it. The See also:foundation of the Doukhobors' teaching consists in the belief that the Spirit of God is See also:present in the soul of See also:man, and directs him by its word within him. They understand the coming of See also:Christ in the flesh, his See also:works, teaching and sufferings, in a spiritual sense. The See also:object a'i the sufferings of Christ, in their view, was to give an example of suffering for truth. Christ continues to suffer in us even now when we do not live in accordance with the behests and spirit of his teaching. The whole teaching of the Doukhobors is penetrated with the See also:Gospel spirit of love. Worshipping God in the spirit, they affirm that the outward Church and all that is performed in it and concerns it has no importance for them. The Church is where two or three are gathered together, i.e. See also:united in the name of Christ. They pray inwardly at all times; on fixed days they assemble for See also:prayer-meetings, at which they greet each other fraternally with See also:low bows, thereby acknowledging every man as a See also:bearer of the Divine Spirit.

Their teaching is founded on tradition, which is called among them the " See also:

Book of See also:Life," because it lives in their memory and See also:hearts. It consists of sacred songs or chants, partly composed independently, partly formed out of the contents of the See also:Bible, which, however; has evidently been gathered by them orally, as until quite lately they were almost entirely illiterate and did not possess any written book. They found alike their mutual relations and their relations to other people—and not only to See also:people, but to all living creatures—exclusively on love, and therefore they hold all people equal and brethren. They extend this See also:idea of equality also to the government authorities, obedience to whom they do not consider binding upon them in those cases when the demands of these authorities are in conflict with their See also:conscience; while in all that does not infringe what they regard as the will of God they willingly fulfil the See also:desire of the authorities. They consider killing, violence, and in See also:general all relations to living beings not based on love as opposed to their conscience and to the will of God. They are industrious and abstemious in their lives, and when living up to the See also:standard of their faith they present one of the nearest approaches to the realization of the See also:Christian ideal which have ever been attained. In many ways they have thus a See also:close resemblance to the See also:Quakers or Society of See also:Friends. For these beliefs and practices the Doukhobors See also:long endured cruel persecution. Under See also:Nicholas I., in the years 1840 and 1850, the Doukhobors, who on religious grounds refused to participate in military service, were all banished from the government of Tauris—whither they had been previously transported from various parts of See also:Russia by See also:Alexander I.—to See also:Transcaucasia, near the See also:Turkish frontier. But neither the severe See also:climate nor the neighbourhood of See also:wild and warlike hillmen shook their faith, and in the course of See also:half a century, in one of the most unhealthy and unfertile localities in the See also:Caucasus, they trans-formed this See also:wilderness into flourishing colonies, and continued to live a Christian and laborious life, making friends with, instead of fighting, the hillmen. But the See also:wealth to which they attained in the Caucasus weakened for a See also:time their moral fervour, and little by little they began to depart somewhat from the requirements of their belief. As soon, however, as events happened among them which disturbed their outward tranquillity, the religious spirit which had guided their fathers immediately revived within them.

In 1887, in the reign of the See also:

tsar Alexander III., universal military service was introduced in the Caucasus; and even those for whom, as in the See also:case of the Doukhobors, it had formerly been replaced with banishment, were called upon to serve. This measure took the Doukhobors unawares, and at first they outwardly submitted to it. About the same time, by the decision of certain government officials, the right to the See also:possession of the public See also:property of the Doukhobors (valued at about ;50,000) passed from the community to one of their members, who had formed out of the more demoralized Doukhobors a See also:group of his own See also:personal adherents, which was henceforth called the " Small Party." Soon afterwards several of the most respected representatives of the community were banished to the government of See also:Archangel. This See also:series of calamities was accepted by the Doukhobors as a See also:punishment from God, and a spiritual awakening of a most energetic See also:character ensued. The See also:majority (about 12,000 in number) resolved to revive in practice the traditions See also:left them by their fathers, which they had departed from during the See also:period of opulence. They again renounced See also:tobacco, See also:wine, See also:meat and every See also:kind of excess, many of them dividing up all their property in See also:order to See also:supply the needs of those who were in want, and they collected a new public fund. They also renounced all participation in acts of violence, and therefore refused military service. In See also:confirmation of their sincerity, in the summer of 1895 the Doukhobors of the " See also:Great Party," as they were called in distinction from the " Small Party," burnt all the arms which they, like other inhabitants of the Caucasus, had taken up for their See also:protection from wild animals, and those who were in the See also:army refused to continue service. At the commencement of the reign of the tsar Nicholas II., in 1895, the Doukhobors became the victims of a series of persecutions, Cossack soldiers plundering, insulting, beating and maltreating both men and See also:women in every way. More than 400 families of Doukhobors who were living in the See also:province of See also:Tiflis were ruined and banished to Georgian villages. Of 4000 thus exiled, more than moo died in the course of the first two years from exhaustion and disease; and more would have perished had not See also:information reached See also:Count See also:Leo See also:Tolstoy and his friends, and through them the Society of Friends vu1. 15in See also:England.

Funds were immediately raised by sympathizers for alleviating the sufferings of the starving victims. At the same time an See also:

appeal, written by Tolstoy and some of his friends, requesting the help of public See also:opinion in favour of the oppressed Doukhobors, was circulated in 'St See also:Petersburg and sent to the See also:emperor and higher government officials. The Doukhobors them-selves asked for permission to leave Russia, and the Society of Friends petitioned the emperor to the same effect. In See also:March 1898 the desired permission was granted, and the first party of Doukhobors, 1126 in number, were able in the summer of 1898 to See also:sail from See also:Batum for See also:Cyprus, which was originally chosen for their See also:settlement because at that time funds were not sufficient for transferring them to any other See also:British territory. But as contributions accumulated, it was found possible to send a number of Doukhobor emigrants to See also:Canada, whither they arrived in two parties, numbering above 4000, in See also:January 1899. They were joined in the See also:spring of the same See also:year by the Cyprus party, and another party of about 2000 arrived from the Caucasus. In all about 7500 Doukhobor immigrants arrived in Canada. The See also:Canadian government did their best to facilitate the See also:immigration, and allotted See also:land to the Doukhobors in the provinces of See also:Assiniboia near See also:Yorktown and of See also:Saskatchewan near See also:Thunder See also:Hill and See also:Prince See also:Albert. They were very cordially received by the See also:population of the Canadian See also:port towns. In See also:April 190 x, in the Canadian See also:House of See also:Commons, the See also:minister of See also:justice made a statement about them in which he said that " not a single offence had been committed by the Doukhobors; they were See also:law-abiding, and if See also:good conduct was a recommendation, they were good immigrants. . . . The large tracts of land demanded population, and if they were not given to See also:crime, the conclusion was that they would make good citizens." About eighteen months after they arrived in Canada the Doukhobors sent the Society of Friends a collective See also:letter in which they sincerely thanked the See also:English and See also:American Friends for all the generous help of every kind they had received at their hands, but begged the Quakers to cease sending them any more pecuniary support, as they were now able to stand on their own feet, and therefore See also:felt it right that any further help should be directed to others who were more in need of it.

At Yorktown in the summer of 1907 the Doukhobors established one of the largest and best See also:

brick-making See also:plants in Canada, a significant testimony to the way in which the leaders of the community were working in the interests of the whole. Now and again small bodies See also:broke off from the See also:main community and adopted a semi-nomadic life, but these formed a very small percentage of the See also:total number, which in 1908 was over 8000. See also Christian Martyrdom in Russia, by V. Tchertkoff (The See also:Free See also:Age See also:Press, See also:Christchurch, Hants) ; See also:Aylmer See also:Maude, A See also:Peculiar People, the Doukhobors. (V.

End of Article: DOUKHOBORS

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