The Doukhobors

A Doukhobor Communal Home

Bill and I are presently visiting beautiful Christina Lake, BC, near Grand Forks and about 140 km east of Osoyoos and the Okanagan Valley. We decided to take a trip to nearby Castlegar to visit the Doukhobor Museum and learn more about this persecuted culture. Doukhobor literally stands for Spirit-Wrestlers;"We are Spirit Wrestlers because we wrestle with and for the Spirit of God against those things which are evil". In struggling for a better life they would use only the spiritual power of love rather than any form of violence, noting the scriptural admonishment: Resist not evil.

The Doukhobors base their religious philosophy on two commandments: Recognize and love God with all thy heart, mind and soul; and, Love thy neighbour as thyself.

Inspired by the high ideals and dynamic leadership of Peter V. Verigin, the Doukhobors made a decisive stand against militarism and all forms of violence. War, they said, was incompatible with Christianity. On June 29, 1895, about 7000 Doukhobors destroyed all of their weapons in a decisive demonstration of pacifism - to kill another being is to kill God since the spirit of God dwells within that person.

The Doukhobor stand against killing met with harsh repression by the Czarist State and Orthodox Church authorities. This persecution attracted world wide attention including humanitarians such as Lev Tolstoy, his publisher, Vladimir Chertkov and their colleagues.

With the aid of Tolstoy and his helpers, arrangements were made with Clifford Sifton; Canadian Minister of the Interior, and roughly 7,500 Doukhobors were invited to immigrate to Canada in 1899, to the area known as Assiniboia/Saskatchewan Territories.

After a division in their culture, led by Peter Verigan, a huge group of 5000 travelled to the Kootenays and settled in the Castlegar and Grand Forks areas, cultivating the land and promoting the communal way of life. Orchards, farming, lumber mills, irrigation projects, brick yards, roads and bridges and crafts became their mainstay. Their slogan became "Toil and Peaceful Life." The sudden, violent death of their leader, Peter V. Verigin, in 1924, the great economic depression as well as reversals in government policy based on a desire for assimilation made it difficult to maintain their high ideals communally and contributed to the collapse of their collective life style. The government tried to impose new rules; the education system would not include time for the Doukhobors religious classes and culture; the Doukhobors refused to change their stand and their children were seized and jailed. Families were torn apart and not until the Doukhobors gave in after 7 years of negotiations, were their children returned to their families. WOW! And this was in Canada!!!!!
Today, Doukhobors actively maintain activities such as Sunday Prayer meetings, Russian language classes, various publications and Internet sites, youth activity groups and festivals such as the annual Youth Festival now held for over fifty years.