Dukhobors

Dukhobors (Russian: духоборы – “spirit warriors”) were a radical Protestant sect that emerged in the second half of the 18th century in the Voronezh, Tambov, and Yekaterinoslav governorates of the Russian Empire. The sect was founded by S. Kolesnikov and I. Pobirokhin.

Their teachings centered on the struggle between spirit and body, or between good and evil. The Dukhobors rejected the Holy Scriptures, Christian sacraments, baptism of children, wedding and funeral rites and state authority.

Due to conflicts with the Russian Orthodox Church, the government exiled them in 1804 to the Melitopol uyezd, and later, in 1841, to the South Caucasus, primarily to the Akhalkalaki uyezd of Georgia. Between 1898 and 1900, some Dukhobors moved to Canada.

In Georgia, the Dukhobors were the first to establish workshops and agricultural cooperatives, reviving communal village life. They destroyed all military weapons and refused to serve in the army. During the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877–78, at the government’s request, they provided 4,000 four-horse wagons for transport, in return for which they were exempted from military service.

Leo Tolstoy was regularly informed about the Georgian Dukhobors by the Georgian public figure I. Nakashidze.

Today, the largest Dukhobor community is in Canada, maintaining close contact with the few remaining Dukhobors in Russia and Georgia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Dukhobors relocated from Georgia back to Russia.

Literature: К л и б а н о в А. И., История религиозного сектантства в России, М., 1965; П о р а к и ш в и л и З. И., Духоборы в Грузии.

R. Tsikvadze