200th Anniversary of the Molokans
Fioletovo, Lori Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia
Following on from yesterday’s post on the 200th Anniversary of the Molokans in Azerbaijan and a recent post on education for Molokan children in Armenia (written for UNICEF), Molokane.org has posted a link to an article on the Molokans in Azerbaijan.
The first settlement of Russian-Molokans, in Kyzyl village in the Karabakh, appeared in 1832 and consisted of 26 men and 30 women. History reports that they were banished from Russia on charges of “rudeness against the [Russian Orthodox] Churches and the Orthodox faith”. Molokans consider themselves to be Christians who left the Orthodoxy with some problems. In particular, they refused to cross themselves [make a sign of the cross with hand across chest], to use the Cross in worship and do not wear crosses on their body, which is a symbol in Orthodoxy since they are convinced that in fact on the cross Christ himself was taken in an excrutiating tormented death. Also they refused gold ornaments and icons of the Church, and do not accept that any man-made image can be sacred. The importance of faith, in the opinion of Molokans, is a spiritual unification with God. [A person’s] real faith should be shown in everyday actions [affairs] and a humble soul.
Fioletovo, Lori Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia
The full article can be read online here although it is still being translated from the original Russian. Molokane.org also has an english translation of the original 22 July 1805 petiton to the Russian Tsar.
