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The Doukhobors or Dukhobors (Russian: духоборы, духоборцы, romanized: dukhobory, dukhobortsy; lit. 'Spirit-warriors, Spirit-wrestlers') are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are known for their pacifism and tradition of oral history, hymn-singing, and verse. They reject the Russian Orthodox priesthood and associated rituals, believing that personal revelation is more important than the Bible. Facing persecution by the Russian government for their nonorthodox beliefs, many migrated to Canada between 1899 and 1938, where most currently reside.Doukhobors have been variously portrayed as "folk-Protestants", Spiritual Christians, sectarians, and heretics. Among their core beliefs is the rejection of materialism. They also reject the Russian Orthodox priesthood, the use of icons, and all associated church rituals. Doukhobors believe the Bible alone is not enough to reach divine revelation and that doctrinal conflicts can interfere with their faith. Biblical teachings are evident in some published Doukhobor psalms, hymns, and beliefs. Since arriving in Canada, parts of the Old Testament, but more profoundly the New Testament, were at the core of most Doukhobor beliefs. There continue to be spiritually progressive thinkers who, through introspection and debate, search for divine revelation to improve the faith. The Doukhobors have a history dating back to at least 1701 (though some scholars suspect the group has earlier origins). Doukhobors traditionally lived in their own villages and practiced communal living. The name Doukhobors, meaning "Spirit-wrestlers", derives from a slur made by the Russian Orthodox Church that was subsequently embraced by the group.Before 1886, the Doukhobors had a series of leaders. The origin of the Doukhobors is uncertain; they first appear in first written records from 1701. The Doukhobors traditionally ate bread and borsch. Some of their food-related religious symbols are bread, salt, and water. History In the 17th-and-18th-century Russian Empire, the first recorded Doukhobors concluded clergy and formal rituals are unnecessary, believing in God's presence in every human being. They rejected the secular government, the Russian Orthodox priests, icons, all church rituals, and the belief the Bible is a supreme source of divine revelation. The Doukhobors believed in the divinity of Jesus; their practices, emphasis on individual interpretation, and opposition to the government and church provoked antagonism from the government and the established Russian Eastern Orthodox Church. In 1734, the Russian government issued an edict against ikonobortsy (those who reject icons), condemning them as iconoclasts.The first-known Doukhobor leader was Siluan (Silvan) Kolesnikov (Russian: Силуан Колесников), who was active from 1755 to 1775. Kolesnikov lived in the village Nikolskoye, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, in modern-day south-central Ukraine. Kolesnikov was familiar with the works of Western mystics such as Karl von Eckartshausen and Louis Claude de Saint-Martin.The early Doukhobors called themselves "God's People" or "Christians." Their modern name, first in the form Doukhobortsy (Russian: духоборцы, dukhobortsy ("Spirit wrestlers") ) is thought to have been first used in 1785 or 1786 by Ambrosius the Archbishop of Yekaterinoslav or his predecessor Nikifor (Nikephoros Theotokis). The archbishop's intent was to mock the Doukhobors as heretics fighting against the Holy Spirit (Russian: Святой Дух, Svyatoy Dukh) but around the beginning of the 19th century, according to SA Inikova, the dissenters adopted the name "Doukhobors" usually in a shorter form Doukhobory (Russian: духоборы, dukhobory), implying they are fighting alongside rather than against the Holy Spirit. The first known use of the spelling Doukhobor is in a 1799 government edict exiling 90 of the group to Finland; presumably the Vyborg area, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time, for producing anti-war propaganda.The early Doukhobors were pacifists who rejected military institutions and war and were thus oppressed in Imperial Russia. Both the tsarist state and church authorities were involved in the persecution and deprivation of the dissidents' normal freedoms.In 1802, Tsar Alexander I encouraged the resettlement of religious minorities to the "Milky Waters" (Molochnye Vody) region around the Molochnaya River around Melitopol in modern-day southern Ukraine. This was motivated by the desire to quickly populate the rich steppe lands on the north shore of the Black and Azov Seas, and to prevent the "heretics" from contaminating the population of the heartland with their ideas. Many Doukhobors, as well as Mennonites from Prussia, accepted the Emperor's offer and travelled to the Molochnaya from other provinces of the Empire over the next 20 years. Transcaucasian exile When Nicholas I succeeded Alexander as Tsar, on February 6, 1826, he issued a decree intending to force the assimilation of the Doukhobors through military conscription, prohibiting their meetings, and encouraging conversions to the established church. On October 20, 1830, another decree followed, specifying all able-bodied members of dissenting religious groups engaged in propaganda against the established church should be conscripted and sent to the Russian army in the Caucasus while those not capable of military service, and their women and children, should be resettled in Russia's recently acquired Transcaucasian provinces. With other dissenters, around 5,000 Doukhobors were resettled in Georgia between 1841 and 1845. Akhalkalaki uyezd (district) in the Tiflis Governorate was chosen as the main place of their settlement. Doukhobor villages with Russian names appeared there; Gorelovka, Rodionovka, Yefremovka, Orlovka, Spasskoye (Dubovka), Troitskoye, and Bogdanovka. Later, other groups of Doukhobors were resettled by the government or migrated to Transcaucasia of their own accord. They also settled in neighbouring areas, including the Borchaly uyezd of Tiflis Governorate and the Kedabek uyezd of Elisabethpol Governorate.In 1844, Doukhobors who were being exiled from their home near Melitopol to the village of Bogdanovka carved the Doukhobor Memorial Stone, which is now held in the collection of the Melitopol Museum of Local History.After Russia's conquest of Kars and the Treaty of San Stefano of 1878, some Doukhobors from Tiflis and Elisabethpol Governorates moved to the Zarushat and Shuragel uyezds of the newly created Kars Oblast to the north-east of Kars in the modern-day Republic of Turkey. The leader of the main group of Doukhobors, who arrived in Transcaucasia from Ukraine in 1841, was Illarion Kalmykov (Russian: Илларион Калмыков). He died in the same year and was succeeded as the community leader by his son Peter Kalmykov (?–1864). After Peter Kalmykov's death in 1864, his widow Lukerya Vasilyevna Gubanova (? – December 15, 1886; (Russian: Лукерья Васильевна Губанова); also kn.... Discover the John Gaffield popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Gaffield books.

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    Leaving Detlan

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