Molokans
The Molokans are a Russian Spiritual Christian and a Protestant sect that evolved from Eastern Orthodoxy in the East Slavic lands. Their traditions, especially dairy consumption during Christian fasts, did not conform to those of the Russian Orthodox Church, and they were regarded as heretics. The term Molokan is an exonym used by their Orthodox neighbors. Members tend to identify themselves as Spiritual Christians.
The specific beliefs and practices varied sharply between the various sects of Molokans. Some built chapels for worship, kept sacraments, and revered saints and icons, while others discarded these practices in the pursuit of individual approaches to scripture. In general, they rejected the institutionalized formalism of Orthodoxy and denominations with similar doctrines in favor of more emphasis on "Original Christianity" as they understood it. They emphasized spirituality and spiritual practice; such sacramental practices as water baptism have been permitted only as tangible signs and symbols of more important spiritual truths.
Similar to Presbyterians among Protestants, and considered heretical by the Orthodox Church, they elect a council of dominant elders who preserve a sort of apostolic succession in their view. Molokans had some practices similar to the European Quakers and Mennonites, such as pacifism, communal organization, spiritual meetings, and sub-groupings, but they arose in Russia together with the Doukhobors and Sabbatarians and similar Spiritual Christian movements of Duhovnye Kristyanye and Ikonobortsy. They migrated into central Russia and Ukraine around the same time. As such, the Molokans have been compared to certain kinds of Protestants because they have multiple similar aspects since they reject the Orthodox priesthood and icons, have their own presbyters, hold the Bible as their main guide and interpret the sacraments "spiritually". They are thus in many ways similar to Anabaptist and Quaker Christians.
Formation and development
11th–14th centuries and origins of milk-drinking during Lent
There are approximately 200 fasting days—especially the Great Fast —when drinking milk was prohibited by Christian Orthodox ecclesiastical authorities. The practice of milk-drinking during these fasts was first sanctioned by the Nestorian Church in the 11th century in order to accommodate the conversion of some 200,000 Turkic Christians, who lived on meat and milk, to Nestorian Christianity. Two theories emerge regarding the formation of the milk-drinking practice during Lent.The first one suggests that the Keraite Khan, Markus Buyruk Khan, had converted to Nestorian Christianity along with around 200,000 of his Turco-Mongolic nomadic tribespeople in 1007. The Keraite people were one of the five dominant Turco-Mongol tribes of the Tatar confederation prior to Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan united the Tatar tribes into the Mongol Empire. The Keraite resided upon the Orkhon Steppes, south of Lake Baikal and north of the Gobi Desert, also referred to as the Altai-Sayan region. The Nestorian Metropolitan, upon the conversion of the Turco-Mongolic people, asked the Patriarch John VI what the appropriate fast for Lent should be for the new converts and it was decreed that the converts should abstain from meat eating and instead of drinking "soured" milk should consume "sweet" milk. Meat and fermented horse milk were staples of the Turco-Mongolic diet prior to the conversion to Christianity and instead of eliminating a long-held tradition of the nomadic people it was Christianized. Soured milk refers to fermented milk and sweet milk refers to fresh milk.
Arriving in the Rus' lands with the 13th century Tatar invasion of Batu and Möngke, the practice was adopted by other Christian groups, who had pastoral communities on the Eurasian plains.
The second theory proposes that King David IV of Georgia converted 40,000 Cuman–Kipchak tribal families to Christianity and resettled them in Georgia between 1118 and 1120. David IV assimilated these northern Turkic tribes because he was at war with the Muslim Seljuk Turks to the south and desired to reform his army. Each Kipchak family was required to provide one soldier with a horse and weapons. Though David IV is not reported as being a religious adherent, he was a promoter of Christian culture.
The Cumans, Kipchaks, Tatars, Mongolians, and Bashkirs all have the tradition of making fermented milk products. The Cumans call it kumis, Mongolians call it airag, Tatars call it azegay, and the Baskir call it azekay. This lends itself to the possibility of the second theory, as well as the first.
One hundred families of the original Molokan Karaits were settled in Halychyna by hostage arrangement between Daniel of Galicia and Batu Khan in 1246.
15th–16th centuries
The Judaizers preceded the modern day Molokans. Although they are sometimes also called "Molokans", they constitute an independent movement. Their leader Matvei Dalmatov was tortured to death in a monastery prison by breaking wheel.In 1428, Crimea became independent and supported the original Molokan-Subbotniks, the Crimean Karaites, who had always played an important role in Mongol politics. The linguistically dominant Church of the East Karait-Tatars, who had similar origins to the Khavars, became "Karaimstvuiuschie".
17th–18th centuries
The first recorded use of the term "Molokan" appears in the 1670s, in reference to a group of people who had the practice of not fasting as well as eating dairy products during the 200 fasting days stipulated by the Orthodox Church. In Russian, moloko means "milk", and thus this came to be the name for these particular Christians. Nonetheless, these were "Spiritual Christians" who were not directly related to the group later known as "Molokans".The "Molokans" that are known today by that name split in 1779 and 1780 from the Doukhobors because they thought that the Doukhobors neglected the Bible; in their belief, God had placed the Word directly into their hearts. The Molokans, however, held the written Bible in the highest regard. The founder of the Molokans, Semyon Matveevich Uklein, was a son-in-law of the Doukhobor leader Ilarion Poberokhin as explained by O. Beznosova: "Soon a group broke away from Pobirohin's disciples. It was led by his son-in-law Semyon Uklein, who did not share the mystical spirit and self-deification of the former leader and defended the need for reliance on the Gospel texts in the organization of church life. This group became a 'rational' direction of Spiritual Christianity, as opposed to the 'mystics' – 'christoverchestvo' adherents, 'Doukhobors', and 'skoptsy'."
Uklein's Molokans from Tambov energetically proselytized in settlements along the Volga River and Russia's south-eastern frontier, spreading the Molokan faith in the provinces of Orenburg, Saratov, and Astrakhan; Uklein would further continue organizing congregations until his death in 1809.
19th–20th centuries
From the intervention of Count Nikolay Zubov in 1795, Molokans were tolerated under Catherine the Great but constrained by strict rules imposed upon them intended to curb community growth. Those who ignored the restrictions were punished in Tsarist Russia as heretics. Molokan evangelists and missionaries suffered imprisonment, banishment, and other forms of punishment. Prohibited from winning converts, the Molokans were forced into endogamy. The government's policy was to send the Molokans away from the center of Russia into the Caucasus and other outlying areas to prevent their having influence on other peasants; they were sent to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, central Asia, and Siberia, where many communities have survived into the present.It is said that in 1900, despite the persecutions by the Tsarist government and Orthodox Church, there could have been about a half-million Spiritual Christians in the Russian empire. These figures appear, however, to be vastly exaggerated. In 1912, there were only 133,935 Molokane and 4,844 Pryguny counted in Russia.
Fewer than one thousand Molokane fled Russia in the early 1900s, many of whom settled near other non-Orthodox immigrants from Russia in an ethnic enclave on and near Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California, where they built a prayer hall in 1929. A second prayer hall was established near Sheridan, California, to serve those scattered in Northern California. There has been a population of Molokans in Whittier in southern California. As of 2022, there is still a church called New United Molokan Church. Though some Spiritual Christian faith groups fled Russia in the early 1900s to avoid the military draft, all eligible Molokan boys registered for the Selective Service Act of 1917, but were disqualified as aliens who did not speak English. During World War II, 136 eligible American Molokan boys enlisted during World War II, and two were conscientious objectors.
Being prohibited from winning converts under the laws of the Russian Empire, they adopted endogamy and were classified as an ethnic group under the Bolsheviks.