Russian Old Believers Molokans in Armenia. Molokans from Fioletov: how Russian Protestants live in Armenia

How are the Molokans (special ethnographic group Russians) appeared in Armenia, and who are they in general? Journalist Mark Grigoryan helped find the answer to this question.

They cannot be called Old Believers or Old Believers, they belong to spiritual Christianity, close to Protestantism, since they rejected the Orthodox cult. From the point of view of the Orthodox Church, Molokans are sectarians, says journalist Mark Grigoryan, long years who studied the history of the Molokans in Armenia.

The Molokans appeared in the 17th century, but this movement flourished in the 18th century.

"The institution of the church, especially in the 18th century, was powerful and dominating over ordinary people. This trend sought to free itself from this pressure. There are some elements of Protestantism in this," said Grigoryan.

The Molokans and the Doukhobors (another religious denomination) were at first in the same movement, but soon separated. Popularity among ordinary people even under Catherine led to the decision of the authorities to resettle them. That is how they ended up on the banks of the Molochnoye River in the Tauride province, and in the first half of the 19th century they were already resettled in the Caucasus, on the one hand, in order to send them away, on the other, to increase the Christian population in the rebellious region.

"Now there are about 15 thousand of them in Armenia," says Grigoryan.

According to him, in general, Molokans reject the church as an institution. That is, for them, communication with God is direct, direct. However, at the same time, it is a religious movement that is based on the Bible.

“Especially, the New Testament is confessed very seriously, worship is based on this,” notes Grigoryan.

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Photo: Ruben Mangasaryan

Molokans live compactly in Armenia in two villages - Fioletovo (the village consists entirely of Molokans) and Lermontovo (about 80% of Molokans). The journalist and TV presenter said that his first visit to the Molokan village of Fioletovo in Armenia did not go too smoothly. It was not allowed to take pictures and record voices on a voice recorder.

“There was a feeling that we were walking along the main road, and there were walls on both sides through which we could not penetrate,” recalls Grigoryan.

He admits that this only fueled professional interest. Grigoryan and Mangasaryan began to work actively, meet with various Molokans in Yerevan, study their religion and customs. During the second visit, everything was also not easy, but we managed to take several dozen photos.

"The next time we handed out photos, it helped to break the ice. In particular, there was a case: one photo of Rubik showed an old man with bushy beard. It turned out that between the time the photograph was taken and when we returned with it, the old man had died. His son told us, “this is the only memory of our father,” Grigoryan said.

Photo: Ruben Mangasaryan

They made friends with several Molokans, Grigoryan even found their relatives in the United States, who practically do not speak Russian, helped them establish a virtual connection - via e-mail, which is new in Fioletovo.

TV is considered no less outlandish. Its absence (at least in prominent places) is also one of the striking features in the houses of the Molokans. Grigoryan explained this by the moral prescription of the Molokans.

“In the eyes of many, TV is a tool that brings immorality, examples of violence, nudity and all this “bad” into the house. Some elders forbid having TVs at home,” Grigoryan said.

However, not everyone strictly follows this prescription. Grigoryan himself was a witness to this.

"On one of our trips to Fioletovo, we noticed that there were large wardrobes in the kitchens. wardrobes. It turned out that TV sets were kept in these cabinets," Grigoryan said.

Thus, they are hidden from "prying eyes". As for the rest of the equipment, the Molokans own it. Grigoryan even knows a doctor of sciences who is engaged in space research.

The attention of guests in a Molokan house can also be attracted by the number of children, there are often many of them. According to Grigoryan, believing Molokans believe that their number depends on "how much God will give", they do not limit themselves in this. And marriages take place mainly between members of the community or with those who have adopted their religion.

The issue of military service and the use of weapons is not as acute for the Molokans as it is for one of the branches of the Dukhobors. Grigoryan said that at the end of the 19th century, the Dukhobors once burned all the weapons in the vicinity of the village of Gorelovka (in Javakhk) as a sign of their peacefulness. For this, the royal authorities severely punished them. Leo Tolstoy came out in their support, writing an article in the New York Times about how heroically they acted.

As for the modern life of the Molokans in Armenia, they have a very developed concept of community life, they have managed to integrate into society.

According to the journalist, the Molokans occupied several economic niches in the country. They are respected in these areas. Molokans are famous not only for sauerkraut, but also for high-quality repairs and cleaning. This is a kind of brand of Armenian Molokans.

Now it seems to me that this was not the case. There cannot be such places, such people. In the 21st century, it is unthinkable full immersion sometime in the early 19th century. Here the camera is not only forbidden (and it is often forbidden), but it is not even appropriate. "It's awkward somehow," Sergey Maksimishin told me, "I'm not a paparazzi." Still - always with permission - he filmed. Probably, there are places even further into the depths of life - somewhere in Australia, in South America, but these are three hours away from Yerevan, in the mountains between Dilijan and Vanadzor, in the villages of Fioletovo and Lermontovo. And most importantly - in this Australia, after all, strangers. And these are theirs. My.

Mine are nowhere else. Russian Molokans in Armenia are the past of my family. I took with me a photograph of my great-grandfather Alexei Petrovich Semenov and his wife Maria Ivanovna, who lived in Armenia. He showed the Molokans, and they warmed up, even the gloomy violet presbyter Nikolai Ivanovich Sukovitsyn. Not warm enough, however, to take pictures. But he admitted to the meeting, saying: "Brothers and sisters, we have a guest, Peter, his mother from ours."

My mother really grew up in a Molokan family. Our ancestor, the Tambov landowner Ivinsky, was carried away by the ideas of the Molokans, dismissed the serfs, renounced property and went to the sect of Semyon Uklein, changing his surname to Semyonov in his honor. In the years 1830-1840, the Tambov Molokans moved to Armenia, just then occupied by Russia. There my great-grandfather lived in Yelenovka - now it is the city of Sevan near the lake of the same name. From there, his son, my grandfather Mikhail, went to Turkmenistan, where my mother was born and raised - but that's another story.

On the reverse side of the great-grandfather's photograph there is an inscription: "In memory of relatives in Askhabad, August 8, 1894, Yelenovka. Taken on October 3, 1889." A lush-bearded great-grandfather with a valiant mustache - in a long Siberian frock coat, great-grandmother in a scarf and a white apron. Orderly.

The Molokans, who arose in Russia in the second half of the 18th century, were something like Orthodox Protestantism. Their self-designation is Spiritual Christians. The word "Molokans", which outsiders elevate to the fact that this sect consumes milk in fasting, is from the First Epistle of the Apostle Peter: "Like newborn babies, love pure verbal milk." They themselves - without intermediaries - churchmen - read and interpret the Scriptures. The community is headed by an elected presbyter. There are no priests, no church, no icons, no cross - as not divine, but human creations. The cross, moreover, is an instrument of the enemies of Christ. That is why the Molokans do not baptize themselves, and christenings are called "kstins". Baptism with water is denied - a reference to the words of John the Baptist: "I baptize you in water for repentance, but He who comes after me ... will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

The Molokans have several interpretations, subspecies, and now the movement is dominated by radical jumpers, who have greatly pressed the so-called permanent, more moderate ones. Jumpers - because "entering the spirit" (into prayerful ecstasy), they jump up, raising their hands, and say something in unknown language. I saw this at meetings in Fioletovo - more on that later.

Prosperity among the Molokans has always been considered a virtue, they are incredibly hardworking and conscientious, law-abiding and peaceful (in Fioletovo they remember only one murder: seven years ago, in a fight - there was never a deliberate one). Finally, they don't drink. Where else are there compactly living communities of Russian people who have not been drinking for three hundred years? My mother, who went through the front as a surgeon, managed to maintain an aversion to alcohol, which is why I suffered a lot in my youth.

Presbyter jumpers Nikolai Ivanovich - a smooth straight parting, deep-set attentive eyes - believes, however, that the current ones have become loose. "How are the youth? - Yes, not very much. They indulge. - Drink? - Yes, it happens. - And they walk? - No, even a drunk goes to his wife. - How do they get married? Parents agree? - No, parents only give consent, and so for love." Out of love, maybe out of love, but without the community, without the will of the presbyter, nothing serious is done here.

Without hierarchy, no organization is possible. The Molokans rejected the priests, the temple, the ecclesiastical structure - however, in return, a different, but also a structure was created. Even tougher, since in ordinary Orthodoxy power is distributed between different levels, here the very vertical that the Russian leadership dreams of is being built. Everything - family, work, community affairs - is done only with the approval of the presbyter. The village head of Fioletova, that is, the official head of the administration, Alexei Ilyich Novikov, in whose house we lived, calmly says: "I have about ten percent of the power, the rest is with Nikolai Ivanovich."

An instrument of pressure, a method of punishment - a refusal to perform a ceremony: marriage or kstin. In fact  - exclusion from the meeting. Alexey Ilyich once dared to divorce his wife. Divorces are not recognized here. As Novikov told us: "They make me a prostitute." He moved to the permanent, goes to meetings in Dilijan. His 33-year-old son Pasha is not married, we asked why, and in response we heard a story as if from some old books. Pasha had a five-year affair with a local girl, but she was not married to the son of a "prostitute", she married another. And no one in the village will give out for Pasha.

In general, Molokan morals have become more severe over the past decades. This is understandable: modern life, with its accessible temptations, threatens to blur, destroy the old way of life, and in order to survive, you need to isolate yourself even more. Here is a cultural conflict: the higher the level of civilization, the greater the likelihood of extinction; preservation of the unique human species associated with the tightening of one's own and the rejection of everything alien.

Once there was a club in Fioletovo, now the concrete cube with broken glass is empty. In the old days, young people went there to the movies and even to dances. Here he got married - that's all, it's over with nonsense. Now there is nowhere to go, and the rules are stricter. TVs are not kept. Only Novikov's "prostitute" provocatively sticks out over the roof satellite dish. His wife, Sarah Abramovna, a Mordovian Molokan woman (Old Testament names are in use), watches in the evenings, she likes something, not all of them: “I don’t like this one, Tolstaya from the School of Scandal, so important.”

You will almost never meet worldly reading. But on the table in every house of jumpers there are certainly three open books. This does not mean that they are read daily, but they are in full readiness: the Old Testament, the New Testament and "Spirit and Life" - "Inspired Sayings of Maxim Gavrilovich Rudometkin, King of Spirits and Leader of the Zion People of Spiritual Christians Molokan Jumpers. Written by him in grave suffering of the monastic imprisonments in Solovetsky and Suzdal in the period 1858-1877.

Three books are interpreted symbolically: the Old Testament is the foundation of faith, the New Testament is the walls, Rudometkin is the roof. At the prayer meeting it is directly stated that Maxim Gavrilovich – component Trinity: "Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the person of our anointed and suffering."

Rudometkin's manuscripts, which he secretly handed over from imprisonment in the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, were taken by the Tolmachev family to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 20th century, baked into bread. In the port of Poti, during the inspection, they said that they were taking native bread to the States, customs officers were moved. These are the books they read. True, when we were visiting 71-year-old Pavel Ionovich Dyakonov, he suddenly opened the bottom drawers of the chest of drawers and showed us books - left over from children, now adults, living in other parts of the world. Normal colorful set: Dumas, Turgenev, Irasek, Ivanhoe, Tales of the Titans by Golosovker, The Catcher in the Rye, Montezuma's Daughter.

Today's children read only in class at school, never at home,” said Russian language and literature teacher Alla Rudometkina. She lives in Vanadzor, like most teachers, they are brought and taken away by minibus. In Fioletovo, with its population of 1,500 people - ten years. In the 9th and 10th grades - six people each, in the 8th - 28, but they will continue to study, the teachers explain, no more than ten. Now two have gathered in universities: one in Tambov, the other in Moscow. No one from Fioletov has ever received a higher education, although there are quotas for admission without exams. Now here is one young man studying in Tula, already in his second year - we'll see.

Teachers say that children come to school to relax: at home they do a lot of housework. When sowing or harvesting, they do not appear at all. Accordingly, the attitude to learning.

The expression on the children's faces is really carefree. Fair-haired and clear-eyed - here in Armenian mountains they seem to be aliens. So it historically is - they came, did not mix, did not disappear. Years will pass - these girls and boys will darken from the wind, sun and worries, like their mothers and fathers, but now Maximishin pushes me every minute, exclaiming: "Look at those faces!"

While he is arranging a photo session in the corridor, the director Valery Bogdanovich Mirzabekyan shows me the school. I ask for a little. He takes me out into the yard, we go to a solid concrete house. The director opens the door with a key and admires the effect produced: this has not been seen outside of Yerevan - not a soldier’s point that is familiar everywhere in the province, but toilet bowls, snow-white tiles, nickel-plated taps. The toilet was built by the Americans, and since there is no sewage system in Fioletovo, they also built an autonomous vacuum device. And since the people are unusual, especially the children, who immediately began to disassemble the brilliant details, the turnkey house is opened for VIPs.

The restroom was arranged by American charitable organizations. Gas - that is, heat - they also brought to the school, before the students went to classes with logs under their arms. The Armenians donated a computer and allocated $100 prizes to several students. The Americans also created a medical center in the administration building. They are planting forest where it was cut down in the 1990s. And what about Russia?

Whoever you ask - and you don’t even need to ask, they themselves say vying with each other - this is the main insult: nothing from Russia. The Russian ambassador said after visiting the Molokan villages: "Russia is not a cash cow." Everyone in Violet remembers and quotes these words. And when asked to help with the arrangement of preparatory classes, the consul replied: "Your children - you pay."

It is not entirely clear against the background of the declared concern for compatriots abroad. And what compatriots! Violetovo, entirely Russian (one and a half thousand - only eleven Armenians: they keep the only store that sells alcohol), and partly neighboring Lermontovo with a mixed population are genuine ethnographic reserves. Only not artificial, not museum, but alive. Any civilized country would send scientists here after scientists. The phenomenon of three hundred years of non-drinking alone is worth a close study.

And the language! Tanya, the daughter of Alexei Ilyich, is chatting with a friend who has looked in: “Have you clearly not seen it? - You have seen it. He is like that. - Why? (“You need to call” on a mobile phone - there is no ordinary telephone connection here.) “Help”, “knit”, “flow”, “puff up”, “in your thoughts”, “went to the meeting”. But suddenly - "my son-in-law is luxurious." Record and record.

It seems that only Irina Vladimirovna Dolzhenko from the Academic Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Yerevan is engaged in this, the best connoisseur Molokans. She graciously agreed to go with us, which helped invaluably: the Molokans have known and respected her for a long time. Perhaps there is not so much time to be interested in the local way of life: how long the Molokans will hold out in their uniqueness is unknown. They are slowly leaving for Yerevan, where their diligence and honesty are valued. I saw an ad on the wall there: "Malakan brigade: repairs, cleaning of apartments, etc." At school, for sure, it didn’t matter. Young people go to work: most of all to Krasnodar and Stavropol Territory- there are so many Molokans that it is possible to live compactly among their own. They also go to Tyumen, Surgut, and Eastern Siberia - usually for six months. Here Tanya's husband went somewhere to the Amur. All this, as a rule, is temporary: those who leave for good will trample down the traces of their ancestors. But you can't go against the times - there are those who trample on.

And most importantly, the once prosperous Fioletovo Molokans are getting poorer before their eyes.

Reduced side income. Before they kept sheep, now there is nowhere to sell wool. Cows are kept for milk and meat, for themselves: according to the Old Testament, Molokans do not eat pork. Cattle are driven to graze in the mountains: round-trip 15-20 km per day. So cows are shod in Fioletovo! Horseshoes are cut out of steel sheet. I saw something similar in Iceland: steel shoes for cows - for the same reason for the mountainous terrain.

Previously, almost every house had Azerbaijani summer residents: here are high mountains, it is cool in summer. "Azerbaijanis loved to live here, they paid 80 rubles a month for a room," says Alexei Ilyich. After the Karabakh war, there is no question of this.

At the same time, more than 60 people in Fioletovo do not take pensions - because this is not earned money. They don't accept humanitarian aid either. In the neighborhood of Novikov's house, Vasily Fedorovich Shubin is plowing with a plow harnessed to a horse with his daughter Tatyana - he is just one of these. I say: "You've been paying taxes all your life, so you honestly earned a pension." He, without stopping plowing, replies: "I entrusted this to four daughters, I fed them, let them feed me now."

However, you can live without additional. everything is more difficult without the main thing - without cabbage. In any market in Armenia, they know what it is - molokani kopusta. Once known throughout the Soviet Union. Cabbage was supplied even to Primorye. Everyone had their own market area: Novikov, for example, always drove to Astrakhan. Now customs and border fees make trade meaningless. Previously, a family could make 25,000 rubles a year from cabbage.

Two experienced workers are able to chop (here they say - "cut") a ton a day. 700–800 kg of cabbage, 40 kg of carrots, and salt are placed in an oak or larch barrel. Large volume is very important. They press down with a 50-kilogram oppression. Two or three weeks later, it's ready.

For food, they are laid out in three-liter jars - "cylinders". Previously, they tried to add apples - but the taste is still not the same, only carrots are added. Extraordinarily delicious! The secret of Molokan cabbage is that it is sweet here.

Andrei Vasilyevich Korolev, young, with a long red beard, now and then meaningfully looking up, says: "The closer to Ararat, the better. Cognac, for example, here is cabbage."

Korolyov clearly settled down to me, switches to "you", which is unusual for Molokans, looks into the open collar of his shirt: "Well done for not wearing a cross, well done, they told me that you have a mother from ours." He hastily enlightens: "Have you ever heard of Leo Tolstoy? Well, Leo Tolstoy was the Tsar's viceroy, and he transferred Maxim Gavrilovich from Solovki to Suzdal. He wrote books, Tolstoy, you look, read."

In Fioletovo, even now, 5-6 thousand tons of cabbage are harvested annually. Only now 70 percent is lost. Sow, harvest, cut, stack, throw away. They offered to supply cabbage to parts Russian army in Armenia: which, it would seem, is more reasonable - but they were refused. As the ambassador said there: "Russia is not a cash cow."

Sad historical fate. The Molokans were persecuted from the very beginning in the 18th century, then in 1805 the liberal Alexander I signed a decree on the freedom of their religion, but already under Nicholas I the persecution began again. Resettlement to the Caucasus became a way out for everyone: the authorities replaced expensive military garrisons with settlements of hard-working sober Russian people, the church got rid of the sect that confuses the minds and souls, the Molokans found a home and freedom of faith.

Elenovka (Sevan), Nikitino (Fioletovo), Voskresenka (Lermontovo) appeared in Armenia. But the then governor of the Caucasus, Prince Vorontsov, was the last representative of the central government who patronized the Molokans. In 1857, the founder of the jumping movement, Maxim Gavrilovich Rudometkin, was arrested, who died in captivity in Suzdal. Now Molokans are not persecuted in Russia, but they obviously do not like them, and Russia does not need Armenian Molokans. So they live on their own.

They die on their own. A cemetery on a hill with a breathtaking view of both ridges between which Fioletovo lies - Lambaksky and Halabsky, with snowy peaks at a three-kilometer height. There are no crosses on the graves either - on the risers there are trapezoidal iron, less often wooden, boxes with doors, like postal boxes: you open it - there is an inscription: "Here rests ..."

Where my great-grandfather and grandfather are buried is unknown. In the 1930s, the level of Sevan began to be lowered, hydroelectric power stations were built, and the Russian village of Yelenovka was unrecognizably transformed into the Armenian city of Sevan - one cannot find where Aleksey Petrovich Semenov is buried. Moreover, his son Mikhail Alekseevich: grandfather was arrested in Ashgabat in the same 1930s, and it is not known in what places they were shot. However, among the Molokans it is not customary to visit the graves, it is not customary to take care of them  – died and died.

They also have their own calendar: they celebrate Easter, but Christmas is not celebrated. Old Testament Tabernacles and Judgment Day are celebrated. And so the holidays - every Saturday and Sunday: prayer meetings.

With the permission of presbyter Nikolai Ivanovich, I go to the prayer house - one-story, with three windows along the facade. In the passage there are benches and hooks for hats and outerwear. In the hall there is a table for the presbyter, assistant and patrons: this is the name of the closest circle of the presbyter (at the end of the meeting: "Patrons, stay"). Rows of shops, women separately. On the walls - embroidered towels triangle and monogram DH: "spiritual Christians". All dressed festively, elegantly. Men: ironed trousers, a jacket, often a vest, a shirt with a thin waistband is a must. Women: white shawl, sometimes with a branch pattern, a long skirt with a tulle apron, most often with a lace frill.

Texts are read from the Gospel, then from Rudometkin. They sing not only psalms, but also songs - to familiar tunes that have been rushing from loudspeakers all over the country for years, only the words are different. Something half-forgotten dawns behind the refrain "Higher, higher raise the banner!" For a cheerful "Leave, Peter, fish, / Come with Me to pray to God." Behind the mysterious "Skrozydon, skrozydon, / We'll go through the speed, we'll go through the speed. / We will exhaust all the sufferers / And soon we will all go to Zion" (we will exhaust - what is it about? Or in the sense of "bring out"?). And here is from my childhood: "If you are ready to pray for sinners, / Know that your fate is happier than others - / For the old, the sick, who have forgotten about God ... / Get on your knees, you pray for them." Lord, this is "Rulate-rula", a Finnish song transcribed into Russian by Vladimir Voinovich, which was driven from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka in the 1960s: "A place is given to everything in life, / Evil coexists with good. / If the bride leaves for another , / It is not known who was lucky." Molokans, like other sectarians, always used ready-made melodies - first folk, then popular: convenient.

After the psalms, the presbyter speaks of sins, and the women, covered with handkerchiefs, weep aloud. Loud sobs, dry eyes.

During the singing, two men and one woman straighten up and at first lightly, then more strongly, bounce in place, smoothly moving their arms raised above their heads - like at rock concerts. That's it, "walking in the spirit." There are usually no more than five to ten percent of such "actors" in the assembly. Even rarer are "prophets" - these can switch to glossolalia, to angelic languages, they are able to foresee the future. There is only one unconditional Molokan prophet in Armenia now - the blind Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov in Sevan. In Fioletovo there is a prophet, but not for everyone - Vladimir Alekseevich Zadorkin, from the Maximists. I was also in their meeting. "Maximists" - on behalf of Maxim Rudometkin, but the name is apt: they are maximalists too, even more radical than jumpers.

The meeting ends in three hours. On the table under a towel - so that it was not visible who how much - they put money for community needs. Someone from the throne announces: "Mikhail Alexandrovich Tolmachev invites you to work." I mean today's kstins. Birthdays are not celebrated here. There is no name day: there are no saints. So what remains is marriage, commemoration ("commemoration") and kstiny.

We walk along Central Street (there are only two of them, the second - Pogrebnaya - leads towards the cemetery) to the house of the Tolmachevs - the very ones whose ancestors saved Rudometkin's manuscripts. Along the fence there are already 28 samovars and 15 cast-iron homemade noodles, which the day before Tolmachev's women rolled together with their neighbors.

In the large room, the family kneels before the presbyter, he stretches out his hand, names the child, and after the psalms and songs, everyone goes out into the street: the solemn part of the kstin has taken place, the meal is served in the house. On the way, I look into other rooms and see the same thing as in other Molokan houses: high beds with three or four pillows one on top of the other under a tulle bedspread. The bed is multi-layered: a mattress, a mattress with sheep's wool, a downy feather bed, a blanket, a carpet on top. You can’t live without such beds, but they sleep on others, these are for splendor.

About two hundred people are seated on benches at long tables. First, samovars, sweets, and cheese are brought in. Then the noodles are served in enameled bowls. We eat four or five out of one with wooden spoons. The change of dishes is monitored by the owner who does not sit down, who says in an undertone somewhere back: "We haven't finished it yet." But here: "They leveled up" - and they carry boiled meat, which is customary to eat with their hands. Towels were handed out to everyone - to wipe sweat after tea and hands after meat. At the end - compote.

We talk with the neighbors at the table. Arranging kstins and commemorations, they explain, is relatively cheap, almost all of their own. It's expensive to get married. There are seven feasts: magarych, matchmaking, visiting the bride, a chest, a chicken, a shirt, a wedding. If you maintain the level, it will cost a thousand and a half dollars, this is not counting the cost of a dowry. And there are no alcohol costs.

No, it still seems that there can be no such places, such people. In the 21st century, such a complete immersion somewhere in the beginning of the 19th century is unthinkable. But there is. We saw.

And in general I am from there, surprisingly to myself. On some wonderful time machine I visited the peers of my great-grandfather.

The next day we leave Fioletovo, overtaking a truck in which the guys and girls go on a picnic on the occasion of Sunday. They wave affably, call with them, somewhere in the direction of Rotten Beam and Sour Water (in combination with the very name of the village of Fioletovo - a landscape; where, by the way, did the Baku commissar, Voronezh peasant Ivan Fioletov, have such a surname?). We would have moved into a truck, they have fun, and their faces are good, there are few such pure Russian faces left. Sorry - no time. There is a box of food and two samovars in the truck. In any other place, everything would be clear: in one samovar - vodka, in another - port wine. There is really tea here: it is not clear how they live.

October 31 marks the end of the 500th anniversary year of the Reformation. Russian state was not affected by the storms of the Reformation, but from the 16th century on its territory, thanks to migrants from Western Europe, Protestant movements began to form, the most persistent and consistent among which was the movement of the Molokans.

The Molokans defined themselves as "spiritual Christians", rejected the Orthodox cult, the worship of icons and the cross, denied the church hierarchy and did not make the sign of the cross. main idea- communication with God, reading and interpreting the Bible without intermediaries in the person of the Church and priests. The spread of milkweed in early XIX century, the authorities began to worry, and its representatives were massively resettled in the Taurida province. And after a while, by decree of Nicholas I - to the Caucasus, to modern Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Of the thirty Molokan settlements that existed in Soviet Armenia, two are now left - the villages of Fioletovo (former Nikitino) and Lermontovo (former Voskresenka), of which only the first is purely Molokan, Armenians and Kurds also live in Lermontovo. The Molokans have adapted to the harsh mountain climate and due to the colossal labor on the earth, they achieved maximum soil fertility. With the same perseverance, they retained their identity and spiritual values, instilled by their ancestors - the first Molokans - settlers. This was largely due to a separate way of life and religion.

Violetovo is located in the north of Armenia, between the snow-covered ridges of Lambak and Halab. It is difficult to meet someone in the daylight in the village. Everyone is busy with the household: some in the house, some in the ridges and highland fields. The first thing that catches your eye when entering Fioletovo is arable land and the silhouettes of peasants against the backdrop of a mountain range. From time to time cars pass by: SUVs, tractors, a truck turns the corner with us, which smells of milk. Girls in multi-colored headscarves, standing in the back, cheerfully wave in response and break into a wide smile.

“Molokans are underestimated,” taxi driver Ara Saroyan says on the way, “since he brought Russian tourists, on the way to Lermontov they started talking about Molokans. They said different things, mostly dirty, they didn’t like that they marry only “their own”. Argued with them, I know them better. They apologized on the way back. “It’s not necessary in front of me,” I say, “whatever one may say, one nation.”

Main dish on the wedding table

From a small one-story house comes the rumble of voices and the sound of rolling pins. Along the narrow room, six tables are arranged in two rows, behind them are women in white aprons and kerchiefs, and while talking, they roll the dough, from time to time throwing it from hand to hand, and then to a nearby colleague.

The fact that this is a prayer house is hinted at by books that lie on a separate table covered with an embroidered tablecloth: the Old Testament, the New Testament, “Spirit and Life” by M.G. Rudometkin ( spiritual leader Molokans, a native of Fioletovo), prayer books and song books. Embroidered towels with the monogram DH (spiritual Christians) hang in the corners. There are no crosses, no icons, no candles.

Today, the room has been temporarily transformed into a kitchen - on Sunday a wedding will be played in the village, and, according to tradition, two days before that, women roll noodles - noodle broth is the main dish on the wedding table. When asked why noodles, Svetlana, a tall, gray-haired woman who works at a table closer to the door (I can’t go any further because of crowding), answers briefly - “remained from Russia.” Previously, it was customary to cook noodles in cast iron, now in ordinary pots.

“We will definitely serve meat, but not pork, from fruits - watermelon, cherries, apricots. If we celebrate in the winter, then we cook borscht, ”they try to shout over the sound of the woman’s own rolling pins. Young Molokans stand the farthest from me, but, having heard general issues smile and rush to join the conversation. The tea ceremony, they say, is the second major part of the wedding meal, replacing the toast culture. Samovars are heated with coal and spiritual songs are sung over a cup of tea, the Bible is read and parting words are given to the young. I ask if the harmonica will play, the women shake their heads emphatically. “There are no dances at weddings,” comes from the other side of the room.

Weddings in Fioletovo begin, as a rule, at 11 am. When talking about marriage, Molokans, first of all, mean church marriage. Civil plays a secondary role and is often concluded after. The wedding ceremony consists of two parts, the first takes place in the bride's house, after which she is led to the groom's house to church songs (thus announcing joyful event), where the second part already takes place. The rites are conducted by the presbyter - the chairman of the community, elected from among the believers. He also holds spiritual meetings every weekend in the prayer house, baptisms (the Molokans call them “kstins”), services on Easter (they celebrate 7 days), Harvest and Harvest Day, and others.

“He doesn’t put on anything,” “he doesn’t hang anything on himself,” “a simple man,”—the women in the prayer house animatedly explain how a presbyter differs from a priest.

“The priest lives at the expense of the parish,” the nearby Svetlana continues in a quiet voice, waiting for a pause, “and the presbyter works like everyone else, in free time conducts rituals, he does not live off them. That's the difference."

“Spirit and Life” of Modern Molokans

“Our ancestors are from Tambov. Molokans of Lermontov - from the Tambov and Saratov provinces. Initially, spiritual Christians were exiled to the Melitopol district, to the Molochnaya River. I think that’s why they called us Molokans, but in general we are written as Russians (in passports),” says Tatyana, and on the second attempt she tries to count in what generation she lives in Fioletovo. "In the ninth or tenth," she concludes, bending thumb left hand.

We met Tatyana by chance near her gate. A 55-year-old woman in a white headscarf with a ruddy, round face and lively, laughing eyes shakes her head in embarrassment when I ask her to photograph her. He says he does not like publicity, I do not insist.

“We don’t get baptized, we don’t carry a cross. We go to the prayer house, but we do not light candles, we put on everything white for meetings and ceremonies - scarves, aprons. They call us Old Believers, probably, they are. As the old ones believed, so do we, and our children follow in our footsteps,” she says.

For almost 180 years of life in Armenia, spiritual Christians have practically not been subjected to cultural influence local population. The moral rules and foundations of the faith of the Molokans now differ little from those that were followed in the 17th century. This is manifested in behavior, manners, clothing. Men wear shirts and hold long beards(only married, but among the young there are those who wish), women after marriage put on scarves and long skirts. According to the interpretation of the Bible, in which the Molokans invest symbolic meaning, it is considered sinful to consume pork, alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Idleness is also condemned, however, it is difficult to blame the Molokans for this, in Armenia they are known for their diligence and conscientiousness.

Photo: Ruben Mangasaryan, Sputnik Armenia

It was possible to preserve the originality, the Slavic type of appearance and the Russian language, in particular, thanks to a separate way of life and the absence of mixed marriages. Molokans marry only their own. Interethnic marriages, and by them they mean, among other things, marriages with Russians, are condemned here. Divorces are rarely recognized. Molokans who violate customs are usually called adulterers - in fact, this means expulsion from the community and refusal to perform rituals.

I ask if the youth is talking, if they are violating the foundations. Tatyana with a smile, not without pleasure, stretches - "didn't loosen up."

He adds that there are no strict prohibitions, for example, they can allow a glass on the weekend, “but they don’t get drunk.” “And on weekdays, there is no need. If you drink, you go to collect hay under this heat, and you will fall there,” the woman says.

Girls change the length of the dress depending on fashion trends, “one year the fashion is long, the other - short (knee-deep)”. Despite the fact that the Molokans do not wear trousers, the young from time to time put them on in the forest.

Mixed marriages also occur, mostly by Molokans who have emigrated to Russia. However, public censure bypasses them - few people come back. It is interesting that they still prefer not to sell houses in Fioletovo, no, no, and they will come to relax with their children.

So Nikolay today for the first time in five years returned with his family to Fioletovo. In the Krasnodar Territory, where he has lived for about 30 years, there is one of the largest Molokan communities in Russia - the Community of Spiritual Christian Molokans. Every weekend, spiritual meetings are held at the local prayer house, which, according to the man, different time visited by about 300 people. Such meetings allow not only to observe rituals, but also to discuss the pressing problems of community members and, for example, to coordinate efforts to help fellow believers.

“They told us that the Molokan would have to undergo an operation, but he did not have enough money. Then we take off little by little, and it turns out that we have collected the amount. We stick together, I think the Armenians taught us this unity, they are our brotherly people,” says Nikolai, a short fair-faced man with small blue eyes and a medium length beard. He deftly switches from Russian to Armenian and says that he tries not to forget the latter.

“If the neighbors see a mass funeral, they say: either after an Armenian or a Molokan,” the man notes, and after a while he adds, “but I don’t see much difference between us and Russians, because we are Russians, Molokans, it’s more like a nickname ".

To Russia for work

Active migration of Molokans from Armenia occurred in the 90s: as a result of the Spitak earthquake in 1988 (the epicenter was the Lori region, which includes Molokan settlements), the collapse Soviet Union, Karabakh war (1992-1994). Back in 1989, according to the census, about 52 thousand Molokans lived in Armenia, now their number is 5 thousand. As they say locals, the majority then emigrated to Russia (in particular, to the southern regions - Krasnodar, Stavropol, Rostov), ​​Australia and America (numerous communities in California).

Nikolai and Tatyana's sisters were also from the first wave of migration, the latter left after the Spitak earthquake and settled in Voronezh. Tatyana herself was often there, she drove to sell branded Molokan sauerkraut. He says he was not tempted to stay.

“It is easy to live with Armenians, we find a common language. But it’s more difficult with Russians, you go to Russia, but they don’t seem to notice you, you’re not a person. Arrogant. And when you come back, you are already home,” the woman says.

IN Soviet time and for some period after the collapse of the USSR, Molokans actively supplied agricultural products and sauerkraut to other republics. Over time, customs conditions were tightened, and it became pointless to export them abroad. As for the domestic sales market, according to the Molokans, it is limited to the city of Vanadzor, where they have to adjust to the local low price policy - "give potatoes for 30-40 drams, which means for next to nothing."

A difficult situation has now developed in other sectors. After the massive closure of factories in Hrazdan (one of the industrial and energy centers of Armenia), factories in Vanadzor, the vast majority of young people resort to labor migration. All the same directions are relevant - Krasnodar, Saratov, Rostov and Sochi.

Regardless of nationality, Molokans are subject to the general rules for acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation. Some of them, who settled in Russia, changed their Armenian citizenship to Russian, some retained dual citizenship, but most of- so the Russian one was not received.

Tatyana says that young guys often turn to the Russian embassy in Gyumri on this issue, but they always get a refusal. “If it turned out before the age of 18, then it’s good, after 18 it’s very difficult. Red tape - we need to get out of here, register there, but why do we need it, ”they say in the village.

Due to the reduction in the role of subsistence farming, internal labor migration is also actively developing, Molokans go to work in big cities– Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor.

In Armenia, there are several areas in which the work of the Molokans is especially valuable. First of all, this is a household, for neatness and conscientiousness, Molokan women are known as the best house cleaners. In Yerevan, apartment cleaning services are being opened, where only Russians are recruited.

Quite often their work is estimated above the rates established in the market.

Men in the city work as locksmiths, welders, roofers, drivers, machinists. Last year in Karabakh, in the village of Vazgenashen, a quarry was opened, and many young guys from Fioletovo got a job there as drivers for Kamaz trucks and dump trucks. They say in the village that Molokans are willingly hired for workaholism - "they will set a limit of five flights, and on their own initiative they will make ten for the same pay."

“Some people think that there is less work, but someone has enough. I have enough, and I went to Russia, but always returned,” says Peter, a tall, slender young man with a clean-shaven face. He works as a driver at a quarry, today he has a day off, which he spends with his children. In the arms of a chubby blond boy. Nearby, on the veranda, two girls were attached, it seems, the weather (the Molokans, as a rule, have large families, for religious reasons they do not accept abortions).

I start talking about the foundations in Fioletovo, Peter notes that society has modernized a bit: they keep a beard at will, they can drink, although quite rarely, but the basic foundations have remained unshakable. “We do not believe in intermediaries, we do not worship icons . Be sure to visit the prayer house every Sunday. On this day strictly no one works, after the ceremony we go to visit each other. We marry only our own, we do not mix. So we are the real Russians,” the man says.

Automatically I look at the “real Russian girls”, whose large gray eyes look curiously at my father. After a while, they remember their game and begin to whisper, forgetting about our existence.

"Do you have a kindergarten?" I ask as I watch them.

"No, only one school"

"Russian?"

"Russian!"

The choice is to stay

“There used to be good teachers, now only Armenians teach, they come from Vanadzor,” Svetlana says after waiting for the rolling pins to subside a bit.

In her youth, she worked as a librarian and studied in absentia at the Odessa vocational school. Now there is no such position in Fioletovo, just as there is no library. The woman says that no one needs the latter anymore. However, at the same time it refutes the conventional wisdom about the general illiteracy of the Molokans. It is believed that children are not interested in higher education high school, since from an early age those are accustomed to physical labor (on earth), and not intellectual.

But here, in the prayer house, in parallel with the active kneading of the dough, women with blushed faces from movement explain the opposite - “the guys are simply not visible, they leave to get higher education and don't come back." So Svetlana's son first completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Yerevan State University, then postgraduate studies in Moscow. He says if he finds a job in Armenia, he will stay, if not, he will return to Russia. Svetlana herself is not going to leave Fioletovo.

“We were born here, we got used to it, we live and live, those who had a desire have already left. Do ours spoil abroad? Who needs to be spoiled and are spoiled here, it is not the place that spoils the person, but the person the place, ”the woman says in a quiet, even voice.

At the exit from the prayer house, the taxi driver Ara Saroyan meets. “Well, what is your impression? He told me, good people,” he says quickly, briskly heading towards the car, “I remember the car stalled on the road from Dilijan, the only one who helped at two in the morning was a Molokan Misha, I remembered the name,” Ara says good-naturedly.

“Look, like from an epic,” I interrupt, and with a camera I go to the old man who stopped the cart on the opposite side of the road. He is small in stature, with white hair and a long gray beard, in a loose shirt tied with a belt. With a concentrated, but at the same time animated expression on his face and cheerful bright eyes under shaggy eyebrows, he transfers stone materials from the cart to the ground.

At the sight of the camera, he turns away in embarrassment. I close the lens.

“And I saw you at the house of my sister Tatyana. Forgive me, we don’t like this business,” he says, pointing to the camera.

“I understand… Have you been to Tambov?” I ask after a pause.

“No, I was with my sisters in Voronezh”

“Probably called to stay”

“Zvaaali,” the old man draws out with a smile.

“But I feel good here, calmly,” the gray-haired Molokan says in a barely audible voice.

This is one of the articles

The previous issue was dedicated to the central part of Lori province —

This article will focus on the southern part of the province of Lori.

• CONTENT:
• The city of Spitak (the center of a powerful earthquake in 1988).
• Vanadzor (capital of Lori province).
• Molokans in the village of Lermontovo and in general in Armenia.
• Some quotes about Molokans.
• Molokans in Yerevan.

Spitak

(Spitak). The town is known for being the epicenter of a very powerful earthquake in 1988. Almost all city buildings (and everything above 2-story houses) were destroyed. Private one-story houses were also partially damaged... Neighboring cities (Vanadzor and Gyumri) were less affected, but also suffered.

Almost immediately after this disaster, the construction of new houses for residents began, and within two years the city was rebuilt by the forces of the USSR, and the Armenian diaspora abroad also helped. In the center of the city there is a large interesting monument in honor of the earthquake (moreover, the monument is part of the shops operating in it).

Monument to the earthquake in the city of Spitak and the victims and losses associated with it.

Regarding the lodging for the night, there was an appeal to the main church of the city, and a church employee took him to his home. By the way, the author of these lines has three separate articles on the topic(the link takes you to the first article from the series about free overnight stays in religious organizations).
From Spitak to the east 21 km ...

Vanadzor

(Vanadzor). Capital of Lori province. The third largest city in Armenia (now there are 90 thousand people). Height above sea level - 1425 meters ...The city was officially founded in 1828 and was then called Karaklis (or Karakilise, which in Turkish "Kara kilise" means "black church"). Then the city was renamed Kirovakan (and it was called that in 1935-93).

One of the survivors residential buildings Soviet period in Vanadzor. You can see traces of life on some windows and balconies.

Of the interesting things in Vanadzor there is a mini-museum and an art gallery. And also a lot of Soviet-era houses (especially 4- and 5-story buildings, one of which was invited to the apartment for the night by a local guy, for which I thank him) ... Many of these houses have a not very attractive appearance(probably due to the earthquake, and the general poorness of the country), and some of them are about to be abandoned by the residents. But they, apparently, have nowhere to move, so they live.

A traditional Armenian bed sack (19th century) is exhibited in the Vanadzor Museum.

From Vanadzor to the south in 13 km (on the way to Dilijan and Lake Sevan)…

Lermontovo and the Molokans

(Lermontovo) is such a village with a Russian name. The fact is that here (as in the village of Fioletovo, which is 8-9 km to the south-east), Russians live, descendants of immigrants who were forcibly resettled by the tsarist authorities at the beginning of the 19th century.
These are Molokans. They are Christians, but not Orthodox (in the usual sense of the word for the majority), but Evangelicals, Baptists and other adherents of similar Christian movements/beliefs. That is, such Christians, who do not recognize icons, priests and all related products.

Molokans simply pray to God, that is, to Jesus Christ (we will not talk about what or who is God). And moreover, they pray very regularly. In my opinion, this is one of the most strict Christian nations in the world. Perhaps, of the Christian peoples I have seen, it is the most strict (in the sense, strictly adhering to the postulates of their faith).
True, it is a stretch to call them people, because they are still Russian and were resettled here (as well as to neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan) from different provinces of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century.

Men in the village of Lermontovo usually have long beards.(even boys and young people are already growing facial hair)... And those who do not wear beards (although there are a minority of such Molokans there, as it seemed), it means that there is a possibility that they are not strict Christians - they do not pray, they drink alcohol... And for Molokans drinking alcohol is almost the same terrible sin as for Muslims.
Molokan women also almost all wear headscarves. Yes, girls too.

in the village of Lermontovo.

Molokans try to help a person (for example, a traveler) as best they can. However, in recent years, these 2 villages (Lermontovo and Fioletovo) have been visited by many curious (and also travelers like the author of these lines) who want to gawk at “strange” people .. The Molokans are already a little tired of such attention, although not everyone curious people come here during the day, but sometimes there are even large sightseeing buses.

As the Molokans in Lermontovo told me, journalists came to their village more than once , who were even invited to the house for tea ... However, later on the Internet they wrote about the Molokans not quite what they really are. Sometimes Molokans were even described in such a way that they live wildly, almost in the 19th century.
And after such cases, the hospitality of the Molokans became smaller. This was noticeable when communicating with the Molokans in the center of the village. They did not burn with the desire to invite them into the house, they simply communicated at the usual Russian level (that is, somewhat cooler than in the Caucasus as a whole), although absolutely without malice.

Since the people did not burn in the center of the village of Lermontovo special desire not only to shelter a traveler for the night, but they didn’t even invite him to tea, then in search of an overnight stay, it was decided to go towards the outskirts of the village ... It was simpler there, but also not as expected before arrival. One feels that if there were fewer tourists and journalists (visiting Molokans and staring at them), they would be more friendly and hospitable.

In one house near the outskirts, they decided to help and escorted their relatives, who come only occasionally, to an empty house. In the following photo of the inside of this house:

Here in this Molokan house I happened to spend the night in the village of Lermontovo. He slept, however, not on this bed, but on another in the next room.

Some houses of Molokans do not have televisions for ideological reasons - because there is too much unnecessary nonsense in modern television broadcasting ... In fact, Molokans try to use many modern technologies whenever possible. Especially agricultural equipment. They are renowned as excellent tractor and excavator operators.(even in Yerevan, where about a thousand Molokans live.

Many Armenians confirmed this, that the Molokan excavator is great master your business. And that in Yerevan, if you see a working excavator, then most likely (or the chances are about 50/50), a Molokan is working on it. In general, Molokans here are considered very hard-working.

Wealthy Armenians also prefer to employ Molokan women as housewives. For, everyone knows that they are very clean, and they definitely won’t steal ... The Armenians also told about this. In general, the Molokans are very respected here. Many Molokans in Yerevan even know Armenian, especially the young ones. In the villages they know less.

In the villages of Lermontovo and Fioletovo every year there are more and more Armenians settling there, often simply buying the houses of those Molokans who left to live in Russia... Especially many Molokans left in the 1990s for hard times devastation. Then the wave of those leaving was smaller. Few people are leaving now... And those who left sometimes visit these native lands.

Immediately upon arrival in this village of Lermontovo, the Molokan cemetery was visited (it is upstairs from the road separating the village and the cemetery), which has gravestonescommemorative stele plates, not quite ordinary ... Well, do not call them gravestones! .. For they are made of tin and wood, but stand on wooden sticks. I don’t even remember where I previously saw wooden racks for tombstones (probably they were called boards before?). Perhaps he did not see them.

Tombstone memorial plates (stands?) at the Molokan cemetery in the village of Lermontovo.

The captions in the previous photo read:

G. A. I. (these are the initials of the deceased person)
Here lies the body of the servant of God Gorchakova Alexandra Ivanovna. Lived in this world for 59 years. She died by the will of God on September 24, 2003 ...And with you brothers and sisters. Amen!

Here rests the ashes of the servant of God Tananaeva Alexandra Petrovna, who lived in this century in 91. She died by the will of God on May 9, 1995 ... And she moved to this century. And with you brothers and sisters. Amen!

Molokan cemetery in the village of Lermontovo.

Some quotes about Molokans

A couple of quotesfrom wikipedia:
Molokans are a kind of spiritual Christianity, as well as a special ethnographic group of Russians. In the Russian Empire, they were classified as "especially harmful heresies" and were persecuted until the decrees of Alexander I, dating back to 1803, which gave the Molokans and Doukhobors some freedom.

Molokans are not a single church, but rather a religious movement with a single root, but with great differences in views, chants, teachings, and observed holidays.
Among such directions in Molokanism, “wet Molokans” (practicing water baptism), Molokan jumpers, Molokan Subbotniks (observing the Sabbath), spirit-and-life (who place the book “Spirit and Life” on the throne, considering it the third part of the Bible) stand out noticeably ) and others.
(this was a quote from wikipedia)

Settlements of Molokans and other "spiritual Christians" in Armenia(for example, the so-called "spirit-and-lives", subboshirts). Refers to the period from 1950 to 2010. I took the original card. from here and remade a bit, removing English words and adding the Russians... As can be seen from the map, now the Molokans of Armenia live only in Yerevan, Lermontovo and Fioletovo.

Below are some more characteristic quotes about Molokans (taken from):

In Armenia, the number of spiritual Christians - Molokans - has sharply decreased. In the early 1990s, about 51 thousand Russians lived in Armenia, of which half were of the Molokan religion. According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia today only 2872 Molokan Russians live in the country of Armenia (information from April 2017).

There are also changes in the traditional employment of the Molokans. If earlier the Molokans produced sauerkraut “Molokan cabbage”, soaked apples, famous in Armenia, barrel cucumbers, now they sell to buyers just cabbage, potatoes, beets. They also do not hand over milk to collection points, preferring to sell it on the market at a better price than dairies offer.

In the Molokan villages, children go to school in Russian according to the Russian educational program and textbooks. There is also a lesson for them. Armenian language. In addition to ritual meetings, when solving some issues, the community, headed by the presbyter, convenes meetings, at which the chairman of the village is also present.
During these meetings, issues of providing social assistance to a particular family may be raised. Molokans continue to live in a closed society, refusing to enjoy social benefits provided by the state.

Despite their dispersal among the general population, there are practically no mixed marriages among the Molokans. Their children study in Russian schools or classes. At the same time, everyone speaks fluent Armenian.

The original image is taken from the same page as the quotes above..

I decided not to visit the village of Fioletovo (because the Molokans were tired of tourists who had come in large numbers and did not want to bother them anymore) ... Although, it seems that if you want to plunge into the atmosphere of Molokan life, traditions and beliefs, then you can try to find an option to live with them and work as a volunteer(performing some simple work for several hours a day, and they will provide food and shelter) ... And you can probably find such Molokans who would like to take you on as volunteers.

However, I assume that they are unlikely to take a smoker or drinking man. And it is not a fact that they will take a person who does not profess Christianity.

Molokans in Yerevan

Also, about a week after that, I happened to visit Yerevan (where I went three times in 3 months). And since I didn’t know where to spend the night there (the previous two trips to the capital of Armenia I stayed at the “House for All”, but by my third visit it was closed, as planned), I decided to try to contact the Molokans ... In Yerevan, Molokans usually live in one district (I didn’t even begin to remember the name of the district, forgive me, a sinner, please).

The people (Armenians) who had just brought me up in their car brought me to the Molokans, and even began to intercede for me ... The head of the house gave me a place at his construction site (he was expanding his house), gave me a mattress, tea and treated me to food. Once again, many thanks to all of them!

If you move east from Lermontovo and Fioletovo, then after 16 km (from Fioletovo) there will be a town on an article about which you can go to the specified link.

This is a continuation.

In the first part, I talked about how Rubik Mangasaryan and I decided to make a joint article about the Molokans, and how nothing came of it. Now, apparently, the time has come to tell who the Molokans are and how they ended up in the Caucasus, including Armenia.

(Lermontov shoemaker. Photo by Ruben Mangasaryan)

A bit of history

In the process of preparing the first article on the Molokans, I called the Russian Consul in Armenia to talk about the Molokans. We agreed to meet, and when I arrived, it turned out that Ivan Yakovlevich Semenov was sitting with him. Molokanin, former minister, and at that time - chairman of the Fund for Assistance and Assistance to Russian Compatriots of the Republic of Armenia.

This meeting of ours was the beginning of a very warm relationship that continues to this day. Ivan Yakovlevich seems to know all the Armenian Molokans. Well, even if he doesn’t know someone or forgot because of the prescription of years, then they all know him - that’s for sure. I checked many times.

A little time passed after our first meeting, and Ivan Yakovlevich brought me the manuscript of his future book, The History of the Transcaucasian Molokans and Dukhobors. I don’t remember that I took a big part in editing it, but when it came out, I was very flattered to see gratitude from the author “for helpful tips».

But, I think, the main thing in our cooperation was that the book included more than a dozen beautiful photographs of Rubik.

So, from the manuscript and from the stories of Ivan Yakovlevich, I learned a lot about the history of the Molokans. This was supported by information from other sources, and now I will try to describe it, literally, in a nutshell.

So, in Russia, around the 16th century (some researchers think that earlier), dissatisfaction with the official church and especially the church hierarchy increased so much that it gradually took shape, as they said then, into heresy, and now they would say “into a sect”. Actually, it was the direction of "spiritual Christianity", which soon split into two parts - Dukhoborism and Molokanism.

The main idea was that a church is not needed to communicate with God, priests are not needed as intermediaries between man and God. Spiritual Christians do not recognize church sacraments, do not worship icons. Actually, the Dukhobors, unlike the Molokans, do not recognize the Bible either. All researchers note the similarity of this trend with Protestantism, but which arose on Russian soil.

By the 17th century there were more and more spiritual Christians. They settled in the central provinces of Russia, engaged in peasant labor, and according to all sources it turns out that they were wonderful peasants, since their religious communities also played the role of economic organizations, and at that time it was a very advanced way of organizing labor.

And there are so many Molokans and Dukhobors in the 18th century that it begins to disturb the authorities. And at the very beginning of the 19th century, they were collected from everywhere and evicted to the Taurida province, on the banks of the Molochnaya River. But about thirty-five years pass, and they are again resettled - this time to the Caucasus - to modern Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. There were Molokan and Dukhobor villages in the Kars region, but they were empty even before the First World War.

Arriving in the Caucasus in the middle of the century before last, the Molokans settled, including in the north of modern Armenia. So, for example, the city of Sevan was the Molokan Elenovka, Hrazdan - Akhta, Tsaghkadzor - Konstantinovka, Tashir (Kalinino) - Rumyantsev, Dilijan is now on the site of the Molokan villages of Golovino and Slobodka (later Papanino), the famous Sevan Pass was once called Semenovsky, in the honor of the Molokan village of Semyonovka, located at the very top of a dizzying mountain road, and so on.

Ivan Yakovlevich Semenov told me that back in Soviet times there were more than thirty Molokan villages in Armenia. Now there is only one left - Fioletovo, with a population of just over a thousand people. The village got its name in honor of one of the 26 Baku commissars. Her real name was Nikitino. Nearby is Lermontovo (former Voskresenka), separated from Fioletov by the Armenian Margaovit (former Amzachiman).

But Lermontovo is no longer half Molokan. Both Armenians and Kurds now live there.

These villages are located 15-20 kilometers from Vanadzor (formerly Kirovakan), the third largest city in Armenia. It is only two hours drive from Yerevan.

Semyonov said that there are now less than five thousand Molokans left in the country, and more than a thousand of them live in Fioletovo. And at the end of the eighties of the last century, there were about fifty thousand Molokans in Armenia.

Molokans have been living in Armenia for 170 years, without mixing with the local population and without losing their language. They managed to build their own little Russia in the new conditions and live in it separately, but not alone.

And the conditions were not favorable - the Molokans had to settle in highland villages, some of which are located at an altitude of over 2,000 meters above sea level, in places with a difficult climate, unfavorable for Agriculture. But the Molokans survived this test, and religion played a huge role in this.

And why, in fact, "molokans"?

The name "Molokans" is interpreted in different ways. There is a version according to which this name came from the fact that the Molokans did not adhere to the fasts adopted Orthodox Church ate in lean days fast food, mainly dairy products. By the way, Molokans do not really recognize Orthodox posts.

According to another version, the source of the name may be the Molochnaya River in the Melitopol district of the Taurida province, where the Molokans lived in exile for several decades before they were evicted to the Caucasus.

But the most accurate (as it seems to me) version was given by Tsaghkadzor Molokan Alexander Tikunov. On a frosty winter Sunday in 2001, instead of going skiing, we drank tea at his house, and he, quoting the Bible by heart, said that the name "Molokans" should be interpreted allegorically.

In the First Conciliar Epistle of the Holy Apostle Peter there is such a phrase: "... like newborn babies, love pure verbal milk." Tikunov said: “The word of the Holy Scripture, depending on the spiritual level of a person, produces a different effect. When a person is small in the spiritual concept, then the word of God is like milk to him. Spiritual milk. Hence our name - Molokans.

Molokans believe that every believer should satisfy their spiritual needs, improve their behavior and their feelings. important place in their beliefs is the theory of the transmigration of the soul of Jesus Christ from the Father to the Son. Molokans reject the worship of images - icons, the cross.

“We are considered spiritual Christians,” says Tikunov, “we interpret the Bible allegorically, in other words, we perceive it spiritually.”

My knowledge of the Molokans and their philosophy was quite unexpectedly supplemented by a story
English traveler and member Geographic Society H.F.B. Lynch. At the end of the 19th century, he visited Armenia and wrote two thick volumes: “Russian Armenia” and “Turkish Armenia”. In the volume of "Russian Armenia" he perfectly describes the Molokans and Dukhobors. Here is a short excerpt from the description of the Molokans:

“God dwells in the living objects of his love… I spoke with an old man, who captivated me with his pretty voice and manner, about the religious beliefs of the Molokans. They revere Moses and the prophets and the Holy Gospel, but practice their religion in their own way. The singing of psalms seems to be the main external expression of their religious feelings. Children are not baptized, but they are brought to the chapel, a chapter from the Gospel is read in the presence of the child, and his name is publicly announced. The marriage union is consecrated by a similar ceremony.

The Molokans live in a closed community. Its members strive to put into practice their social ideals: non-violence, brotherhood, equality, economic cooperation, spiritual perfection. The spiritual leader of the community is the presbyter. He interprets the Bible and is an authority on religious matters and communal, secular matters. But in fact, many no, no, yes, and they will violate the strict prohibitions of the presbyter.

But I think that's enough about religion and history for now. It's time to return to how Rubik and I received our first experience of writing an article about the Molokans, and what came of it.

But that's already tomorrow.