RUSSIAN ROOTS, AMERICAN BRANCH E Molokans and Old Believers in Two Worlds: Migration, Change, and Continuity

MARGARITA MAZO

s I sit at the festive table with Russian­ the furniture and all the accessories mirror American Molokans who have gath­ those found in other American homes. After a ered for a house-blessing ritual of a while the singing, too, sounds somewhat dif­ young family in its new, very American ferent. ranch-style house in the very American city of This visit with the Molokans in California Los Angeles, I am overwhelmed by the feeling took place just a few months after I returned that I have seen this all before in a small, from the Stavropol area in Russia, where in southern Russian village near Stavropol, at the August 1989 I worked with a group of Russian foot of the Caucasus Mountains. It is still Molokans and Old Believers. My journey also astonishing to observe in the heart of the most took me to Woodburn, a town in Oregon, urban American setting a world that is essen­ where the Molokans' neighbors are Russian­ tially Russian and essentially Molokan. * The American Old Believers. As I drove on a small entire ritual and the feast that follows seem street, I noticed children playing lapta (a the same in both places: the hostess brings in favorite Russian children's game, a sort of a ten-inch-tall round loaf of bread with a salt baseball), girls dressed in sleeveless dresses shaker on top of it; men and women are over colorful blouses, and boys in equally col­ clothed in the same light pastel colors. The orful kosovorotky. They were speaking Russian men all have long beards and wear kosovorotky among themselves. One block further, I saw a (Russian village-style shirts without collars small church painted in beautiful colors with and with buttons on the left side); the women an Old Believers' cross on top. Many of the all cover their heads with shawls. The courses back yards were plowed and waiting to be of the meal and the order in which they are seeded. I did not have to enter a single house served are the same (tea, homemade noodles, to determine that Russians lived here. beef stew, fruit compote, with pieces of bread spread over the table, directly on the table­ RUSSIAN ROOTS: cloth); the long, parallel rows of tables and THE OLD BELIEVERS backless benches are familiar. Finally, I can During the 17th century, the Russian Empire hear the same power in their dignified and was undergoing enormous religious and social inspiring singing. Yet the language in Los changes, which culminated in the 1650s Angeles is mostly English, albeit interspersed reform of the Russian Orthodox Church by with Russian; the majority of young people Patriarch Nikon and later, by the turn of the only know a few Russian words. The women's 18th century, reforms of secular life by Peter dresses and the men's shirts are made from the Great. These reforms were designed to much finer fabrics than those in Russia, and unify and modernize the Russian Church and to westernize the entire Russian way of life. *I am grateful to Mr. Andrew Conovaloff for helping Patriarch Nikon's revisions of liturgical texts me to organize this trip and for introducing me to sev­ and manuscripts, his modification of the sym­ eral Molokan communities in California and Oregon. I also thank my research collaborator, Dr. Serafima bolic gesture made while crossing oneself (he Nikitina of the Russian Academy of Sciences, whom I insisted on using three fingers instead of two), invited to join the Molokan project in 1990. and other changes precipitated numerous fac- I ROOTS . AMERICAN BRANCHES

taken fugitive priests from the Russian Orthodox Church as their spiritual lead­ ers), Chasovenniki (those who had lost priesthood under Czar Nicholas I), and others. In general, the Old Believers who accept priest­ hood are called popovtsy, and priest­ less Old Believers are the bespopovtsy. Some of the soglasiia consist of married people, while others practice celibacy. Photo by Alison P. Loskutoff During the 19th Molokans gather for tions and dissent movements. The largest century, and particularly after 1905, when the first international group of those who did not accept the Niko­ official persecution of Russian religious Molokan congress in nian reforms and who committed themselves minorities ended, many extremely successful Ukraine in 1992. to preserving all of the pre-Nikonian Orthodox entrepreneurs, politicians, businessmen, and They are preparing a practices called themselves Starovery merchants emerged from the ranks of Old feast for the entire (staryi =old, vera= faith), the Old Believers. Believers. community. The feast Excommunicated after 1666, the Old The first Old Believers came to North includes borscht and Believers were persecuted by religious and America around 1885 from Suwalki in Poland lapsha (noodles); the state authorities throughout most of Russian (then a western province of the Russian men are tending the history and lived in direct opposition to these Empire) and from villages around Minsk samovars. authorities until several years ago. Many fled (Byelorussia). All belonged to the Pomortsy to isolated places where they hoped to pre­ soglasie, the largest single group of priestless serve their faith and cultural heritage, at times Old Believers in Russia who practiced mar­ preferring to burn themselves and their riage. Although they lived among others, they churches rather than accept new religious always tried to preserve their own identity by practices. Some Old Believers settled in practicing some self-imposed seclusion. Many remote villages of northern Russia, along the of the new immigrants to the United States coast of the White Sea; others established worked in heavy industry in Pennsylvania, colonies along the Volga River in central New Jersey, and Michigan. A large number Russia; some fled to the south and settled worked on the ore docks of Erie and in the among the Cossacks; still others scattered in coal mines of southwest Pennsylvania, where Siberia. Several soglasiia (concords, alliances) they settled into close-knit communities. exist among the Old Believers: the Pomortsy The second largest settlement of Russian soglasie (priestless Old Believers originally Old Believers in the United States was formed from the north of Russia), the Belokrinitsa during the 1960s around Woodburn, Oregon. soglasie (those who had accepted priests from They had escaped Communist persecutions an Orthodox bishop in the Austro-Hungarian twice: first, by moving from Soviet Siberia to Empire), the Beglopopovtsy (from beglyi, 11 run­ China, and then in 1949, when the away," and pop, 11 priest," i.e., those who had Communist regime came to power in China, RUSSIAN ROOTS. AMERICAN BRANC by moving again to Brazil and Argentina. In In 1912-13 some the 1960s, with the help of the Tolstoy N e k r a s o v t s y Foundation in New York, they settled in returned to Russia Oregon. The youngest community of Old and were settled in Believers in the United States branched out the Krasnodar from the Oregon group about ten years ago steppes; in 1962, the and settled on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. remainder of the After the Russian Orthodox Church community, consist­ Abroad revoked its excommunication of the ing of 215 families, Old Believers in the 1970s, a large part of the also went back to be Old Believer community in Erie accepted settled by the Soviet priesthood and communion with this church. government at the (The independent Russian Orthodox Church foot of the Caucasus Abroad was established in the United States Mountains, in the after the October Revolution of 1917.) Some Stavropol steppes. Some Nekrasovtsy families Fr. Jurewicz of the Old other groups living in the United States (most­ did not want to return to Russia and came to Believer community in ly in Oregon) have recently accepted priest­ various parts of the United States, including Erie, Pennsylvania, hood and intercommunion with a group of Woodburn, Oregon. paints an icon at his priestly Old Believers now based in Moscow, home. The icons are the Belokrinitsa soglasie. Still other Old RUSSIAN ROOTS: THE MOLOKANS used in the local Believers continue to reject priesthood. One of many peasant alliances that expressed church and in Russian Participants in the Festival program are the religious and social dissent in rural 18th-cen­ communities across popovtsy, i.e., priestly Old Believers. One tury Russia, Spiritual Christian Molokans date the country. group is from Erie; the second group repre­ from the 1760s. Like the Dukhobors (Spirit sents the Nekrasovtsy from the Stavropol area Fighters), a sect from which the Molokans in south Russia. branched out, they sought religious freedom The Nekrasovtsy are descendants of those from the Russian Orthodox Church and eco­ Old Believers who settled among the Don Cos­ nomic independence from state-imposed sacks in the steppes along the Don River in poverty through the establishment of a self­ south Russia. The Cossacks were independent, governing brotherhood of equal men. peasant military units who guarded the south­ The name Molokans comes from the ern borders of Russia. They welcomed many Russian moloko, 11 milk." Three interpretations who had fled from central Russia, whether of the origin of the name Molokane or runaway soldiers, bankrupt peasants, feudal Molokany, loosely translated as milk drinkers, serfs, or religious dissenters. At the beginning circulate widely among them. According to of the 18th century, Peter the Great attempted the first, the Scripture is spiritual milk, and to subjugate the Cossacks and abolish their since their teachings are based on a literal administrative autonomy, but the Cossacks reading of scripture, they consume spiritual resisted. After Kondrat Bulavin, the leader of milk. The second reflects their defiance of an unsuccessful uprising against the Czar, was Orthodox Church fasts in general and, specifi­ killed in 1708, Ignat Nekrasov led the Cossacks cally, the church prohibition against drinking of his military unit and their families across milk (among other non-vegetarian products) the Don to escape political and religious on Wednesdays, Fridays, and during other repression. In 1812, after a century of moving longer fasts. The third refers to the river from one area to another (including the mouth Molochnye Vody (Milky Waters), near which of the Danube River, where descendants of the the Molokans lived in their early days. Nekrasovtsy still live today), one group finally Molokanism is a peculiar amalgamation settled on Lake Manyas in Turkey, not far of the Old and New Testaments and, at the from the Marmara Sea. same time, of popular beliefs and faith - ss ~;l'·I·. IAN ROOTS. AMERICAN BRANCHES - -~~.;~-;r€

which later came under Turkish jurisdiction. Some Molokan schismatics, in search of good land and led by prophecies, ended up in Persia, North America, Australia, and other parts of the world. The largest Molokan com­ munity still remains in Russia. In the United States, the first Molokans arrived in Los Angeles and San Francisco between 1902 and 1904. At present, there are three main denomi­ nations of the Molokan sect: the Steadfast, who claim to have nearly preserved the origi­ nal Molokan doctrine and order of service; the Jumpers, who later began to accept the mani­ Photo courtesy Andrei A. and MaryJane P. Shabalin festation of the Holy Spirit in prophecy and Molokans in San characteristic of Russian villagers. Although physical manifestation, i.e., jumping; and the Francisco process to links with Western sectarian Protestants, Maximists, a still-later 19th-century forma­ the church for a wed­ Judaic practices, and earlier Russian mystics tion, who accepted the teachings of new ding celebration in are also evident, essentially Molokanism is a prophets/ leaders, mostly those of Maxim 1987. The bride and Christian protest movement that grew out of Rudometkin. Recently, a radically new and groom are followed by traditional Russian values and cultural mod­ much disputed development has taken place singers, the bride's els. As the Molokans' favorite expression goes, in an American settlement: a small reform family, and friends. they "live and sing by the spirit and by the group of young Molokans has adopted English They will be greeted at mind." This expression provides insight into as their liturgical language and introduced the church by the the Molokan spiritual and cultural universe, westernized approaches to the church. The groom's family and the which is simultaneously deeply mystical and two Molokan groups presented at the Festival, congregation. thoroughly rationalistic. one from the Stavropol area and the other Like other earlier sectarians in Russia, the from San Francisco, belong to the Steadfast Molokans abandoned the Orthodox Church al­ denomination. together. They rejected the church's rituals, The San Francisco Molokan community holidays, and all material aspects of Russian began around 1906, when Molokans from the Orthodoxy, including the cross and icons. Caucasus and Kars (Turkey) settled on They also rejected the church's hierarchy and Potrero Hill, which still functions as the heart paid clergy, as they sought direct contact with of San Francisco Molokan activities. A second God. Salvation is in faith alone, they say; the wave of migration occurred after World War II ultimate enlightenment, Molokans believe, and brought Molokans from the Caucasus, comes through experiences incomprehensible Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union, to the senses and to logic, and one should seek the Russian Far East, and from Iran, Iraq, and it through communal worship "in spirit and China. truth." For their resentment of the mainstream RUSSIAN ROOTS, AMERICAN Orthodox Church, the Molokans, like the Old BRANCHES Believers a hundred years before them, were The Old Believers and the Molokans represent outlawed and severely repressed in Russia. In two very different phenomena of Russian reli­ the 1830s the government moved many from gious and cultural life. The Old Believers central Russia to the Transcaucasus. After belong to the old Orthodox Church, while the their exemption from military service expired Molokans reject it altogether. If visual aspects and petitions to renew it were denied, they are very important for the Old Believers (the migrated further south, some to territory best representation of this can be found in RUSSIAN ROOTS, AMERICAN BRANCHE their handwritten books, carefully and artfully illuminated and decorated with colorful miniatures, as well as in their icon paintings), Molokans pay less attention to visual expres­ sions of their faith and concentrate almost entirely on aural aspects. Still, their histories have much in common. Both were persecuted by the Russian church and government, imprisoned, executed, and forced to migrate. For both, living in diaspora and in opposition to mainstream culture became the norm. These circumstances forced them to be inde­ pendent and strong, spiritually and physically, in order to withstand pressures from the dom­ inant culture. structure, rituals, customs, and dietary prac­ Fr. Pi men Simon In some ways, the early history of tices. For those who lived outside of Russia, instructs children of Molokans and Old Believers in the United this commitment included the preservation of the Old Believer States parallels the experiences of other eth­ ethnic identity, language, and songs. community in Erie, nic and religious communities that migrated Observers have often emphasized consci­ Pennsylvania, in here. They were hard workers with little entious traditionalism as the primary factor traditional Russian English; they settled in neighborhoods and that defines the world view of these two songs. formed close-knit communities. Once they groups. In reality, Old Believers and Molokans were settled, men sent money home to bring have survived as cultural and religious entities over their families. Some families who lived by maintaining a flexible balance between an near one another in the old country also 11 ideal" orientation toward the past and the became neighbors here, in the 11 Russian ghet­ necessities of the present. The strategies tos" in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Erie. adopted by each Molokan and Old Believer Gradually, they raised enough money to build community vary greatly. Old Believers living their first churches, which, as in many ethnic in Oregon and Alaska, for example, have cho­ communities, provided the focus for the reli­ sen to keep their lifestyle, language, rituals, gious, cultural, and social life of their parish­ singing (both sacred and secular), clothing, ioners. It took two generations before real etc., as close as possible to traditional ways, integration into the local society occurred. while a group of Old Believers in Erie has The third generation now includes teachers, adopted an American approach to secular life. college professors, businessmen and women, They have changed the language of the liturgy insurance agents, and other professionals. to English and permitted converts to join as To many, Russian Old Believers and well. These decisions have generated heated Molokans look, speak, and sing like typical debates and profound rifts within the commu­ Russian villagers. In fact, their connection to nity, even within single families. Similar the old order of life in Russian villages runs processes can be observed in the Molokan even deeper. They do not compartmentalize communities, in which the gamut of adapta­ life and faith into separate spheres of activity tions employed varies even more widely. but rather understand religion as a syncretic entity. Both the Old Believers and the MUSIC IN TWO WORLDS Molokans regard themselves as keepers of this A cappella choral singing has comprised one rural tradition, perpetuating not only religious of the most central features of the both Old concepts and rites but also the old holistic way Believers' and Molokans' self-identity. Even of living, including the relationships between those communities that have lived in the the individual and the community, family United States for many decades and use ~~~ 88 ·: :~ ROOTS . AMERICAN B RANCHE S ~

not facilitated the steady transmission of the secular repertory, and it is not surprising that most American Old Believers and Molokans do not know Russian secular songs. On the other hand, in every American community I have visited so far, there are still a few people who remember and can sing some traditional Russian songs. Mostly, these are late 19th-cen­ tury and early 20th-century songs, the so­ called romances, factory, and soldiers' songs, as well as more recent songs, mostly from popular post-World War II Soviet films. In each community I was also able to record older ritual songs and laments from weddings and funerals. Photo by Yuri Lunkov, courtesy Moscow Conservatory The Nekrasovtsy Old Believer community A group of English as their liturgical language have con- adopted an altogether different attitude Nekrasovtsy Old sciously and consistently kept Russian toward the secular repertory. For them, keep- Believers gathers for a melodies and singing practices intact. ing old songs in active memory was one of the seasonal krylo dance Singing serves many functions, one of most important strategies for preserving their near their village in which is the creation of a historical continu­ Russian roots and history. When they the Stavropol area. um: traditional psalms, chants, and hymns returned to Russia after 254 years, they knew assure continuity with the past, while the songs and dances that had long been forgotten acquisition of a new secular repertoire links by people in the homeland. the past with the present. The Old Believers For any culture, a migration is akin to tak­ see their special mission as preserving the ing a plant out of its soil. However, for sever­ pre-Nikonian liturgical chant, the znamennyi. al Russian religious groups it has also been a Some communities in Russia and the United factor that has stimulated the preservation of States still preserve the knowledge of the zna­ culture, no matter where the group has set­ mennyi from manuscript books and a tled. medieval form of its notation by neums Since perestroika, religious communities (ancient symbols), called kriuki. The can practice their beliefs freely. As people's Molokans preserved the old melodies of their need to identify their roots surfaces and grows psalms strictly through oral tradition. In addi­ in the former Soviet society, these communi­ tion, the Molokans generally welcomed the ties are gaining the respect and even admira­ opportunity to borrow new melodies and turn tion of their fellow Russians for having main­ any tune they liked into their own song of tained their faith and preserved their history praise. Melodic hits, including songs from throughout the Soviet era. No one ridicules Soviet films and favorite American songs, Old Believer or Molokan men any more for have left their traces in the Molokans' reper­ their long beards and rope-like belts or women toire ("Amazing Grace," "It's the Last Rose of for their kerchiefs and dresses. No one forbids Summer," "Clementine," and "Red River the children of Old Believers to wear crosses. Valley" are just a few examples.) The attention scholars have given their cui- In many Old Believer and in some ture has also played a positive role. What had Molokan communities, singing of secular separated and differentiated them from their "folk" songs was forbidden, particularly after neighbors is now accorded value. In the new marriage. (Often, young people sang them Russia, their carefully guarded self-identity secretly anyway, usually at various youth once again asserts its powerful role in their gatherings.) This practice, needless to say, has survival as a community. RUSSIAN ROOTS , AMERICAN BRANCHE

The other major change engendered by about and is the door that lets one go in the new political climate in Russia is the and know and experience the Eternal opportunity to reestablish contacts with their One. Singing posalmy is that theater historical brothers and sisters living in the where we act out the drama of another United States. At the beginning, it was not time that we are all linked to and this easy, and I felt honored that Molokan com­ unites us together. It [singing posalmy] munities in Russia and the United States restores the soul and allows for a good trusted representatives of the Smithsonian and right and healthy relationship to one Institution, Dr. Serafima Nikitina and myself, another, and to God. So singing posalmy, to be the couriers and deliverers of news, singing them the way we Molokans from MARGARITA MAZO information, documents, and new literature. San Francisco do, is a pretty big deal to is a Professor of Shipment of religious books was followed me, and now I get to share this very, Music History at the by a steady two-way traffic of people. Now very important part of my life with Ohio State University. continuous humanitarian aid is in place and, many, many others at the Festival. And She received her with the help of American Molokans, two who knows, just maybe someone hear­ training at the churches are being built in Russia. Two all­ ing might get to feel as good as I do when Leningrad Molokan congresses of representatives of the I'm singing Molokan posalmy. Conservatory and was major Molokan churches in Russia and the Suggested Readings curator of the 1988 United States have taken place since 1991. Festival program Batalden, Stephen K. , ed. 1993. Seeking God: The Singing together is always a high point of the Recovery of Religious Identity in Russia, Music from the now-frequent meetings of 11 American" and Georgia, and Ukraine: Essays on Confessionality Peoples of the 11 Russian" Molokans, and a cassette with and Religious Culture. Dekalb: Northern Soviet Union. recorded psalms and songs has become a cher­ Illinois University. ished gift. Crummey, Robert 0 . 1970. Old Believers and the The invitation from the Smithsonian to World of Antichrist. Madison: University of Wisconsin. participate in the 1995 Festival of American Folklife was greeted by the four groups pre­ Dunn, Ethel, ed. 1983 and 1989. The Molokan Heritage Collection. Vol. 1: Reprints of Articles sented in our program with remarkable enthu­ and Translations. Vol. 4: Linda O'Brien-Rothe. siasm. Although some communities remain The Origins of Molokan Singing. Berkeley: completely closed to scholars even today Highgate Road Social Science Research because they do not think that their singing, Station. not to mention their religious life, should be Hosking, Geoffrey A., ed. 1991. Church, Nation studied or observed, I have been fortunate to and State in Russia and Ukraine. New York: St. meet many members of Molokan and Old Martin's. Believer communities who have supported Klibanov, Alexander. 1982. History of Religious my inquiries and generously shared with me Sectarianism in Russia (1860's-1917). Ed. their talents, knowledge, and convictions. I Stephen Dunn, transl. Ethel Dunn. Oxford: Pergamon. am grateful for their confidence and trust, and am convinced that those who hear their mag­ Moore, Willard B. 1973. Molokan Oral Traditional Legends and Memorates of an nificent singing on the Mall will feel privi­ Ethnic Sect. University of California, Folklore leged, gratified, and greatly enriched. Studies. Edward Samarin, a prominent figure of Morris, Richard A. 1990. Old Russian Ways: A the San Francisco Molokans, permitted me to Comparison of Three Russian Groups in quote from a letter he wrote in contemplation Oregon. New York: AMS. of the decision to take part in the Festival: Robson, Roy R. 1993. Liturgy and Community To a Molokan, singing posalmy [psalms] Among Old Believers: 1905-17. Slavic Review is more than just singing praises to God. 52(4):713-24. It allows one to participate, somehow Young, Pauline V. 1932. Pilgrims of Russian­ mystically, in the event we are singing Town. New York: Russell and Russell.