Chapter 9 — Conclusion [<Chapter 8] [Contents] [Addenda>]The sympathetic response of the Molokan community to the pleas of the brethren in Iran proved that the natural instinct for works of charity is much alive in the brotherhood; that the community could co-operate freely and willingly if the cause appeals to the basic Christian feelings of the people. Differences would occur only in the interpretation of basic Molokan doctrine and then only if it is subject to a two-fold interpretation.
The two issues that once so disturbed the harmony of the community — the U.M.C.A., and the Komitet — have been modified by time and experience to the extent that the entire brotherhood was able to adjust itself to them.
The Komitet — that bone of contention that once so disturbed the harmony of the brotherhood and which at one time was considered as indispensable to church government — has been abandoned as needless by all congregations of the entire brotherhood except the "Big Church", who originated the idea in 1933. The last of the smaller congregations to give it up was the San Marcos congregation which abandoned it in 1960 at the suggestion of all presbyters of Los Angeles who perceived that it was a cause of friction in that congregation.
It could not he denied that there are numerous individuals in the brotherhood who are still opposed in principle to the Komitet and to the U.M.C.A., but these two innovations are no longer the causes of stormy controversy that they once were. The U.M.C.A. during its 40 years of existence has proved itself as a valuable and flourishing Molokan Youth Center where each Sunday morning up to 25 classes of children of [Page 149] both sexes and various ages (3 to 16 years) are taught the rudiments of Molokan religion, Molokan songs and prayers. Wednesday evenings are devoted to the older teenagers where they too, learn to sing and pray in the Russian language, and where those of marriageable age meet, become acquainted and often engaged to be married.
In addition to the U.M.C.A. other active Molokans have developed a novel but effective method of indoctrinating its youth. In the last 30-35 years they have been bringing small groups of teenagers of both sexes together of evenings in homes of these youngsters for singing classes conducted by middle aged church activists where, in the midst of Molokan social environment, they teach Molokan singing, its background its traditions and the advantages of marrying within the Molokan faith.
However, this two-fold activity has only partially solved the problems of Molokan American life whether it is in the city or on the farms. (The Molokan farmer is now in such close communication with some large city that its temptations are fully as strong for their youth as for the youth of Los Angeles. Woodburn and Gervais, Oregon are only 30 minutes drive from the great city of Portland, so is Fresno to Kerman and Phoenix, Arizona to the farmers of Glendale.)
It is true that juvenile delinquency has disappeared as a community concern, but the great problem of dope addiction that has afflicted the nation has not entirely bypassed the Molokan community. It is a problem that individual families understandably try to keep to themselves so that the community as a whole does not know how seriously it has been affected by it. It is known, however, that Molokan boys and girls have been victimized by the curse. It is a certainty also that the problem of intermarriage with non-Molokans is still with us but whether or not in a greater [Page 150] or lesser degree than forty years ago, no one knows for sure as no statistics are available.
It appears, on the surface at least, that the problem is not a bit lesser but the community is more or less reconciled to it. Forty and fifty years ago when it first became a serious problem, such an event became known and lamented by everybody in the community. Now, however, one hears of it months after it occurs and dismisses it from his mind as of no concern to him.
Indeed, many second generation Molokan American parents whose children intermarry are not too unduly concerned either, because their own attachment to the faith of their fathers is not very strong. Their attitude towards their religion, is one of indifference.
It follows, therefore, that the cause of the above two problems of the community lies basically in this attitude of indifference. But this attitude towards any problem, be it religious or political, is the most difficult to overcome. We could only hope that the recent revival among the teenagers — the outpouring of the Holy Spirit — might reawaken this lukewarm attitude of the parents and start a revival among them also.
At the present time (1968) there are no basic issues in the brotherhood that would tend to disturb the harmonious fraternization between the seven congregations of Los Angeles and between the eight congregations of the farming communities. Of these latter there are three in Kerman, California, one each in Shafter, Porterville and San Marcos, California, one in Glendale, Arizona and one in Woodburn (Gervais) Oregon.
An exception could be made of one small congregation in Los Angeles which remains aloof from the other principally over the old question of the Komitet and over the recently accepted custom of the other congregations of placing the bodies of deceased within the walls of houses of worship for funeral services. Up to 35 years ago it was the custom to leave [Page 115] the bodies in the homes of the deceased but such premises became too small when more and more friends and relatives felt it a duty to the departed to remain with the body late at night so the custom was instituted to bring it to the houses of worship for the funeral services.
But there was some objection to this new custom, based on the Mosaic law that it makes the premises unclean for eight days, therefore the premises are unfit for services for that length of time. In addition the objection was raised that by placing a dead body in such close proximity to the church kitchen when food is being prepared there, it violates the laws of hygiene as well. These objections are disregarded. however, and it is now an accepted custom in all congregations but the one mentioned here.* * * * *
The question of return to the country of its origin that once so agitated the community is now a dead issue, perhaps because the original proponents of the scheme have mostly passed on and the rank and file of the brotherhood is now composed of second and third generation Molokan Americans who, being horn in America, have no blood attachments to Russia. A second and important reason lies in the fact that during the last ten years many of those who were horn there and who are now responsible elders of the brotherhood, have visited their birthplace, saw with their own eyes and heard with their own cars of the conditions of religious life of their brethren in faith, did not like what they saw and lost any desire they might have had of returning to their fatherland.
The question of seeking eventual haven in the Near East has also been practically abandoned for the same reasons. The principal proponents of that belief have likewise passed on. If any of the younger generation still adhere to that belief they are not actively propagating it. That question may not he dead but it is certainly lying dormant.
[Page 152] But a prophecy did occur in the Arizona congregation in 1963 that had a remote connection with the question of a haven in the Near East. That prophecy created a tremendous stir in the entire Molokan community. According to that prophecy the Molokans must immigrate to Australia and settle near the city of Ararat, Victoria, near the great city of Melbourne.
According to this prophesy this Ararat and not the Biblical Mt. Ararat as prophesied by Maxim G. Rudatnetkin, was to be the actual refuge of the Molokans from the coming holocaust. Furthermore, the Molokans had but four years from the date of the prophecy to comply with the prophecy.
Inspired by that prophesy, the younger members of the brotherhood stirred up a strong and active agitation for a move to that country, so strong in fact, that a delegation of three was sent to Australia by a part of the community to explore the conditions there.
The delegation returned with a favorable report but recommended that any future settlement should be made not near the city of Ararat but in Western Australia, near the city of Perth, suggesting, further that the migration, to be successful, should begin with a sufficiently large group to form a self-sustaining colony and should also include recognized church elders to guide the young settlers.
Following the return of the delegation, two well attended mass meetings were held which resulted in a decision to hold a three day fast and a prayer for divine guidance in which every congregation of the Molokan brotherhood in America participated.
These meetings and the prayer that followed showed clearly that the sentiment of the community was sharply divided in a ratio of approximately 3 to 1 against the migration, those favoring it being exclusively of the young category. Practically all elders strongly opposed the idea on various grounds but [Page 153] principally on the grounds that a prophecy involving such a vast migration should be confirmed by other prophets and should have scriptural basis as well. As no such scriptural basis could be found and no confirming prophecy occurred, the elders were unanimous in opposition. (See Addenda P. XXI.)
Notwithstanding this opposition, a group of eight families with their infants and small children comprising 32, persons in all, sailed for Australia on September 9, 1964, receiving a real heart warming send off at the dock where nearly 1000 well-wishers, friends and relatives assembled to sing encouraging spiritual songs of farewell as the steamship Oriana pulled away from the dock.
Later, other young families from Arizona, Los Angeles, Fresno and Oregon sailed to join them but, unfortunately, not in sufficient numbers to form a nucleus for a successful Molokan community, and, although the small group of settlers were hopefully anticipating the arrival of many others and optimistically set about establishing themselves in their new environment, not many came and events proved that their hopes were based on wishful thinking. After three years and a half ten families returned to America and by their return, caused others to doubt the future success of the whole venture.
The Australian venture brings our story of the Molokan community in America to its seventh decade. The late years, and particularly the last decade, has witnessed the most radical change in the nation's history, a complete metamorphosis, in fact.
Upon their arrival here in 1904, the Molokans were met by two prime examples of American religious environment and background — Dana W. Bartlett who befriended them in the name of Christian ethics and the mysterious woman who saw [Page 154] them in a vision forty years prior to their appearance in Los Angeles.
The State of California at that time was a sparsely settled agricultural area with only one large city, San Francisco, which alone of all the cities of the West Coast, had a reputation for wickedness. Indeed, the economy of the whole nation was based on agriculture where the large majority of the population derived its livelihood from the soil, forming a class of people noted all over the world for its industry, sobriety, honesty and sound Christian morals.
Riots or disturbances of any kind were unheard of. Crime, although not unknown, was not rampant. Use of habit-forming drugs was known only to readers of lurid fiction. Smoking and drinking by the female sex was rare and never in public. The atmosphere was not polluted by industrial fumes nor by fumes from the internal (infernal?) combustion engine. Permanent compulsory military service existed only in the minds of some planners of future wars, if at all. In fact, it was an ideal refuge for pious and industrious peasants that our fathers and grandfathers were. It is indeed regrettable that God in His wisdom did not lead our forefathers to California when the woman of mystery first saw her vision sometime in the 1860's for then they surely would have settled in some available agricultural area which was at that time so easy to find and, perhaps, would not have later succumbed to the lure of city life.
But now, in the midst of a turbulent and over populated city which is morally corrupted by its wealth and physically by its smog, its youth surrounded and assailed on all sides by innumerable temptations, by alcoholism and viscous drugs, by smutty literature and entertainment, by crime and immorality comparable to Sodom and Gomorrah, beset by periodic wars, blissfully ignoring the possibility of a nuclear war, its leaders lulled by comforts of affluence, the Molokan brotherhood [Page 155] continue their complacent lives. It is indeed very likely that they were unaware that, together with millions of others, they were on the brink of complete extinction in 1963 by nuclear missiles during the confrontation of the U.S. with the USSR over the latter's installation of long range ballistic missiles in Cuba.
Whether they were or not remains a moot question but one thing is certain; the great majority of Molokans, elders and the rank and file, are indifferent to the same probability of a future confrontation notwithstanding the fact that the Los Angeles area, due to the concentration of aircraft and other military industries within its confines, plus the vast naval installations in the harbors of San Pedro and Long Beach, is bound to become a prime target for inter-continental ballistic missiles against which, all authorities agree, there is no defense.
But in the nature of things it is very difficult for the contemporary leadership to take the initiative in the direction of a movement to leave the United States. The leadership is now composed of the remnants of those who were born in Russia, who were brought to, this country by their parents as young children, who actively participated with them in the hardships of the first difficult years in America and who have now reached a period of life where they would like to enjoy their declining years in tranquillity, rightfully praising God for delivering them and their parents from calamities of the past half century.
It would he unjust to expect them to, do otherwise but it would not he unjust to expect them to encourage the emerging younger leadership to take up the reins in the search for a second refuge in some remote corner of the world, away from the world's turmoil and its temptations, to the end that the brotherhood would not disintegrate in the great megalopolis that is Southern California and that the labors of their fathers and forefathers would not have been in vain.[<Chapter 8] [Contents] [Addenda>]
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