Holidays of Molokan / Jumper Sub-groups

CLICK to ENLARGEThe chart shows all the Religious holidays celebrated by all sub-groups of Molokans and Jumpers in Russia and America (including Australia), that I know about. This table is inspired from two sources. The first was a photo of an 1874 Spiritual Christian (Molokan) calendar (right) preserved in the Archives of Religion in St. Petersburg, Russia, published in 1993 in the mailed newspaper Molokan NEWS. It showed all holidays in one table. The second was a table typed by the head speaker (Besednik) of the Spiritual Molokan community in Inozemstvo, Stavropol'skii krai, Russia (near Piatigorsk). His table showed their holidays for the entire decade of the 1990s. His congregation resettled from Azerbaidjan in the mid 1990s. The use of these holidays was confirmed by elders of the Piatigorsk Spiritual (Dukhovnie) Molokans, who left Kars in the 1920s. Their elder Botieff added that there are two categories of holidays — Christ's and God's — and that every holiday is important, but the Contants and Maksimisti each reject half of our holidays. For comparison see Holidays and Rituals of Doukhobors in the Caucasus, by Svetlana A. Inikova, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Calendar of Doukhobor Holidays in the Caucasus, compiled by Jonathan J. Kalpakoff"
Holiday (Christ's, God's)1 Molokan Sub-group
English
Russian, Поруссий*
(*character set = Windows-1251)		 1 Bible reference
(more can be found)		 Original, Constants,
Steadfast, Postoiannye
(in America)
Spiritual
Dukhovnie
Sabbatarian,
Maksimist &
Priguny
American Jumper2
Annunciation**
Blagoveschenie, Благовещение		 Luke 1:28-31

X

X

  
Palm Sunday  

X
(Palm Sunday)

   
Easter, Passover
 Paskha, Пасха		 Leviticus 23:5-10
X
(Passion Week, Easter)
X
X
Ascension Day**
Voznesenie, Вознесение		 Mark 16:1-8; Acts 1:9
X
(Ascension)
X
  
Pentecost***, Trinity
Piatidesiatnitsa, Пятидесятница
Troitsa, Троица		 Acts 2, Leviticus 23:16-23
X
(Pentecost)
X3
X3
Transfiguration**
Preobrazhenie, Преображение		 Mathew 17:1-9
X
X
  
(Memorial, Blowing of) Trumpets***
Trubnyi, Трубный
Pamiat Trub, Памят Труб		 Leviticus 23:23-25  
X
X
Fast Day of Atonement***
Post Sudnyi Den', Пост Судный  День		 Leviticus 16:29-34  
X
X
Festival of Shelters/Booths*** 4
Feast of Tabernacles
Kuschei, Kuscha, Кущей, Куща		 Leviticus 23:33-44  
X
X
Harvest Festival4
Urozhaia, Урожая		 Leviticus 23:33-44
X
(3-Day Fast, Thanksgiving4)
    
Birth of Christ, Christmas
Rozhdestvo Khrista, Рождество Христа		 Luke 2:1-20
X
(Christmas Eve Youth Program,
Christmas Day Service5)
X
  
Epiphany**
Kreschenie, Крещение		 Luke 3:21-22
X
X
  
Seventh (Week)
Sed'moi, Седьмой
 From prophesy
in Armenia

X
Armenia3

** 
 Annunciation — March 25, announcement by angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of the incarnation of Christ.
Ascension Day — 40th day after Easter, for the bodily passing of Christ from earth to heaven.
Transfiguration — August 6, festival for the supernatural change in the appearance of Christ on the mountain.
Epiphany — January 6, for the coming of the 3 gentile wise men, Magi, to Jesus at Bethlehem, and baptism.
***  See Interpretation of American Jumper Holidays (with Jewish comparison)
 
1. 
 The first Molokans kept the major Orthodox Christian holidays, which some now call Christ's Holidays. Also in the beginning many judiazers (Sabbatarians. Russian: Subbotniki) joined the Molokans (See Miluikov) and the Old Testament God's Holidays were added. I suspect that early Molokans were allowed to chose their sabbath day (Saturday or Sunday), and which holidays to follow (all or some). In the 1700s a large group of Sabbatarians in Saratov led by Dolmatov joined and many of the core Molokans refused more compromises causing a split — probably into Constants, Sabbatarians, and Spiritual (See Miluikov). In 1833, many of the Spiritual became Jumpers/Leapers in the Milky Waters area (See Hoover & Petrov, chap. 12: "Salt and Light"; also Berokoff, chap 5).  In the 1860s in the Caucasus, the Jumper leader Maksim Rudometkin removed Christ's Holidays for his followers (See Berokoff, Addenda XXX), who were labeled Maksimisti in the 1920s (See Lane). During the 1910s in America, the American Jumpers, who dominated all but two American Constant congregations, began to insist that the Maksimist new rituals be adopted (See Berokoff, chap 3) and removed Christ's Holidays , which caused concern, and jealousy, among youth who felt deprived of American Christian celebrations like Christmas. Before WWII, the UMCA sponsored youth activities during Christmas (carol singing, gift stockings) and Easter (candy baskets). This practice was stopped before the UMCA moved to East LA about 1950. In the mid-1950s, the Spiritual Molokans who immigrated from Persia (Iran) were told by the dominant American Jumpers to abandon Christ's holidays or be labeled "non-Molokan" (See Berokoff, chap. 8), even though the American Constants obeyed these holidays.
2. 
 Including the American Armenian Jumpers. NOTE: Categorizing Jumpers in America as Molokans is confusing historically, because in Russia, the "Jumpers" (Russian: Priguny), or "Leapers", were typically listed as a completely separate sect from the Molokans. In America, some dominant members of the Jumpers/Maksimists claim to be the "center of Molokansim", and ignore the American Constants and most all Molokans in Russia.
3. 
 This major holiday was added by prophesy to the Spiritual/Jumper congregations in Armenia as a perpetual Pentecost. Every 7 weeks throughout the year, Armenian Spiritual and Maksimisti Molokans conduct Sed'moi (Russian: seventh), a spiritual fast and cleansing service which they started before WWII. This new holiday is practiced only in that region. Sed'moi became important during perestroika and the Karabakh war (late 1980s), as families (90%) were fleeing to safety in Russia. Sed'moi promotes intra-group cohesion, so the refugees and those 10% remaining in Armenia will rekindle their spiritual faith and identity more often than on their few traditional  major holidays. There is some concern by a few of the several dozen recent Armenian- Spiritual- Jumpers migrants in America and Australia that they cannot perform this holiday with their new American or Australian congregations.  In Australia in 2006, recent immigrants from Armenia purchased their own building to hold their own traditional services.
4. 
 The Russian Constants celebrate the Harvest Festival (3-day fast) in place of the Festival of Shelters for 8 days. The American Constants adopted, or substituted, American Thanksgiving because it is a similar autumn harvest festival, but they time the feast to be on the Sunday before American Thanksgiving which occurs on Thursdays.  For history of the Harvest Festival and the Old Testament, see: Праздник Сбора Урожая или Праздник Кущей [ДБ34] (Christian Churches of God, Australia).
5. 
 Molokans in Russia, as all Russians and Eastern Orthodox, celebrate Christmas on January 7, according to the Julian calendar, but American Constant Molokans adopted the American Christmas Day, December 25.

Holiday Dates for American Molokan Constants 2005, 2006
Holiday Dates for American Molokan Jumpers 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Interpretation of American Jumper Holidays (with Jewish comparison)
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