Dim Future in Armenia for the Molokans
by Dr. Ian McIntosh, Senior Editor of Cultural Survival.
Posted at Cultural Survival (March 7, 2003) but no longer public.

Yerevan, Armenia – Fifteen years ago, there were 50,000 Molokans, or Old Believers (Staroveri)*, living in the Republic of Armenia. Today there are perhaps 5,000. Given current trends, the remaining members of this blond-haired, blue-eyed Russian-speaking population will soon leave – they will sell their native homes and pastures for a pittance and endure extreme hardships in the move back to Russia to an unknown environment not overly welcoming to such ‘sectarians’.

* Molokans are not "Old Believers". Old Believers are old Orthodox. The author may be trying to say that Molokans are an "old belief" or "old religion", which orginated 100s of years ago in Central Russia. Both are historically called Raskolniks. Also see: Collection of Old Believer History and Tradition.
Molokans held a strong belief that in the age of the anti-Christ, the end of the world was near. In the 1660s, for example, Molokans neglected their fields in western Russia, adorned themselves in burial robes, and awaited the end of the world in wooden coffins in their cemeteries. Others burned themselves to death so as to be with Jesus prior to the Judgment Day. Peter the Great’s accession to the throne in 1762, was seen as another sign that the end of the world was nigh. During the 1830s the Tsar Nikolai 1 exiled the Molokans to the frontiers of the empire – China, Siberia, Ukraine, the Altai – well away from central Russia. Facing discrimination, imprisonment and even death, many Molokans came to the Transcaucasus, and in particular, Armenia, to be near Mt. Ararat, to await the end of the world.**

** Mainly the Jumper-Molokans (pryguny), led in Armenia by Maksim.G. Rudometkin, were millenialists. His sub-group is often called maksimisty, maksimisti (meaning followeres of Maksim), or "maximalist" (максималист) by Amenian journalists. In Business Express used: прыгунов- максималистов, "Jumper-extremists". There are Jumpers who were not led by Rudometkin.

In many ways, the Molokans are similar to the Amish or Mennonites – they have no need for priests, communal organization or elaborate religious ceremonies. In some cases, they attempt to preserve their literary and artistic style, their costume, and even early hand-writing from the early 17th century. (Old Believers*** must be able to read Church Slavonic, the dialect in which the Bible was translated by Cyril the Methodius for missionary work in Moravia in the mid-800s.) Molokan men do not cut their beards, and women do not cut their hair, wear makeup, jewelry or perfume. Work, wealth and physical and moral purity are key societal values of this closed religious group.

*** Old Believers use the original Slavonic Bible, but Molokans use modern Russian language Bibles. Again, Molokans are not Old Believers.

The spirit world of Molokans is populated by angels and demons engaged in a tug-of-war for souls. Illness and misfortune are the result of the devil’s influence, while good fortune is a reward for psalm-singing and saintly worship. Only ‘pure’ products are consumed. Foodstuffs with chemical additives are believed to be a cause of misfortune – the harbingers of bad luck. Great emphasis is placed on ritual cleanliness, and the need to rid the body of physical, emotional and other impurities. On every seventh Sunday, following a three-day fast, a bread sacrificing ritual is held. [Called sedmoia] As with Doukhobors, their ceremonies require only the basic elements that sustain life – salt, water and bread.

The Molokans of Armenia, an aging remnant of a formerly substantial community, have not endured well the transition to democracy. Within several years of Armenian independence, the Molokans lost their right to a free education and subsidized transportation, on which they depended for selling their agricultural produce. Also, since the breakup of the Soviet Union, basic village and town infrastructure has collapsed, all but destroying the community’s primary means of supporting themselves – exporting cabbage and sauerkraut to Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, a language law was passed in Armenia, cutting off support to non-Armenian schools.

Over 45,000 Molokans have so far departed Armenia. Their flight is not merely a result of economic distress. The closing of Russian schools, and Russian sections in tertiary institutes, was a major blow. Not seeing any prospects to acquire an education or subsequent employment for their children, this population, who had been in Armenia for over 170 years, sadly left what they deemed to be their second homeland.

With the growing trend for English to replace Russian as the nation’s second language, and the Molokan’s great reluctance to forfeit their mother tongue – the future seems particularly bleak. Many Molokans speak colloquial Armenian but they are concerned at the current language policy and its potential adverse impact on their old habits, culture, and moral fortitude. Certainly there is a need for the Armenian government to provide opportunities for minorities to be involved in all spheres of the economic life of the nation, and also to secure representation for the Russian population in the state legislature. At the current rate of depopulation, however, the Molokans will soon be just a memory, like other non-Armenian minorities such as the Kurds and the Azeris who departed in the late 1980s.

Further Reading:

Back to Armenia Molokans & Jumpers
Back to Molokans Around the World