Visit to Maksim G. Rudomyotkin's Clan and PrisonJohn M. Novikoff and Jim
Klubnikin visit Fioletovo and Suzdal Monestary
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M. Novikoff is originally from the Los Angeles area,
the "Flats".
His uncle John John Klubnikin operated the original
Klubnikin's Market and Bakery where he often helped out.
His home is in Savannah GA (for 33 years) in retirement
with wife Margot. His father Michael John Novikoff came from Kars province, now in Turkey, and mother was Hazel Bukeroff from the Guadalupe Valley, Baja California Mexico. John said: "I always wanted to visit my father's homeland." "I visited Fioletovo, Armenia, in November of 2002 with my cousin Jim Klubnik (shortened from Klubnikin) also from LA. We were greeted and invited into the Rudemyotkin home for a visit. I took a few pictures while we were there." "Why were we there? Both of us are missionaries with an evangelical church and formerly from the Dukh-i-zhinik Molokan community in LA. Jim teaches in Kiev and Moscow while I am a volunteer missionary for a small group called the Mission for Biblical Literacy operating out of Atlanta, GA[; and in 2012 was its president.] I wanted to see one of the villages from whence my family came from." "The people you see (below right) are descendants of Maksim Gavarilovich Rudomyotkin. The house they live in is the same house, I am told, that MGR lived in from the time he left prison at Suzdal monastery in Russia to come to Nikitino (now Fioletovo)." "I am sorry I do not have names except for the younger woman at the table. She is Evdokiia Rudomyotkina. The children in the front posing with her mother-in-law are hers, I believe. There is not a lot I can say, but it was quite an experience just to be there for the five or six hours we spent in that village." More about this trip is published as Report 1 - Trip to Russia, September 9 - October 14, 2001. Many of the articles have more to do with his work with orphans in Russia, and Pastoral Care courses for missionaries and pastors in Armenia. In 2004, John visited Suzdal Monastery, the prison where MGR spent a few years. Click here to see his photos of the Suzdal Monastery. — John Michael Novikoff
912-308-8277 — John.Novikoff.MBL @ gmail.com Making Connections By John Novikoff, Faith at Work, 2001 Welcome Home "... in Omsk. In the church there, I not only shared my witness, but my experience growing up in the Dukh-i-zhinik community Molokan church. I recalled that, as a little boy, I was placed on a small bench that served as a pew where I stood so that I could be at arms length for passing believers who came by, picked me up, and kissed me (the "Holy kiss"). It wasn't too bad when women kissed me but it was the men that turned me off. Why? Because they wore beards as a religious custom and it was not so much that they had a beard that turned me off, but that occasionally I would see strands of soup that was caught in the beard as they held me close. Ugh! I told this story in that Baptist church and, to my great surprise, at the end of the service about 12 men (some bearded) suddenly came forward through the crowd. Before I knew it, they embraced with a bear hug and planted a kiss right on my lips (customary male behavior in Russia)! These were some old Molokane who were giving me a Molokan welcome right on the smacker! Yes, I was at home!" Reverend John M. Novikoff, Sr.  The Rev. and Mrs. John
Novikoff, Sr., celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary
in 2002. The couple were married Nov. 16, 1952, at
First Baptist Church of Woodland Hills, California.Rev. Novikoff is a native of Los Angeles, where did undergraduate studies at the original Bible Institute of Los Angeles [now Biola University]; then moved to Oklahoma where he received a B.A. in Humanities and a Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Care from Phillips Theological Seminary in 1963. While in Seminary, John provided a pastoral ministry to a small rural church on an Indian Reservation in North Central Oklahoma as well as providing Literacy Training to adult students. He also served as Pastor of First Christian Church in Jones, Oklahoma from 1962 until 1965 and as a Youth Camp Director. His next position was Associate Pastor and Christian Education Director at University Place Christian Church in Oklahoma City from 1965 until 1967. While he was a pastor, in 1967 he served with the Georgia Army National Guard as a Battalion Chaplain and then Brigade Chaplain from 1967 until 1972; and later as a Hospital Chaplain and director of the alcohol and drug treatment clinic at Tidelands Community Mental Health Center. He retired in 1991 with the rank of Colonel and a veteran of both the Army and Air Force. In 2001 he was the Sr. Project Minister for the Russia/Armenia Mission for Biblical Literacy, Inc., and later became President. John speaks Russian and some German. Mrs. Novikoff of St. Louis, MO, received a master's degree in education from Armstrong/Savannah State University and worked with the Psycho-Educational Center as a special education teacher, retiring in 1990, due to a disability, cerebellum ataxia — diagnosed as SCA-6, spino-cerebellum ataxia on the sixth chromosome — a neurological disorder that resembles MS, but is a much more severe illness for which there is no known treatment. John is her primary care giver. The Novikoffs have two sons, John Jr. of Tampa, Fla., and Andrew of Seattle, a third son, Matthew, died when he was 11. They also have a grandson. In 2012 April 20-21, he attended the The First Russian National Conference, Moscow, Russia. Topics: Systematic organization of ministry; training of adoptive parents; restoration of biological families; focus on adoption and family development; relationship with government and society; and role of the church in societal restoration. |
 Filoletovo, Armenia in 2002 
 John M. Novikoff and Jim Klubnik in Armenia  Novikoff lecturing in Yerevan, Armenia, 2001  House of Maksim Gavorilovich Rudomyotkin in Fioletovo. See another photo of this house taken from the other side, where the family below is standing. (History of Caucasian Molokans and Dukhobors, by Ivan Iakov. Semyonov, Erevan 2001. Photo 5.)  Women working the fields. The main street (below).  
  Some of the Rudomyotkin clan   Evdokiia Rudomyotkina (center) with husband and mother |
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Spiritual Christians Around the World