Dear Andy Conovaloff:

I have been interested in the Molokans for many years, and have visited your web site many times.  Take a look at ours!
http://members.tripod.com/~ohiofriends/

In Christian friendship,

William Rushby
Blue Grass Christian Friends Meeting
Blue Grass VA

Dear Andrew Conovaloff:
Thanks for your kind reply!

I'm saving your note to include your URL in the Molokans Around the World site which will replace the Molokan Home Page.  I'm proud to hear from a Quaker. I've only conversed with a few in my life, though Molokans were supported greatly by the Quaker CO camps during WWII.

I have read about the Molokans intermittently for 30+ years.  I bought Pauline Young's book many years ago, and also one put out by the Dunns.  It wasn't until we got on the Net that I was able to pursue this interest in a fuller way.  It took me about a year to write to you, which I regret.

I attended the Interfaith Symposium--Quakers, Mennonites, Molokans, hosted by the Doukhobors.

Now that's a symposium I would have liked to attend!  Our fellowship is similar in many respects to the Mennonites, but with much more emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit.  In this respect we have some things in common with the Molokans.  I understand that the Doukhobours do not accept the authority and significance of the Bible, which would distinguish us from
them.

And, I attended a meeting in Berekely CA with Ethel and Dr. Steve Dunn--the only church they regularly attended. Dr Dunn died a few weeks ago.

I am sorry to hear of Dr. Dunn's death.  Our group is much more traditional than any unprogrammed Friends in California. (There is a small group in Whittier which meets once a month, and is in sympathy with Conservative
Friends.) There was a Conservative Meeting at Pasadena, but it died out in the early 80s, I think.

Please inspect my Molokan web work-in-progress, if you haven't found these already:
http://www.molokane.org/molokan/NEWS/
http://molokane.org/molokan/Berokoff/
at the end (yet to be scanned) Berokoff shows letters to and from Quakers during WWII.
http://molokane.org/molokan/Kars/
lots of pictures, recommend a fast modem

We have taken a look, and appreciate your work.  I hope that you won't delete the contents of the Molokan Home Page because it is very informative. I discovered and have followed the "Molokans Around the World" site since it first appeared (I guess).  I ordered Philip Marsden's *The Spirit Wrestlers*, but was rather disappointed in its limited and superficial
coverage of the Molokans and Doukhobours.  The section on the Old Believers was better.

For the last year we have been relating to Serguei Petrov of Moscow.  He think he told me that he had corresponded with you.  Yes, he did. Thanks for telling me. Up to now I thought his e-mail was from another Molokan with the same name --Seguei Peterov of Tambov, who also sends e-mail. This clears up much confusion.

Serguei and Anna came over to the USA to visit our meetings last month.  Serguei has a Conservative Quaker website.  See the links on the OYM site for the URL. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/1594/index.htm

May the Lord Jesus Christ bless your efforts for Him.
In Christian friendship,
Bill Rushby

P.S. Are you familiar with the Old German Baptist Brethren (Old Order Dunkards) in the Modesto area?  We have many good friends there.  If you would like contact with them, I would be happy to arrange it.  *Old Order Notes* (a German Baptist publication), edited by a friend of mine, is serializing Pauline Young's book, so it would be a good time for your two groups to become acquainted.  The OGBs forbid the Internet, but there is an excellent photographic essay on them, which I could refer you to. Please do. In 1980-81, I met a Quaker who was protesting high utility rates. He had an office next to the freeway in central Modesto. As a grad student in Fresno, I was researching the impact of energy rates on minorities at the time. I stopped in several times on my trips between Berkeley and Fresno. When I got to know him, I learned he was in CO camp during WWII and fondly remembered many Molokans. He first told me about the CO "bible"--directory of CO campers. I don't recall his name or if he mentioned the OOD. He was a very sincere and pleasant fellow.

P.P.S.Have you considered starting a chat room for Molokans?  See the OYM links for various Quaker and Mennonite chat rooms/discussion lists. Yes, that's another project to add to the pile.  For now, many Molokans have been content chatting at the Univseristy of Texas, Austin, Little Russia board. Interesting, many Molokans credit me for setting up that site, but it happended by itself.

I think that I had better stop rambling for now!

Dear Andrew Conovaloff:

I am working on a review of Marsden's *The Spirit Wrestlers* for you, but you yourself may need to do the commentary on the specific Molokan and Doukhobor parts.  I find that I don't know as much about Molokan and Doukhobor history as I had thought.

Thanks for your effort, but I'll probably focus on the old letter. Marsden unknowingly passed by many Molokan settlements, and got referred to a minister, in Kochubeevka, Stavropol', who now claims to be the head minister of all Molokans in the World, and could not tell Marsden much in scope. Marsden was able to find the letter because he already knew some of the story. Russians, typically do not volunteer information.

Have you ever considered doing a FAQs section on the Molokans? Yes. The Molokan Home Page is mostly that, but with out the questions. We have received much positive feedback from the FAQs on the Conservative Friends web site.  One question I have is "what is the origin of the Molokans?" See Klibanov for a good introduction to the social/economic/political climate at the time. Marsden wrote of an English physician in Moscow who played a role: who? what? when? and where???  He gives few details. He give more of that legend/story than I've seen before. No one person made sectarians. They were group responses to oppression.

Also, are you aware that Stephen Grellet and William Allen, Friends' ministers in the early 19th century, encountered the Molokans and Doukhobors on a religious visit to Russia. Grellet wrote very favorably...indeed touchingly.. about his contacts with the Molokans.  I haven't read what William Allen wrote in his journal.  We have both of their journals, but no scanner.  Otherwise, I would send you excerpts.  I expect that their journals would be available through inter-library loan.  If not, I'll try to xerox some material for you.

No I didn't. This is excellent news. (It shows the power of the Internet to network.) Please send references to Grellet and Allens' journal--what library, call number (if any). I'll post this information on the Molokan NEWS.

In Christian friendship,
Bill Rushby

Dear Andrew:

Around the beginning of the 19th Century the Society of Friends started to divide into two groups. One group became the "Orthodox". They asserted the authority of the Bible as an outward test of religious truth, and claimed that the Holy Spirit would not contradict the Scriptures. The other group were called "Hicksites". They claimed that the leadings of the Spirit were
primary, and that the Bible does not have normative significance for the Christian. At first these groups did not differ much in practice, but over time they diverged more and more.

Today, the Hicksites have redefined themselves as universalists, open to all religions and not necessarily Christian in faith. The Bible typically is not referred to much in their circles, and most of them probably know very little about it. In church practice they retain some outward forms which are recognizably Quaker, but their rationale for those practices bears little resemblance to the historical Quaker faith. Today, this group is overwhelmingly academic and professional in occupation, and includes only a
small minority who were born of Quaker parents. They are strongly oriented toward politics and social reform.

The Orthodox split into two groups, one Gurneyite and the other Wilburite. The Gurneyites were thoroughly Christian in belief and Bible-oriented, but they abandoned historical Quaker church practices in varying degrees. Over time some of them became liberal, but most are quite evangelical and mission-oriented. Their numbers include many Third-World people.

The Wilburites retained traditional Christian faith, historical Quaker practice and a Biblical orientation well into the 20th Century. This orientation is still very strong in Ohio Yearly Meeting of Conservative Friends, which is very small. The other two remaining Conservative bodies have drifted in a liberal direction: Iowa is the most liberal while North Carolina is liberal with pockets of resistance.

What is my point? If one takes the traditional Hicksite Quakers as the point of reference, the Doukhobors would be most similar in theology. If one takes the traditional Orthodox as the point of reference, the Molokans would be most similar. The Steady [Steafast, or Constants] are probably more like the Central Yearly Meeting of Holiness Friends, and the Jumpers are more like Ohio Yearly Meeting of Conservative Friends. Of course the match is not perfect.

So, who are the real Russian Quakers??

Bill Rushby

And we should also ask: "So, who are the real Russian Molokans (Doukhobors)??