Molokanism

First article in a series I am writing about Molokanism, the religion of my mother's family.

"While recent attention given to Mexico has been largely negative—evidenced by an abundance of hysterical journalism regarding drug wars, swine flu, an economy in collapse—a lesser-known religious collective resides in the Guadalupe Valley of Mexico, happily unaware of the trials of modernity. The Molokan Russians, only numbering roughly 25,000 in the United States, belong to a pacifistic sect which broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 18th century (though there is some dispute as to the date; progenitors of Molokonism were thought to exist as early as the 1550s, during Ivan the Terrible’s reign, and were subjected to ostracism because they rejected military involvement.) Yet it has been recorded that in 1765, the Tambov province of Russia, Simon Uklein—then a follower of the Dukhobor religion—eschewed this extant belief system to codify the set of belief systems which is now known as Molokonism.
Uklein’s evangelical travels throughout Russia earned him a sizeable following: he produced a creed entitled “Ritual of the Spiritual Christians,” which was presented to each new city. The creed described Uklein’s followers’ practice of drinker milk during the traditional Orthodox fasting days; hence the term “Molokan” (from moloko, Russian for “milk.”) The cities touched by Uklein’s influence included diverse areas of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Kars, Turkey, Yerevan, Armenia, Georgia, and the Dubovka Ukraine, near the Volograd by the Volga River. Unfortunately, despite Molokonism’s permeation throughout Eastern Europe, religious freedom was not a reality in Russia—religious services were practiced secretly in the home, unbeknownst to the Czar’s regime.
Inevitable religious persecution befell the Molokons at the hands of the Russian government. Their grain was often pillaged by the Cossacks and, in violation of their desired “conscientious objector” status, much of the male youth was forced into the Russian military. Because of this, the Molokons sought sanctuary in nearby rural Central and Southern Russia, Transcaucasia, Persia, and Turkey. By the turn of the 20th century, however, five men from the colony embarked on a journey to the United States, in order to assess the religious climate. They were subsequently surprised by the nation’s views on personal freedom.
This pilgrimage eventually split the original Molokon clan into two groups: the first, and largest group settled in Los Angeles, California, while the second group—impressed by the agricultural and climatic promise of Mexico—settled in Guadalupe Valley. With the aid of the Mexican government, representatives of the colony were able to purchase the land now known as Ensenada. A ranch of 13,000 acres was designated to them for agricultural purposes; this land was divided among 104 Russian families. These acres were then informally distributed amongst the inhabitants, with 300 of them reserved for communal purposes (the village, school, church, as well as for homes with private gardens.) The modern-day traveler to Mexico may not realize that this land, after being cultivated by the Molokans, was transformed into the fecund earth in which wine grapes grow. Ironically, the land of the famed “milk drinkers” has evolved into a destination for wine connoisseurs. This secluded area is a place with a dense history, and while the rest of the country appears in turmoil, it remains as a strikingly individuated cultural landscape."

[next segment: San Francisco's 1940s Russian-language daily "Novaya Zarya" (New Dawn)]

Guadalupe Valley: