Doukhobors << DOO kuh bawrz >>, also spelled Dukhobors, belong to a Christian sect in western Canada. Doukhobors is a Russian word meaning spirit wrestlers. They believe the “voice within” each person is his or her guide. Therefore, Doukhobors see no need for priests, sacraments, icons, churches, or governments. Doukhobors are pacifists.
Peasants founded the sect in Russia in the mid-1700’s. The Doukhobors adopted many of the ideas of the Russian author Leo Tolstoy in the late 1800’s, under the leadership of Peter Verigin. In 1899, Tolstoy and English and American Quakers helped more than 7,000 Doukhobors immigrate to Saskatchewan and British Columbia in western Canada. There they established communal farms. The group still survives, but its communal life has largely died out. A small group of Doukhobors called the Sons of Freedom wishes to restore the communal communities in Canada or in any country that would welcome them. Another organized segment is the Union of Spiritual Communities for Christ, which consists of descendants of Doukhobor settlers in Canada. Some live in their own communities, and some live in general society.
