IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 103: Armenia's Molokans
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Subject: IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 103: Armenia's Molokans
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IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 103: Armenia's
Molokans
WELCOME TO IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 103, October 30,
2001
GEORGIA: PARTISANS SPLIT OVER CHECHENS Georgians living in the Kodori
gorge are not sure what to make of their new Chechen neighbours. By
Sozar Subari in Azhara.
AZERI STREET KIDS BEG FOR CHANGE The number of kids begging on the
streets of Baku is expected to rise dramatically when new social
spending cuts are introduced. By Liya Bayramova and Zaur Mamedov in
Baku.
ARMENIA: FADING FORTUNES OF 'LITTLE RUSSIA' Armenia's Molokans, who
have endured many upheavals in their time, are struggling to cope with
the country's post-Soviet transition. By Mark Grigorian in Fioletovo.
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ARMENIA: FADING FORTUNES OF 'LITTLE RUSSIA'
Armenia's Molokans, who have endured many upheavals in their time, are
struggling to cope with the country's post-Soviet transition.
By Mark Grigorian in Fioletovo.
Two hours north of Yerevan, against the backdrop of the Lori-Pambak
mountain range, lies a little piece of the Russian countryside.
Blonde-haired, blue-eyes kids run around the cabbage fields and beet
patches. Many of the men sport bushy Tolstoyan beards.
The Russian-speaking population in this northern Armenian village of
Fioletovo is one of the last remnants of the country's dwindling
Molokan community - descendants of a Christian sect driven from the
heart of the Russian Empire in 1830.
At the beginning of the 1990s, there were around 50,000 Molokans in
villages scattered across northern Armenia. Just 5000 remain,
continuing the traditions of their Russian ancestors.
After deportation from Russia, resettlement, and the persecution of
the Soviet years, the Molokans became victims of the painful
transition period to uneasy democracy.
Within a couple of years of Armenian independence, they lost their
right to free education and subsidised transportation, on which they
depended for selling their produce.
With little hope of circumstances improving, the last remaining
Molokans are likely to leave the land their ancestors settled in just
170 years ago.
The Molokans' defiance of the Orthodox church led Tsar Nikolai I to
ban the community from settling in central Russia in 1830, urging them
to move instead to the Transcaucasus - many turning up in Armenia.
Two thousand feet above sea level, the land they settled on was far
from ideal, but they set about farming the sort of crops which could
endure the harsh conditions: cabbage, beet, carrots.
The community, though, soon found themselves bearing the ill-will of
the Soviets who came down hard on their religious beliefs and sense of
communal identity.
Indeed, for people in Fioletovo, the sole surviving purely Molokan
village, life is divided into two periods: "before" and "after" the
1988 earthquake which devastated Armenia - a period they associate
with the demise of communism.
"Before the earthquake it was really hard," said Ivan. "They
prosecuted us and did not let us believe in God. Now we can believe
the way we want and we can perform our rituals."
They may have been granted freedom to live and worship as they
pleased, but in the economic turmoil that followed, the area's basic
infrastructure broke down and almost destroyed the sole means they
have of supporting themselves - export of cabbages and sauerkraut.
The lorries which ferried their surplus back to Russia and Ukraine no
longer came, air travel became too expensive, the railways never
seemed to run. "All that remains now," said Tatiana Mechikov, "is to
sell our cabbage to Tbilisi and Yerevan."
At the same time, a language law was passed, cutting off support to
non-Armenian schools. Although Fioletovo managed to retain its school,
graduates were unable to continue their studies.
With their economic prospects in tatters and little hope of their
children finishing their education, families upped sticks and left,
many trying their luck in the West, especially the United States and
Canada.
The remaining Molokans don't want to leave. A practical people by
nature, they have done their best to cope, working as repairmen and in
the construction trade - many in Yerevan.
Their neighbours would like them to stay. Over the years, they have
built up strong ties with the local population. "We've always lived
in harmony," says Akop, from the village of Vanadzor. "It would be a
shame if they went."
Mark Grigorian is a freelance journalist based in Yerevan.
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Editor-in-chief: Anthony Borden. Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan;
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