DUKHOBORTSY. - The D., that is, "wrestlers of the spirit," are one of the principal sects born in Russia. They are also called "molokani," that is, "milk-drinkers," because they do not observe the abstinence from dairy products prescribed by the Church on certain days.

The origin of the sect is very obscure. It seems akin to that of the Quakers, imported into Russia in 1740 by a Prussian non-commissioned officer. Toward the end of the 18th century the D. appear in Ukraine in the governments of Kharkov, Tambov, and Ekaterinoslav. Persecuted under Paul I (1798-1801), tolerated under Alexander I, and again persecuted under Nicholas I and his successors, they had to emigrate by the thousands, through the intervention of the English Quakers, to the island of Cyprus and to Canada as early as 1898.

Like many other sects, they have merged with the Soviets, and this all the more easily in that their social doctrine is communism. At present their number and their situation are unknown.

Their doctrine is openly rationalist, denying all Christian mysteries beginning with that of the Trinity. For them the Father is memory, the Son is reason, the Holy Spirit is will; and it is under this threefold aspect that God manifests himself to the human soul.

The souls, created before the world, fell and were united to a body. They are destined for perpetual migrations. Of Holy Scripture they have preserved only the Psalms, and reciting them is the principal act of their devotion. They themselves have composed a great number of them.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: Th. Lenz, De Dukhoborcis, Dorpat 1829; O. M. Novitzky, I d., la loro storia e dottrine religiose, 2nd ed., Kiev 1882 (the most important Russian work on the sect); P. Leroy-Beaulieu, L'empire du tsar et les Russes, III, Paris 1889, passim: J. Gehring, Die Sekten der russischen Kirche, Leipzig 1898, p. 187; A. Palmieri, Doukhobors, in DThC, IV, coll. 1802-11 (with a long Russian bibliography); id., I campioni dello spirito o la setta dei d. Le dottrine religiose dei d., in Riv. internaz. di scienze sociali, 51 (1909), pp. 3-27; 52 (1910), pp. 161-70; K. Algermissen, Konfessionskunde, Hannover 1930, p. 420 ff.

Martino Jugie

@incollection{ec4_dukhobortzi, author = {Jugie, Martino}, title = {Dukhobortzi}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1977--1978}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/dukhobortzi} }

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Dukhobortsy

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