DUKHOBORTZI. – The d., that is, “fighters of the spirit,” are one of the principal sects that arose in Russia. They are also called “molokani,” that is, “milk-drinkers,” because they do not observe abstinence from dairy products prescribed by the Church on certain days.
The origin of the sect is very obscure. It appears to be related to that of the Quakers, imported into Russia in 1740 by a Prussian non-commissioned officer. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the d. appeared in Ukraine, in the governments of Charcov, Tambov, and Ekaterinoslav. Persecuted under Paolo I (1798–1801), tolerated under Alessandro I, and again persecuted under Nicola I and his successors, they were forced 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 merged with the Soviets, all the more easily because their social doctrine is communism. At present, their number and situation are unknown.
Their doctrine is openly rationalistic, denying all Christian mysteries, beginning with that of the Trinity. For them, the Father is memory, the Son is reason, and the Holy Spirit is the 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 to perpetual migrations. Of Sacred Scripture they have preserved only the Psalms, and reciting them is the principal act of their devotion. They themselves have composed a large number of them.
L'empire du tsar et les Russes, III, Parigi 1889, passim: J. Gehring, Die Sekten der russischen Kirche, Lipsia 1898, p. 187; A. Palmieri, Doukhobors, in DThC, IV, coll. 1802-11 (con lunga bibliografia russa); 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 sgg. Martino Jugie