Doukhobors celebrate history in Veregin

It wasn’t an easy path for the Doukhobors. Facing persecution in their home country in Russia for their pacifism in the face of conflict, the group came to Canada and settled in Saskatchewan, where – going by contemporary stories in the archive of Yorkton This Week – they were regarded with a great deal of suspicion.

The people did not give up, and an example of their efforts to establish themselves in Canada still stands in Verigin. The National Doukhobor Heritage Village celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Prayer Home in Verigin, with song, celebration and visits from descendents of Peter Vasilevich Verigin, the man who originally built the prayer home in the village.

Linda Osachoff, board member of the museum, says that the event is a celebration of foundation of the Doukhobor faith, pacifism, peace and love.

“Those values are more important today than they ever have been before, in the world of crisis we live in.”

The 100th anniversary is also a way to celebrate the forefathers and mothers who established the Doukhobors in Canada and the struggles they went through to be able to practice their faith in an unfamiliar country, Osachoff explains.

“They were unwelcome in Russia because they refused to fight, and they also began a religion that really internalized Christianity rather than externalized it. Rather than having a hierarchy of leaders we all see the divine in one another. So it’s really contemporary way of seeing a higher power as well as being rooted in tradition.”

While it has been 100 years since the prayer home was established, Osachoff believes that the Doukhobor faith was ahead of its time, and a solution for a world in pain.

“That’s what is so wonderful about being a Doukhobor. Even though the traditions are rooted in the past, they came out of hardship. When you look at a hurting world now, we are in a period of hardship. The precepts of toil, peaceful life, being kind to one another, small acts of kindness being so important, are more valuable than they have ever been before. It’s so easy to contemporize an ancient religion in the face of today’s world.”

The weekend has gone “beyond their wildest expectations,” Osachoff says, with highlights being a Doukhobor choir from BC which performed in traditional garb, as well as a weekend filled with guests.

“The roof simply lifted with joyous praise, it was wonderful.”