Editing Molokans (section)

==Formation and development==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2015}}

===11th–14th centuries CE & origins of milk-drinking during Lent===
There are approximately 200 [[fasting]] days —especially the [[Great Fast]] (Lent)— when drinking milk was prohibited by Christian Orthodox ecclesiastical authorities. The practice of milk-drinking during these fasts was first sanctioned by the [[Nestorian Church]] in the 11th century in order to accommodate the conversion of some 200,000 [[Turkic Christians]], who lived on meat and milk, to Nestorian Christianity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Borbone|first=Pier Giorgio |url=https://pisa.academia.edu/PierGiorgioBorbone/Papers/537579/Some_Aspects_of_Turco-Mongol_Christianity_in_the_Light_of_Literary_and_Epigraphic_Syriac_Sources |title=Some Aspects of Turco-Mongol Christianity in the Light of Literary and Epigraphic Syriac Sources (Pier Giorgio Borbone) - Academia.edu |publisher=Pisa.academia.edu |access-date=2012-09-20}}</ref>

Two theories emerge regarding the formation of the milk-drinking practice during Lent:

The first one suggests that the [[Keraites|Keraite]] Khan, Markus Buyruk Khan (formerly [[Cyriacus Buyruk Khan|Sadiq Khan]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Togan, İsenbike.|title=Flexibility and limitation in steppe formations : the Kerait Khanate and Chinggis Khan|date=1998|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-10802-5|location=Leiden|oclc=37806168}}</ref> prior to Christian conversion), had converted to Nestorian Christianity along with around 200,000 of his Turco-Mongolic nomadic tribespeople in 1007 CE. The Keraite people were one of the five dominant Turco-Mongol tribes of the Tatar confederation prior to Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan united the Tatar tribes into the Mongol Empire. The Keraite resided upon the Orkhon Steppes, south of Lake Baikal and north of the Gobi Desert, also referred to as the Altai-Sayan region. The Nestorian [[Church of the East|Metropolitan]], upon the conversion of the Turco-mongolic people, asked the Patriarch John the VI,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Unnik|first=Willem Cornelis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYdJwrUEe3gC&q=nestorian+milk+drinking&pg=PA104|title=Nestorian Questions on the Administration of the Eucharist, by Isho'Yabh IV: A Contribution to the History of the Eucharist in the Eastern Church|date=1970-01-01|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-90-6032-122-5|language=en}}</ref> also known as [[Prester John]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grousset|pages=191}}</ref> what the appropriate fast for lent should be for the new converts and it was decreed that the converts should abstain from meat eating and instead of drinking "soured" milk should consume "sweet" milk. Meat and fermented horse milk were staples of the Turco-Mongolic diet prior to the conversion to Christianity and instead of eliminating a long-held tradition of the nomadic people it was Christianized. Soured milk refers to fermented milk and sweet milk refers to fresh milk.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Halbertsma|first=Tjalling H. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tR2oBgAAQBAJ&q=nestorian+milk+drinking&pg=PA32|title=Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction and Appropriation. Second Edition, Revised, Updated and Expanded|date=2015-07-28|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-28886-7|language=en}}</ref>

Arriving in [[All-Russian nation#Background|the Rus' lands]] with the 13th century Tatar (Mongolian) invasion<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cheshire|first1=Harold T|year=1926|title=The Great Tartar Invasion of Europe|journal=The Slavonic Review|volume=5|issue=13|pages=89–105|jstor=4202032}}</ref> of [[Batu Khan|Batu]] and [[Möngke Khan|Möngke]], the practice was adopted by other Christian groups, who had pastoral communities on the Eurasian plains.

The second theory proposes that [[David IV of Georgia|King David the IV of Georgia]] converted 40,000 [[Cumans|Cuman]]-[[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] tribal families to Christianity and resettled them in Georgia between 1118-1120 CE. King David the IV assimilated these northern Turkic tribes because he was at war with the Muslim Seljuk Turks to the South and desired to reform his army. Each Kipchak family was required to provide one soldier with a horse and weapons. Though David the IV is not reported as being a religious adherent he was a promoter of [[Christian culture]].

The Cumans, Kipchaks, [[Tatars]], Mongolians, and Bashkirs (who descend from Kipchaks) all have the tradition of making fermented milk products. The Cumans call it ''[[kumis]],'' Mongolians call it ''airag,''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Airag - Fermented Mare's Milk - Mongolian Beverage|url=https://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/airag.html|access-date=2020-07-12|website=www.mongolfood.info}}</ref> Tatars call it ''azegay'', and the Baskir call it ''azekay''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Csáki|first=Éva|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qARHlq4kK5wC&q=kipchaks+fermented+milk&pg=PA42|title=Middle Mongolian Loan Words in Volga Kipchak Languages|date=2006|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05381-5|language=en}}</ref> This lends itself to the possibility of the second theory, as well as the first.

100 families of the original Molokan Karaits were settled in Halychyna (specifically Lviv) by hostage arrangement between Daniel of Galicia and Batu Khan in 1246 CE.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Claims over Crimean Territory |url=https://voxukraine.org/en/historical-claims-over-crimean-territory |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=voxukraine.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

===15th–16th centuries CE===
The [[Heresy of the Judaizers|Judaizers]] preceded the modern day Molokans. Although they are sometimes also called "Molokans", they constitute an independent movement. Their leader [[Matvei Dalmatov|Matvei Semyonovich Dalmatov (Матвей Семёнович Далматов)]] was tortured to death in a monastery prison by [[breaking wheel]].

In 1428 [[Crimea]] became independent and supported the original Molokan-Subbotniks, the [[Crimean Karaites]] (Qara-Tatars / Karaylar), who had always played an important role in Mongol politics.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dunlop|first=D. M.|date=June 1944|title=The Karaits of Eastern Asia|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=11|issue=2|pages=276–289|doi=10.1017/s0041977x00072463|s2cid=128460011 |issn=0041-977X}}</ref> The linguistically dominant Church of the East Karait-Tatars, who had similar origins to the Khavars, became “Karaimstvuiuschie” (or Molokan Karaits).

===17th–18th centuries AD===
The first recorded use of the term "Molokan" appears in the 1670s, in reference to a group of people who had the practice of not fasting as well as eating dairy products during the 200 fasting days stipulated by the Orthodox Church. In Russian, {{lang|ru-latn|Moloko}} means "milk", and thus this came to be the name for these particular Christians. Nonetheless, these were "Spiritual Christians" who were not directly related to the group later known as "Molokans".

The "Molokans" that are known today by that name, split in 1779 and 1780 from the [[Doukhobors]] because they thought that the Doukhobors neglected the Bible; in their belief, God had placed the Word directly into their hearts. The Molokans, however, held the written Bible in the highest regard. The founder of the Molokans, [[Semyon Matveevich Uklein]] (1733-1809), was a son-in-law of the Doukhobor leader [[Ilarion Poberokhin]] (1720-1792) as explained by O. Beznosova: "Soon (approximately in 1779-1780) a group broke away from Pobirohin's disciples. It was led by his son-in-law Semyon Uklein, who did not share the mystical spirit and self-deification of the former leader and defended the need for reliance on the Gospel texts in the organization of church life (Margaritov, 1914). This group (called "Molokans") became a "rational" direction of Spiritual Christianity, as opposed to the "mystics" - "christoverchestvo" adherents, "Doukhobors" and "[[skoptsy]]"."
<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=((Beznosova, O.)) |journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences |title=The Perception in the Religious Space: The Assessment of the Impact of Western Reformation Ideas to Religious Movements of Russian-Ukrainian Steppe Borderlands in XVIII – The Early XIX Centuries |volume=236 |pages=320–326 |date=December 2016 |issn=1877-0428 |doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.12.037 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Uklein's Molokans from Tambov energetically proselytized in settlements along the [[Volga River]] and Russia's south-eastern frontier, spreading the Molokan faith in the provinces of [[Orenburg]], [[Saratov]], and [[Astrakhan]]; Uklein would further continue organizing congregations until his death in 1809.

===19th–20th centuries CE===
From the intervention of Count [[Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov|Nikolay Zubov]] in 1795, Molokans (бесшапочники) were tolerated under [[Catherine the Great]] but constrained by strict rules imposed upon them intended to curb community growth.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://lvov.judaica.spb.ru/gersub.shtml |script-title=ru:А. Львов. Геры и субботники - "талмудисты" и "караимы" |language=ru |title= |trans-title=}}</ref> Those who ignored the restrictions were punished in [[Imperial Russia|Tsarist Russia]] as [[Christian heresy|heretics]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lvov.judaica.spb.ru/herm.shtml|title=А. Львов. "Иудействовать и молоканить недозволено"}}</ref> Molokan evangelists and missionaries suffered imprisonment, banishment and other forms of punishment. Prohibited from winning converts,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://lvov.judaica.spb.ru/problems.shtml |script-title=ru:А. Львов. Русские иудействующие: проблемы, источники и методы исследования |language=ru |title= |trans-title=}}</ref> the Molokans were forced into [[endogamy]]. The government's policy was to send the Molokans away from the center of Russia into the Caucasus (1833), and other outlying areas to prevent their having influence on other peasants; they were sent to [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]] (1834), [[Ukraine]] (1830s), central [[Asia]], and [[Siberia]], where many communities have survived into the present.

It is said that in 1900, despite the persecutions by the Tsarist government and Orthodox Church, there could have been about a half-million Spiritual Christians in the Russian empire. These figures appear, however, to be vastly exaggerated. In 1912, there were only 133,935 ''Molokane'' and 4,844 ''Pryguny'' counted in Russia (census of the Department of Spiritual Affairs; see [[Glenn Dynner]]: "Holy Dissent: Jewish and Christian Mystics in Eastern Europe", 2011).

Fewer than one thousand ''Molokane'' fled Russia in the early 1900s (mostly 1905-1912), many of whom settled near other non-Orthodox immigrants from Russia in an ethnic [[enclave]] on and near [[Potrero Hill]], [[San Francisco|San Francisco, California]], where they built a prayer hall in 1929. A second prayer hall was established near [[Sheridan, Placer County, California|Sheridan, California]] to serve those scattered in Northern California. There has been a population of Molokans in Whittier, Southern California. As of 2022, there is still a church called ‘New United Molokan Church.’<ref>{{cite web |last1=Conovaloff |first1=Andrei |url=http://www.molokane.org/taxonomy/ |title=Taxonomy of 3 Spiritual Christian groups: Molokane, Pryguny and Dukh-i-zhizniki — books, fellowship, holidays, prophets and songs. |publisher=Molokane.org}}</ref> Though some Spiritual Christian faith groups fled Russia in the early 1900s to avoid the military draft, all eligible ''Molokan'' boys registered for the [[Selective Service Act of 1917]], but were disqualified as aliens who did not speak English. During World War II, 136 eligible American ''Molokan'' boys enlisted during World War II, and two were [[conscientious objectors]].<ref>{{cite journal |editor1-last=Samarin |editor1-first=Pavel I. |title=(Molokane v armii Ameriki) Russian Molokans in U. S. Service |journal=Molokanskoe Obozprenie (The Molokan Review) |date=August 1943 |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=26–27}}</ref>

Being prohibited from winning converts under the laws of the Russian Empire, they adopted [[endogamy]] and were classified as an ethnic group under the Bolsheviks.