Editing Molokans (section)

===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.