In Transcaucasia

Peter Vasilevich Verigin was born on July 11 [O.S. June 29] 1859, in the village of Slavyanka in Elisabethpol Governorate^[2] of Russian Empire. The village, located in the north-west of what is today the Republic of Azerbaijan, was one of the settlements founded by the Doukhobors, a large sect of communally living peasants, exiled to the Transcaucasia from Ukraine and southern Russia in the 1840s.^[3] His father, Vasily Verigin, was an illiterate, but reportedly rich peasant, who, once elected a village headman, "showed himself a real despot".^[4]

July 11 [O.S. June 29] 1859 is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Although the Doukhobors do not traditionally venerate saints, this day is known as St. Peter's Day (Russian: Петров день) is still a traditional day of celebration. It is possible that Verigin was named after St. Peter.^[5]

Peter was one of seven brothers. Peter and two other brothers, Vasily and Grigory, were home-schooled, at least to the extent of learning to read and write. There were no formal schools in Doukhobor villages at the time, and his four older brothers did not study. ^[4]

"The Orphanage"

In his early 20s, Peter Verigin married Evdokia Georgievna Kotelnikova. In 1882, soon after his marriage, his wife was expecting their first child (Peter P. Verigin), and Verigin started working as a secretary and administrative assistant for the leader of the Transcaucasian Doukhobors, Lukerya Vasilyevna Gubanova (born 18??—died December 15, 1886; Russian: Лукерья Васильевна Губанова). Lukerya Gubanova was the widow of the community's previous leader, Peter Kalmykov, and was also known as Kalmykova, by her late husband's surname.^[6]

The Kalmykov family resided in the village of Gorelovka, one of Doukhobor communities in Georgia (shown on one of J.J. Kalmakoff's maps.^[3]), in the Sirotsky Dom (Russian: Сиротский дом), or "The Orphanage" - the facility serving as the Doukhobor headquarter and a home for orphans and the aged.^[7] Lukerya was respected by the provincial authorities, who cooperated with the Doukhobors on various matters. While working for her and living at her residence,^[8] Verigin received an extensive religious education, and was prepared by the childless Lukerya to become her successor as the leader of the Doukhobors. He became acquainted with the Doukhobor ideas of administration which rejects secular government. The Doukhobors also rejected the holiness of Jesus Christ and the Bible, and were naturally pacifists and conscientious objectors who refused to participate in wars and battles.

The death of Lukerya in 1886 was followed by a leadership crisis. A portion of the community known as "the Large Party" (Russian: Большая сторона) accepted Peter Verigin as her designated successor and leader. Others, known as "the Small Party" (Малая сторона), sided with Lukerya's brother, Michael Gubanov, and the village elder Aleksei Zubkov.^[6][7] While the Large Party was in the majority, the Small Party had the support of the older members of the community and the local authorities.

On January 26, 1887, at the community service where the new leader was to be acclaimed, the police entered and took Verigin away. He was to spend the next 16 years in government custody. The Large Party Doukhobors maintained contact, and continued to consider him their spiritual leader.^[6][9]

Northern exile

Verigin was first sent to Shenkursk, in Arkhangelsk Governorate (now Arkhangelsk Oblast), in the Russia's north, arriving in October 1887. In the summer 1890, he was transferred to Kola, on the Barents Sea. At that time Kola was Russia's northernmost town, as Murmansk and Polyarny were not yet built. In November 1894, he left Kola for Obdorsk, now Salekhard, in north-western Siberia.^[6]

In Shenkursk, Verigin and several exiled Doukhobor elders, shared two houses. When this small band of Doukhobor exiles was visited by Peter Verigin's brother, Grigory, in September 1888, he was impressed with their complete vegetarianism, as Grigory's family in South Caucasus was still eating meat.^[10]

Veregin in 1903 with two of the Doukhobors

In November 1894, as he was being transferred from Kola to Obdorsk, Verigin wrote a message to the Doukhobors, asking them to obey God's commandment, "Thou shalt not kill", to destroy their weapons, and refuse military service. His message was taken to the Caucasus by his brothers Grigory and Vasily, who spread it throughout the Doukhobor communities. Soon, the confrontation between pro-Verigin Pacifist Doukhobors ("the Large Party") and the government drafting their youth came to head. On Easter Sunday 1895, eleven Doukhobor conscripts refused to do military training. In following days more conscripts laid down their arms and refused further service, and reservists were returning their registration papers to the draft boards. Finally, in the night of June 28–29 (July 10–11 New Style), 1895, the night before St. Peter's Day (Verigin's birthday), the Large-Party Doukhobors of Transcaucasia assembled in three villages to burn the weapons they owned, commemorated since as "the Burning of the Arms".^[5]

Arrests and beatings by government Cossacks followed. Soon, Cossacks were billeted in many of the Doukhobors' houses, with the original inhabitants dispersed through remote villages in the region.^[6][11] John Ashworth, Doukhobortsy and Religious Persecution in Russia Archived November 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, 1900 (Doukhobor Genealogy Website)

The exodus

Horrified at the plight of his followers, in August 1896 Verigin wrote to Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, the wife of Nicholas, making a number of proposals to resolve the conflict, such as the resettlement of the Large-Party Doukhobors to some remote province of Russia (assuming that an exemption from military service could still be granted), or emigration to Britain or Canada.^[6] Leo Tolstoy and his associates addressed Russian and international public with letters and articles about the persecution of the Doukhobors.

In 1898, an agreement was reached with the Czar's Minister of the Interior, Ivan Nikolayevich Durnovo, to allow the Doukhobors to leave for Canada. Between 1898 and 1899 around 7,500 Doukhobors from Transcaucasia did so. Of them, some 3,300 were the members of the Large Party; the rest belonged to the Small and the Middle Parties. Among them was Verigin's mother, Anastasia Verigina, around 80 years of age at the time. Smaller numbers of Doukhobors, directly from Transcaucasia or from various places of exile, continued moving to Canada in the years to follow.

In the fall of 1902, after 16 years in exile, Verigin was released from Obdorsk. He visited Leo Tolstoy in October, ^[12] and joined his people in Yorkton (present-day Saskatchewan) in December 1902.^[6]

Verigin was to visit Russia again, only once. He came in 1906, leading a delegation of six Doukhobors, to investigate a possibility of the return of the Doukhobors to Russia, now that, as a result of Russian Revolution (1905), religious tolerance has been legislated. Verigin's delegation met with Stolypin and other ministers, who made an offer of land in the Altai (south-western Siberia) and an exemption from the conscription. Although the offer was personally confirmed by Nicholas II, Verigin felt that, no matter what, the Doukhobors' situation in Russia would not be as secure as in Canada. In March 1907 his delegation went back to Canada.

In Canada

Verigin preaching amongst his followers in 1923 in British Columbia

Verigin established his first Canadian residence at the Doukhobor village of Poterpevshie (Russian: Потерпевшие, 'The Victims', or perhaps 'The Survivors'), some 15 km northwest of Kamsack, Saskatchewan. On the joyful occasion of reuniting with their leader, the villagers renamed the place Otradnoye (Russian: Отрадное, 'the place of rejoicing'). Otradnoye continued to be Verigin's headquarters until 1904 or 1905 ^[13] The nearby village of Nadezhda was the site of annual general meetings of the Doukhobor community chaired by him.

When the new Canadian Northern Railway line crossed the Doukhobor reserve in 1904 some 10 km south of Otradnoye, a small station named after the Doukhobor leader (misspelled, initially, "Veregin Siding", and after 1908, Veregin Station) was built there around 1904 to serve the needs of the Doukhobor community of the area. A village, also named Veregin (sometimes spelled Verigin, at least on Verigin's own CCUB letterhead) was built next to the station, and Veregin's headquarters was shifted there.^[14]

In 1905, the exiled Doukhobors rejected the newly enforced requirements of the federal Dominion Lands Act, which attempted to register their communal lands under individual ownership and rebelled against the request. Following this in 1907 the communal land system was abolished and in 1908 Verigin led around 6,000 of his group (Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, CCUB) to British Columbia. CCUB still continued to own some properties and industrial facilities in Saskatchewan, and its headquarters remained in Veregin for some years to come. Verigin had another residence built for himself near Grand Forks, British Columbia, spending the rest of his life sharing his time between the two provinces.

Primary sources

• Donskov, Andrew, and Peter Verigin. Leo Tolstoy-Peter Verigin Correspondence (New York; Ottawa: Legas, 1995)