This page is a summarized version of my longer paper, entitled "Russian Mormonism: Geographic and Historical Foundations". While the complete paper includes many geographic and historical details of interest to those wishing to study the subject in depth, this shorter summary will give a brief understanding of why, where, and when Russian sectarians were called Mormons, and what these Russian Mormons believe....
Continue Reading Add comment June 29th, 2006
What is the relationship between the LDS Church and Russian Mormonism?
Russian Mormonism developed from native Russian sects in the 1800s. These sects had native Russian names such as the Khlysts, Molokans, and Montans. However, in 1869 a Russian Orthodox priest called one group of these Russian sectarians "Mormons" because they seemed similar to what he knew of American Mormonism. Besides this terminology connection, Russian Mormonism was not influenced by the doctrinal teachings of American Mormons....
Continue Reading Add comment June 29th, 2006
The following paper publications have proven useful in my research on Russian Mormonism. Most of these can be found through searching the network of university libraries (Inter-Library Loan)....
Continue Reading Add comment June 23rd, 2006
I wrote this article (click here to download Adobe PDF) after my first contact with Samara Mormonism in 1998. While many of my early conclusions turned out to be incorrect, this document was the first major attempt to systematically record the contact between American Mormons and those in Russia known by the same name.
Add comment June 23rd, 2006
An interesting snippet, evidently from an old gazette, lists a simple religious census of Samara Province on October 1, 1925. Click here to open, or read the translation....
Continue Reading Add comment June 23rd, 2006
Bulgakov's exhaustive work catalogues a laundry list of foreign and native Russian sects, including "Samara Mormons". The entire book is available online here. Below is my English translation of the entry on Samara Mormons....
Continue Reading Add comment June 22nd, 2006
This "rehabilitation" of Russian purge victims lists Rodion Ivanovich Gorokhov as a "Mormon" elder. Below is my English translation:
"Gorokhov Rodion Ivanovich. Born in 1887. Native and inhabitant of Yablonevyy Ovrag village in Samara Province. Russian, non-party member, presbyter [elder] of the Mormon sect. Arrested February 1, 1931; sentenced July 27 by the Middle Volga District PP OGPU tribunal according to Article 58-10 (counterrevolutionary propoganda or agitation) to a term of three years in a concentration camp. Rehabilitated by the Kuybyshevsk Oblast Procurator on November 15, 1989."
2 comments June 22nd, 2006
An interview with Ivan Zhabin, a man often described as a leader among the "Mormons" of the Orenburg area. Also includes a few paragraphs on "Orthodox Mormons", which I've translated below....
Continue Reading Add comment June 22nd, 2006
[in Russian] This article on organized crime mentions "the organized criminal group known in Orenburg as the Mormons". Continuing, the author explains that "the leader of the group and chieftan of the Cossack village of Sofievka, Ivan Ivanovich Zhabin by name... could perhaps win elections and legally organize the Mormon bandits as a legitimate Cossack band."
Add comment June 22nd, 2006
This newspaper article by Orenburg police investigator Igor Moiseev describes how the native Russian Mormon sect has become a powerful business syndicate, that Orenburg Mormons descend from the "old original Mormons" and still hold to some religious principles. The article is published online. I have also provided an English translation of the relevant paragraphs below....
Continue Reading Add comment June 22nd, 2006
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