Sous-fonds MsC-121-1 - Peter V. Verigin

Peter Vasilevich Verigin, known as Peter “the Lordly” Verigin, was born in 1859 in Azerbaijan, where Russian Tsar exiled his family together with other the Doukhobor community members. His maternal grandfather was a spiritual leader of the Doukhobors, but the leadership passed to another branch of the family. After the death of Verigin’s cousin Peter Kalmykov, his wife Luker’ia Kalmykova became the leader of the Doukhobors. Luker’ia chose Verigin to become her assistant and groomed him to become the next leader, but she also forced him to divorce his pregnant wife Evodokia Kotel’nikova. After Luker’ia death, Verigin’s leadership was faced with the opposition from some community members resulting in him being exile to Siberia in 1887. Returning from his exile, Verigin organized his community emigration to Canada in 1899, settlement in Saskatchewan and later in the Kootenay Region of British Columbia. Doukhobor community was to be officially known as Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB). Verigin’s leadership motto was “Toil and peaceful life”, but his leadership and prosperity of the community in Canada was challenged by the Canadian government regulations that were in inconsistent with community beliefs, such as military service or education. In addition, these problems led to the disapproval of Verigin’s leadership by some Doukhobor community members as well as by the Sons of Freedom group. In 1924, Verigin died due to a bomb explosion on the train he was travelling on.