Sorokin, Stefan S.

• Sorokin, Stephan S.

Stephan S. Sorokin was born in Ukraine in 1902 and died in Spokane, Washington in 1984. He came to Canada in 1949 as a traveling evangelist. When Sorokin arrived in Canada the Doukhobor community was experiencing quarrelsome split between the Orthodox Doukhobor and the Sons of Freedom. The Sons of Freedom were engaged in acts of civil disobedience that included arson and nude protests for both of which many were arrested. Sorokin preached against violence, visited prisoners and promoted reconciliation. Consequently, he became accepted as a leader of the Sons of Freedom and displaced John Lededoff in that role despite not having Doukhobor background. He organized the Sons of Freedom faction into the Christian Community and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors (CCBRD).

In search for a new “Promised Land” for the Reformed Doukhobors, in 1952, Sorokin, sponsored by his followers, traveled extensively to South America and took up residence in Uruguay where he lived for the next seventeen years and only visited his flock occasionally. While living in Montevideo, Uruguay, Sorokin send many letters and spiritual messages to his followers preaching against violence and encouraging peaceful resolutions and abandonment of more controversial practices. Nevertheless, some violence and civil disobedience continued. Sorokin’s correspondence is often signed with or addressed to with a term of endearment “Dyadya,” Russian for uncle. Sorokin’s was also given spiritual title “Iastrobov” (Hawk), a title of the missing Peter P. Verigin Jr., as some believed Sorokin was the missing Verigin, even though Sorokin himself denied that.

Sorokin wrote and published a book Tri dnia i tri nochi v zagrobnoi zhizni [Three days and three nights in the afterlife] in Crescent Valley, B.C., in 1950.

Sorokin married Ann Koftinoff in 1959 who relocated to Uruguay to live with him. They had two children Nicolas and Sonya. In 1969, Sorokin returned to British Columbia and continued leading the Reformed Doukhobors until his death in 1984.

RAD

February 14, 2022 / ed

Sorokin’s obituary. The Sun. Nov. 16, 1984 https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=38264786&article=c9130826-8397-4355-a878-ede288704f9b&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQ5NDU0NDkxNCwiaWF0IjoxNjQ0NTMwNTIyLCJleHAiOjE2NDQ2MTY5MjJ9.sKBgW0_MfnvxlLqfjyRseQ1AVzVgfyj9JceLSEtamLs https://abcbookworld.com/writer/sorokin-stefan/ https://www.everyculture.com/North-America/Doukhobors-History-and-Cultural-Relations.html https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1979/1/8/return-of-the-torch-and-the-flesh