Maxim Rudometkin

Maxim Gavrilovich Rudometkin (Максим Гаврилович Рудомёткин) (c. 1818 – 1877) was a zealous religious leader of a mid-1800 sect of Spiritual Christian Molokan Pryguny (Jumpers).

Early life

He was born in Algasov village near the city of Morshansk, Tambov Oblast, in central Russia sometime from 1808 to 1818. At the age of 8, according to a letter written by him to his followers [citation], his family separated from the Orthodox Church and joined a sect of Spiritual Christian Molokans. By the 1840s his family relocated to the Transcaucasia, and settled in the village of Nikitino, Erivan Governorate, renamed Fioletovo during the Soviet period. Before relocating to Transcaucasia, his family joined a zealous apocalyptic movement founded in 1833 in New Russia (Novorossiya) by Lukian Petrovich Sokoloff, who introduced glossolalia, and charismatic jumping and prophesy into services. Authorities variously called them "Zionists" (Сионцы), Skakuny (Leapers/Skippers) and Pryguny (Jumpers); with the latter term prevailing in the 1897 Russian Empire Census. In the Southern Caucasus Rudometkin married his wife Maria Fyodorovna, and raised 3 boys, Ermolai, Alexei and Vassya. As his status among the Molokan Pryguny grew, he was given the leadership role of the community from the former leader Sokoloff. This was done according to eyewitness accounts by the laying on of hands from Sokoloff with a blessing of the Holy Spirit in the custom of their religion.^[1]

General History

After his anointment by Sokoloff, Rudometkin then introduced through spiritual inspiration, a new form of worship which involved jumping and skipping like calves and lambs in the fields. This was done as a fulfillment of the prophecies of Sokoloff, who wrote that a time will come when the righteous will skip and jump like the calves and lambs of the field. Formally the Spiritual Christian Molokan Pryguny only experienced a form of prophecy and raising of hands during their worship services. This form of worship took place during home meetings or when working in the fields. Rudometkin preached a high reliance on spiritual inspiration, when his adherents would feel the Spirit come upon them, they would leap and jump in the Spirit speaking in new tongues (glossolalia) and prophesy. Rudometkin was a charismatic individual who traveled from village to village, preaching of repentance and of the coming 1000 year kingdom of Christ upon earth, which is written of in the book of Revelation. On December 19, 1854, he was spiritually crowned by the community through their activity of the Holy Spirit to be called the "king of spirits", leader of the people of Zion, which created a new sectarian faith, Maksimisty.

After this spiritual coronation, he then appointed two prophets and two prophetess's to represent him in spiritual matters in the community. The prophets were named Emelian Telegin and Fitis Nazaroff, the two prophetess's were named Stenya Kartashova and Varya Manuseeva.^[2] Rudometkin frequently called his community the New Israel, jumpers and leapers and children of Zion. In the year 1855, this coronation was confirmed by a young boy name Efim Gerasimovich Klubnikin, who at 12 years old, prophesied concerning the spiritual kingship of Rudometkin among the Pryguny. This spiritual preaching and activity reached its peak into 1858, in which, according to certain files, close to half of the Pryguny in Transcaucasia accepted and acknowledged Rudometkin as king of spirits and leader of Zion. On August 25, his followers erected a large banner on the road into their village, declaring the end of the tsarist regime and the soon coming establishment of Christ's kingdom upon earth. This banner was seen by local authorities and also by the two grand dukes, Michael Nikolaevich and Nicholas Nicolaievich the elder, during a visit of theirs to the area. The banner was quickly removed by authorities and was later reported to higher officials that the followers of Rudometkin, due to his teachings, were beginning to pose a political and religious threat in the area against the authority-ship of the tsar and the official religion of his regime. Which was the state religion of Eastern Orthodoxy.

With this new information, the local authorities decided to go to the source and arrest Rudometkin on the following counts: Violation of government, violation of the general public, violation of citizenship, violation of family and violation of religion. Upon arrest they sent him to a prison in Alexandropol on September 12, 1858, and on October 29th 1858, the local governor requested the Holy Synod to send him to the Solovetsky Monastery correction facility. This request was granted on December 25, 1858 and in March of 1859, he was then sentenced to walk in shackles from Tbilisi (Tiflis) (where he was later awaiting sentencing) to Solovki until he later reached the Solovetsky Monastery the following year on April 30, 1860. After sitting incarcerated for 9 years and 9 days, through the intercession of Count Dmitry Tolstoy the minister of Internal Affairs, Rudomëtkin was then transferred to more humane monastery prison in Suzdal, Central Russia, the Monastery of Saint Euthymius (also: Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery). He arrived there on May 27, 1869. In this prison he sat for 8 more years until on May 13, 1877, according to monastery documents, died of a stroke, which was caused according to other documents by frequent beatings by the arch-priest in the correction facility. When this information was received by his congregants in Nikitino, they sent an elder of their church (Vassily Morozov) and Rudometkin's eldest son Ermolai, to inquire further. On their arrival, they were not shown enough proof in their opinion to ascertain Rudometkins death. They said on their arrival back to their home village of Nikitino, that the guard told them that they seek the living amongst the dead. Many of Rudometkin's followers to this day believe that he never died and will return.

In Modern History

The followers of Rudometkin survive to this day as members of the Spiritual Christian Molokan Dukhizhiznik^[3] family of faiths, with congregations located in southern Russia, Armenia, western U.S.A. and Australia. Before the Russian Revolution, some moved to the west coast of America (California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona) and Baja California Norte, Mexico in the early 1900s, which was led and inspired by the prophecies of Rudomëtkin's boy prophet, Efim Gerasemovich Klubnikin. In the 1960s, another movement began through their prophets, that lead some of his followers to Australia.

Rudometkin, while he spent 19 years in monastic correction facilities, wrote many small booklets on tea paper about 4 × 3½ in size. These booklets were then smuggled out of the correctional facilities to his followers in Nikitina and to the surrounding villages. Before the migration to America, a Molokan Prygun prayerbook was published in 1905, which contained some of the songs and prayers of Rudometkin, this is the first time any of his writings were put into a book form. Members of his family brought his booklets with them on their journey to America and held them in high regard and soon there after were put to print. These writings were firstly compiled in an incomplete form in a book titled the "Morning Star" by a group of his followers who were settled in Arizona in 1915 where his family members resided. At the same time, a prominent elder of the Molokan Pryguny community named Ivan Gureyevich Samarin, also published a similar version of the Morning Star in his own work titled "Spirit and Life" in Los Angeles. Then as time went on, as more manuscripts were collected, a final complete edition was published and edited in 1928 by Ivan Samarin, who titled it, "Book of the Sun, Spirit and Life," (Книга Солнца, Дух и Жизнь) which is used alongside the Bible in their services to this day. Samarin also included in his book the writings of Sokoloff, the prophecies of Klubnikin, and another Molokan Prygun leader, Feodor Osipovich Bulghakov, who called himself David Esseevich.