Molokans, who have endured many upheavals in their time, are
struggling to cope with the country's post-Soviet transition. By
Mark Grigorian in Fioletovo, November 2001 Two hours north of
Yerevan, against the backdrop of the Lori-Pambak mountain range,
lies a little piece of the Russian countryside. Blonde-haired,
blue-eyes kids run around the cabbage fields and beet patches.
Many of the men sport bushy Tolstoyan beards. The Russian-
speaking population in this northern Armenian village of
Fioletovo is one of the last remnants of the country's dwindling
Molokan community — descendants of a Christian sect driven from
the heart of the Russian Empire in 1830. At the beginning of the
1990s, there were around 50,000 Molokans in villages scattered
across northern Armenia. Just 5000 remain, continuing the
traditions of their Russian ancestors. After deportation from
Russia, resettlement, and the persecution of the Soviet years,
the Molokans became victims of the painful transition period to
uneasy democracy. Within a