Abstract
I remained free until September 22nd, and then an order was issued by the same Astaf’ev and the Assistant Prosecutor for me to appear in front of them in Karson September 22nd. Upon my arrival there, they arrested me and I was put into prison where Vereshchagin and brother Vasiliı were incarcerated. Arrested together with me were also Nikolaı Khudiakov, Fëdor Ryl’kov and Larion Taranov. We were all placed in the same cell where there were 20 prisoners from various groups already: Muslim, Armenians and Kurds. Since we were not yet accustomed to it, our cell seemed to us unpleasant and dismal, cramped, dirty and even lacking in God’s air. This prison was located in a fortress. When it was under the jurisdiction of Mukhtar-pasha, the Turkish governor-general of Kars, it housed a gunpowder warehouse, where gunpowder was stored. When this fortress was taken by the Russians, a different warehouse was constructed for gunpowder and the old storage space was converted into a prison. There were earth works around it, much higher than the prison itself, so you could not see anything from it. There was also very little light in the cell, and it was semi-dark there. The yard was tiny and we were let out to walk there for half an hour every day. One could not see anything from the yard, except for the sky. We were almost in a dungeon. Brother Vasiliı and Vereshchagin were held in solitary confinement and we had no access to them. We were allowed to wear our own clothes in prison.
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Notes
- 1.
Kars is a town in Turkey. With its surrounding area, at the time of the narrative, it belonged to the Russian Empire. It was one of the areas of the Transcaucasian exile of the Doukhobors. Since 1921, it has been a part of Turkey.
- 2.
Tiflis is the old name of modern Tbilisi, the capital of the country of Georgia. In the nineteenth century, it was the capital of Tiflis guberniia, which was a part of the Russian Empire.
- 3.
Dilizhan (modern spelling is Delijan) is a town in Armenia. At the time of the narrative, it was a part of the Russian Empire.
- 4.
Astafa most likely refers to Astaf, Azerbaijan, a town close to Slavianka village. However, it might also be Aghstafa, another town in Azerbaijan close to the borders with Armenia and Georgia. At the time of the narrative, Azerbaijan was a part of the Russian Empire.
- 5.
Molokans are a sectarian religious group that split off from the Russian Orthodox Church. At present, Doukhobors of Canada and Molokans of the United States retain amicable relationships and send representatives to each other’s major events.
- 6.
Matthew 5:39.
- 7.
Mark 10:44.
- 8.
Matthew 10:8.
- 9.
Metekh (Metekhi) castle was a strongly fortified nineteenth-century prison in the Metekhi area of Tiflis (modern Tbilisi), the capital of Georgia (in the nineteenth century it was a part of the Russian Empire).
- 10.
Most likely Zangezursky Uezd, a region of Elizavetpol’ guberniia (governatory) of the Russian Empire, which in Soviet Union time became divided between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
- 11.
Elizavetpol’ (later Kirovabad, since 1989, Ganja) was the capital of Elizavetpol’ guberniia in the Russian Empire. Since the separation of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union, it is one of the largest cities in Azerbaijan.
- 12.
“Aul” is a word used to refer to local villages in the Caucasus Mountains.
- 13.
Baku guberniia (governatory) with Baku as its capital was one of the administrative units of the Russian Empire. Baku is now the capital and the largest city of Azerbaijan.
- 14.
Erivan guberniia of the Russian Empire had its centre in Erivan, modern day Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia.
- 15.
Poklon means “a bow” in Russian. To bow in the Doukhobor tradition means to pass over greetings and best wishes. Bowing was a traditional Russian way of greeting. Doukhobors bow to each other during prayer assemblies in recognition of God in another human being.
- 16.
Nukhin prison was located in the Nukha fortress of the town of Shaki, Azerbaijan. At the time of the narrative, the area was a part of the Russian Empire.
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Verigin, G.V. (2019). My Arrest and Life in Prisons. In: Makarova, V., Ewashen, L. (eds) The Chronicles of Spirit Wrestlers' Immigration to Canada. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18525-1_17
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