Speaking in tongues (glossolalia) among Molokans
©William J. Samarin, January 2012
Prygun Molokans in Los Angeles ‘spoke in tongues’ in the 20th century and were ‘tongue-speakers’ (glossolalists) in Russia long before the phenomenon became widely practiced in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. In the 1960s and 1970s the latter began to be spread by the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International, the organization founded by Demos Shakarian, who had been raised in an Armenian Prygun Molokan family well known by ethnically Russian co-believers.
But glossolalia seems to have appeared at least among the Khlysty, who flourished in the 17th century, if not earlier. Samples of their strange words are provided by the renowned Russian-born linguist at Harvard University, such as kindra fendra kiraveca, rentre fente, natrufuntru. Today, if ‘Jumping’ and Maksimisty Molokans sing song number 518 of the Sionskiy Pesennik (‘Songs of Zion’, 1958, 1986 5th), they will repeat the following words (in translation, italics added):
Song 518
Let us sing, Brothers and Sisters,
This song of our King,
According to the dictate of God’s Spirit from above,
In new fiery tongues:
Chorus:
God is alive and the Lord be blessed,
And we are their people in the Holy Spirit,
Parginal, Assuringal, Yuzgoris. Amen.
You are assigned to the suffering
You are our King - King of Kings,
Your name has three titles -
Abba Father* is shouted everywhere.
The Holy Spirit dwelling among
All the chosen people,
And you accept everybody
Who follows the holy path.
* Mark 14:36
Песнь 518
Воспоем мы братья и сестры
Сию песнь нашего царя,
По дикту Бога Духа свыше -
В новых огненных языках.
Припев:
Жив Бог и Благословен Господь
А мы люди их в Духе Святи,
Паргинал, Ассурингал, Юзгорис. Аминь.
Ты назначен для страдания,
Ты есть Царь наш - Царь царей,
Твоя имя в трех титулах -
Авва Отчи всюду вопиют.
Святым Духом обитаешь посреди
Всех избранных людей своих,
И к себе всех принемаешь
Кто идет путем святым.
When song 518 was submitted by Timofei Ivan Rudometkin of Big Church, it was rejected by some elders then popularized by many who believed it was divinely inspired.
The glossolalic phrase from this song used to have (and may still have) ritual significance. A person wanting to express a ‘word of the Lord,’ as it is called in the modern charismatic movement, declares the formula to the presiding minister. The latter gives his authorization for the message by repeating it.
What is convincing of the glossolalic nature of the Prygun Molokan and Khlysty words is that they are characterized by the same kind of pattern in contemporary glossolalia, hyphenated here for analysis: ki-ndra fe-ndra, na-tru fun-tru, pargin-al assurin-gal. Non-Russian lexemes in the Maksimist holy book, however, may be borrowings from — or imitations of — regional non-Slavic languages: Caucasian, Arabic, and Turkic: Admeil, Tavtan, Anga Ishmaga Shagmas, Alkhaim Fatmi, Alfeil Likhtamis, Tarifta Rafti Khental’, Fel’fa Sal’ma Khal’migar’ Yul’khin Esvanil’ Darmigal’ Gindagu, etc. One can speculate that these may be the names for God, the devil, angels, and so forth.
DISCUSSION
Prepared and copyrighted by William John (Vasili Ivanovich) Samarin, great-grandson of Ivan G. Samarin, who is Professor of Linguistics (1967-1991), Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For details see his book on glossolalia, Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism, New York: The Macmillan Company; London: Collier-Macmillan Limited. 1972.
Papers by W. J. Samarin on language and religion
(1962). Review of Jules L. Moreau, Language and religious language. In Practical Anthropology, 9, 238-239.
(1969). ‘The forms and functions of nonsense language.’ Linguistics , 50, 70-74.
(1969). ‘Glossolalia as learned behavior.’ Canadian Journal of Theology, 15, 60-64.
(1971). ‘Evolution in glossolalic private language.’ Anthropological Linguistics, 13, 55-67.
(1972). Tongues of men and angels: The religious language of Pentecostalism. New York: The Macmillan Co.
(1972). Review of L. P. Gerlach & V. H. Hine, People, Power, Change: Movements of social transformation, In Christianity Today, March 17.
(1972). Review of J. P. Kildahl, The psychology of speaking in tongues. In Sisters Today (St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minn.), August - September, pp. 41-44.
(1972). ‘Variation and variables in religious glossolalia.’ Language in Society, 1, 121-130.
(1972). ‘Sociolinguistic vs. neurophysiological explanations for glossolalia.’ Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 11, 293-296.
(1973). ‘Religious motives in religious movements.’ International Yearbook for the Sociology of Religion, 8, 163-174.
(1973). ‘Glossolalia as learned behavior.’ In L.B. Brown (ed.), Psychology and religion. Penguin, 376-382. [Reprint of 1969].
(1973). ‘Glossolalia as a vocal phenomenon.’ In W. E. Mills (ed.), Speaking in tongues: Let's talk about it. Waco, Texas: Word Books.128-142.
(1973). ‘Glossolalia as regressive speech.’ Language and Speech 16, 77-89.
(1974). Review of F. Goodman, Speaking in tongues. In Language 50, 207-212.
(1974). Review of F. Goodman, Speaking in tongues. In Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 3, 177-180.
(1974). Review of W. E. Mills, Understanding speaking in tongues. In Christian Scholar's Review 4,163-164.
(ed.) (1976). Language in religious practice. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers.
(1976). ‘The functions of glossolalic discourse.’ In P. R. Léon & H. Mitterand (eds.), L'analyse du discours/Discourse analysis. Montreal, Quebec: Centre Educatif et Culturel, 37-47.
(1976). ‘The language of religion.’ In W. J. Samarin (ed.), Language in religious practice. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, 3-13.
(1976). ‘Religious goals of a neo-Pentecostal group in a non-Pentecostal church.’ In R. P. Spittler (ed.), Perspectives on the New Pentecostalism. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
(1976). Review of I. Stevenson, Xenoglossy: A review and report of a case. In Language, 52, 270-274.
(1976). Review of M. P. Hamilton (ed.), The charismatic movement. In Eternity, October, 76, 78.
(1979). ‘Making sense of glossolalic nonsense.’ In J. Fabian (ed.), Beyond charisma: religious movements as discourse. In Social Research, 46(1), 88-105.
(1981). Review of D. C. Laycock, A dictionary of the angelic language as revealed to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley. In Language 57, 523.
(1987). ‘The language of religion.’ In U. Ammon, N. Dittmar & K. J. Mattheier (eds.), Sociolinguistics: An international handbook of the science of language and society. Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter and Co, 85-92.
See also: Cartledge, Mark J. c2002. Charismatic glossolalia: an empirical-theological study. Aldershot, England/Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate. Library of Congress # BT 122.5 C37
More bibliography on WorldCat.org : Samarin, William J : 42 works in 98 publications in 7 languages and 2,766 library holdings.