Spiritual Christian Photo Exhibit, Istanbul, Turkey

"malakanlar" fotograf sergisi, Yükleyen: gokmen36, 03 Kasım 2008 — Introduction [Turkish]
Photo exhibit of 8 images posted by Gokmen, November 3, 2008. — Exhibit shown Oct 24 - Nov 4, 2008 at the Tütün Deposu (Tobacco Depot, a warehouse bought by Anadolu Kültür and converted in 2007 for art shows); address: Lüleci Hendek Caddesi (Avenue) No:12, Tophane, Istanbul. See similiar exhibit: "Molokans, The Forgotten Culture of Peace", shown in Kars, Oct.-Nov. 2008. — Anadolu Kültür also helped fund the Kars Arts Center to promote the heritage of the Caucasus. — Click on images below to enlarge.

Click to ENLARGEPoster ad shows
dove with olive branch and splashing milk, depicting peace- loving milk- drinkers, as Spiritual Christians are remembered in Kars, Turkey.
Click to ENLARGEmalakanlar sergisinden görüntü
[Exhibit of pictures of Spiritual Christians]
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malakanlar sergisinden izlenimler
[Exhibit of impressions about Spiritual Christians] Historic images.
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"malakanlar" fotograf sergisi
[Spiritual Christians: a photo exhibit] Introduction text surrounded by scenes of prayer meetings.
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malakan giysileri [Spiritual Christian clothes] Hand crafted tools, clothes, water well, ...
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malakanlar [Spiritual Christians]
Presbyter Ivan Mikhail. Samarin with 2 elders at their Prygun prayer house, Levokumskoe town, Stavropol province, Russian Federation. See them inside at their altar table (prestol).
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malakanlar sergisinden görünümler
[Exhibit of views of Spiritual Christians] Wedding service and feast at the Molokan prayer house, Levokumskoe town, Stavropol province, Russian Federation, March 13, 2008. Presbyter: Vasili Mikhael. Polenin
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malakan kızları [Spiritual Christians girls].

Photos in the first row below were used in the exhibit above. These are from the Vedat Akçayöz (Ukchuyez)* photo album: Rusya > Livakumsk (uploaded December 15, 2008), which displays 72 of the hundreds of photos taken March 3-13, 2008 in Levokumskoe, Novokumskoe, and Kamenka; North Stavropol province, Russian Federation. Click on the photos below to go to the photo album image, then click on the album image again to enlarge further. [* See Turkish Alphabet for transliteration. See his Turkish website: Vedat.Akcayoz.net]
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Lisizins and Tarnoffs, Dukh-i-zhizniki, taken in Montebello, California.
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Samarins and Serguieffs,
taken in Pico Rivera, California.
They have 100s of relatives
in Stavropol province from Ol'shanska.
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John Kochergen with 2
guests from Stavropol (all Dukh-i-zhiznik presbyters), taken in Fresno, California.
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Ol'shanska congregation
joins Big Church 1933,
taken in Los Angeles, California.
Presbyter David P. Miloserdoff,
center. Immigration leader,
Philip M. Shubin, left.*

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Akçayöz with Olga Samarina,
museum Director and Curator
of the Spiritual Christian exhibits, taken in Novokumskoe. **
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Akçayöz filming "The
Fading Color of Kars: Spiritual Christians Molokans
" at the museum, Novokumskoe.
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Presbyter Vasili Mikhael. Polenin, Molokan congregation, Levokumskoe. He performed the wedding.
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Presbyter Isai Feodr. Cheremisin, Dukh-i-zhiznik congregation, taklen in Kamenka.

* Photo on display in museum and published in Mohoff and Valov, A Stroll Through Russiantown (1966), page 106. Many descendants of Ol'shanka village, Kars province, were photo exhibit subjects, perhaps because Akçayöz's family may also have been from Ol'shanka. After Russia returned Kars province to Turkey in 1923, the Spiritual Christians who refused to migrate to the Rostov prairie, Soviet Union, in 1926 were collected into 3 villages north of Kars: Ol'shanka, Chakmak, and Achilar. Those in Rostov named one of their 34 villages Ol'shanka (Russian). In 1962, about 1,500 in Turkey agreed to accept an offer from the Soviet Union to move to the Northern Caucasus, yet an estimated 1,000 descendants remain in Turkey today. Those who moved to Russia tend to retain higher affiliation for families from their common village in Turkey; i.e., if your ancestors were from Ol'shanka, you will tend to be friendly to others with Ol'shanka ancestry.

** Olga Samarin's 2004 master's thesis: Миграционные процессы на Ставрополье во второй половине ХХ века: историко-культурный аспект (Historical and Cultural Aspects of Migration into Stavropol, 1950-2000) helped her to get hired recently as the Director of the Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Art, Novokumskoe Branch.

Spiritual Christians in Turkey
Spiritual Christians Around the World