September 2019
Gorelovka, Georgia

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filmed by Vincent Moon & Priscilla Telmon
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The Doukhobors are a Spiritual Christian religious group of Russian origin. They separated from the main Orthodox cult in the 18th century, which led them to be persecuted and sent into exile for many generations.
They were pacifists who lived in their own villages, rejecting personal materialism, developing an egalitarian society sometimes referred to as "spiritual anarchism".
They developped a tradition of purely oral history, memorizing all their hymns and verses.
Their goal was to internalize the living spirit of God so that God could be revealed within each individual. Over the years they developed a strong vegetarian diet, feeling closely related to Tolstoy's philosophy who in return supported them a lot. Nowadays a small community lives in southern Georgia, in the village of Gorelovka, near the Armenian border. Every Sunday at 7am, they gather for a small chanting and some prayers in their main community house.

produced with help from Zoé Perret and Lia Margishvili