Refugees From Red Russia Settle In Wheatland Area by Richard Strange
From the Appeal Democrat (Marysville, California) Thursday, September 24, 1959
Transcribed by Nancy Poppin Posey, November 5, 2006

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"A small white building which stands unnoticed by most Hwy. 99E travelers through the outskirts of the tiny town of Sheridan in Placer County is a symbol of the freedom of worship guaranteed by the US Constitution. The building is in reality a Russian Molokan Church and its congregation includes approximately 21 families in the Sheridan and Wheatland areas. Most of the families of Russian descent migrated to Sheridan in 1919 and 1920 after the Bolsheviks came in power in the Revolution of 1917. The Russian Molokan Church in Sheridan was established by Max Popoff grandfather of Mrs. John Sohrakoff, who now lives just outside of Wheatland.

Early History
Mrs. Sohrakoff’s father and grandfather and her husband and his father all aided in the construction of the church building. John Sohrakoff Sr. as a young man drove a horse and buggy loaded with lumber many miles to the present church site. The land for the church was donated by William Bogdanoff, who still owns the adjacent farm. Popoff came to Sheridan from Mendocino County in 1920. He had been a minister in the Molokan Church there for several years, and when he moved to Sheridan, he immediately began gathering the Russian people of the area together. For several years the group met in members’ homes. Then, finally in 1929 they constructed their church. Since 1929 another room ahs been added to the original structure which still stands today. Jim Popoff, Mrs. Sohrakoff’s father, was the first Russian to migrate to Sheridan in 1919 from Mendocino County. After finding the farming land fertile, more Russian families arrived later that same year and the following year. Most of the families who have moved to the Sheridan area since 1919 and 1920 are relatives of the original group. “I remember,” said Mrs. Sohrakoff, “riding down Hwy 99E to Wheatland in a horse and buggy. It was a main road then, too, although not so wide, but it was paved.”

History of Church
The Russian Molokan Church was officially established July 22, 1803, when the sect was recognized by Czar Alexander Pavlovitch Romanoff. According to Rev. Vasily Loskutoff, who is the present minister of the Sheridan Church, it is not known exactly how the break-off from the Orthodox Church came about, but it occurred sometime in the early 16th Century. Finally, on July 22, 1803, three elders of the church – Maxim Losey, Matvey Motile and Peter Gzuravtoc – were granted an audience by the czar. The three men presented a complete worship service which lasted approximately three hours before the parliament and the czar. According to Loscutoff, the czar was so impressed he grated the Molokans their religious freedom. This freedom lasted until the revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks gained control of the government, and the church had to move underground once again. According to Loscutoff it is still operating in the Iron Curtain countries.


Flight to Freedom
Loscutoff lived in Russia until 1933. His father, also a minister, was thrown into prison in 1930 and was in a concentration camp until 1933, when he and his family escaped into Turkey. Turkish officials gave them the choice of going back to Russia or moving on to Syria. “One thing we know we did not want to do was to move back to Russia,” said Loscutoff. They lived in Syria until 1937 when they moved to Iran. In 1949, they migrated to the United States and came to Sheridan where the family had relatives. Loscutoff, who is the owner and operator of the International Harvester Garage in Sheridan, has five children. He and his family speak both Russian and English fluently.

Molokan Beliefs
“Moloko” in Russian means “milk.” The Orthodox Church observed two days of the week as fast days, with no milk to be drunk on these days. The Molokans did not believe in abstaining from milk on these days and thus earned the title Molokans, or “drinkers of milk”. The Molokans do not believe in eating swine or fish which do not have scales. They do not believe in drinking alcoholic beverages or smoking tobacco. They do not believe in the involuntary draft, however, young men of the religion today do not protest when they are drafted in the Unit3ed States. The services are quite simple. The inside of the chapel contains no pictures or crosses, only a small table in one corner of the room and benches in a semi-circle around the table. The Molokans in Sheridan are called Steady Molokans, those which originally broke away from the Orthodox Church. Another sect, the Jumpers, are an offspring from the Steadies and are “quite strong (about 5,000 in number) in the Los Angeles area," according to the Wheatland-Sheridan community. The influence of certain customs in the United State has tended to make many of the younger people stray away from the exact teachings of the church, according to Loscutoff. But he said that the young people do support the church activities and attend the holiday meetings. Loscutoff said that although families in Sheridan have many relatives in Russia they have no real contact with church activities within that country. “We know from others who have recently migrated to the United States, however, that the faith is still being carried on” he said. “And we will continue to do all we can to help our relatives in Russia come to live in this free land,” he concluded."
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I transcribed this from the original document. If there are misspellings, please let the message board know.