The New Exile of Pëtr Vasil’evich to Obdorsk of the Tobol’sk Guberniia for Five Years. The Trip by Vasiliǐ Gavrilovich Vereshchagin and Brother Vasiliǐ Vasil’evich to Shenkursk to Visit Pëtr Vasil’evich and Their Receipt of a Message for the Doukhobors

Abstract

As already mentioned, Pëtr Vasil’evich had already been suspected by the priests for converting four families from Orthodoxy. Apart from that, the government had another reason for persecuting Pëtr Vasil’evich. He wrote to his parents about this: “The reason for my transfer from Shenkursk to Obdorsk was that several times I received warnings not to feed the beggars and not to help the needy. Recently, I finally answered, ‘I cannot listen to you more than to our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why I am doing this—because He calls us to behave in such a fashion’. Secondly, I had earlier sent a request to the minister, who was originally from the Caucasus, in which I indicated the unprincipled bribery by the Caucasian officials.” Pëtr Vasil’evich informed his relatives and all the Doukhobors about his transfer and asked that two people would come to meet him in Vologda and Moscow and so on. He believed that it would be possible to meet in Vologda.