COVER STORY
Molokans from the Flats
Young Russians —
American style
by NORMAN ROHRER
F or more than 50 years in America the Russian Molokans of East Los Angeles have kept themselves “ unspotted from the world.” Eschatologically, they’ve assigned themselves to the place of the Jew whom they believe God has cast away. Inside their five-mile circle of slums these 20,000 Rus sians worship in about a half-dozen churches, most of them framed, stuccoed, ramshackled, dirty, un swept, windblown; sore real estate in a blistering community. Lay preachers officiate in long beards, denounce Protestant evangelical work, will have no pictures in the church, no musical instruments, no backs on benches, no crossing of arms, legs or breeds, no putting of hands in pockets. Their philosophy: “ That’s the way the old folks did and this is the way their parents did, so that’s the way we’re going to do!” The Molokans’ family tree is scarred by several centuries of per secution and unpopularity. In czar- land their ancestors objected to the dominance of the Greek Orthodox Church and were needled. When the priests said “No meat this week,” these Christians would eat meat openly. When the church said “Meat, hut no milk,” these pacifists would drink milk and re fuse meat. They were dubbed “Mo lokans” (milk drinkers) and hated. When they refused to take up arms for the Russian government against Turkey in 1877, they were banished from the country by Nicholas II. In 1903 a new genera tion of Molokans was ostracized because they wouldn’t arm against Japan. A sea voyage brought them to Mexico and the southwest Unit
The work started in 1939 when the three ladies, two of them 85 and the other not far behind, had a par tition knocked out of their home to make two small rooms into a big one for Bible classes. They invited Green that fall to spend off-school hours from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles to gather kids for the little cell. Every Tuesday evening for four months Jack laid the ground work among teen-aged boys. At first there were three regulars. Then the girls wanted to come. A club was formed and later called the “ Young Russian Christian As sociation.” Their motto: “ In Christ We Anchor.” They had socials and sports, but withal Jack kept the group strong with Bible study. Neighborhood fisticuffers dubbed the club home on Mott Street “ The House of Light.” But before many classes passed, the three grew to 60 and the “House of Light” needed an annex. Three fast years passed. During this time as crowds increased, the headquarters shifted f r o m the “House of Light” to a playground gym to a church. Jack took courses at the Bible Institute and steered YRCA. During those days he ran across an abandoned shell of a building once a church. It was a large, frame structure with a spa cious room for recreation and a kitchen. The playground lot was near enough for sports. Jack and his teen-agers offered the owners $5,000, although they didn’t have a cent of it on the books. A deal ma terialized and negotiations were put into escrow. On a set date, Clubbers pooled $600. A couple saving for a honey moon brought a pair of baby shoes
ed States. They were offered true western friendship but refused it because of their clannish spirit. Los Angelenos dubbed their festering community “The Flats” and re cently pierced it with a freeway auto route and housing projects. It remained for three old ladies, retired missionaries to Mexico, and a young Irish Bible school student named Jack Green, to begin loving these people in the name of Christ. They dug deep roots of faith, and the flower is the Bible-centered teen-age organization called the Young Russian Christian Organiza tion (YRCA), with its stucco church headquarters in the heart of Molokanland. Husky Jack Green, a natural with kids, spends all his money and time with 250 Russians whose aver age age is 17. Jack’s right hand is Jim Slevcove, a kind, suave, ath letic-minded Christian youth, who serves as executive director over a board of 12 .
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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