Между хачкаром и духом — история армян молокан: Реальный феномен или исторический миф?

<jats:p>This article provides a historical and religious analysis of the "Molokan Armenians” phenomenon in Transcaucasia at the turn of the 20th century. It examines the unique process of integration of the Armenian population into the communities of Russian Molokan Jumpers. At the intersection of these two traditions, a unique identity emerged among the believers, who, while retaining their ethnic language and origins, fully adopted Russian religious practices and abandoned traditional church rituals. The author substantiates the flexibility of ethnoconfessional boundaries in the Caucasus and the priority of personal spiritual quest over national tradition. The research was based on documents from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, the works of N. A. Dingelstedt and A. Dunayev, and the author's fieldwork from the village of Shoghakat. The work is based on the principles of historicism and systematicity. The use of historical-archival, comparative historical, source study, and ethnographic methods allowed for data verification and the tracing of processes. Analysis: Our analysis completely refutes the mythological origins of the Armenian-Molokan phenomenon, demonstrating its historical and documentary reality. The reasons for this identity shift included the rule of strict endogamy (marriage only through conversion to the faith), profound personal crises, and difficult life situations. Results: Empirical material and field trips to Armenia and Mordovia confirm that during our research we did not discover any modern representatives of the Armenian Molokans.</jats:p>