NELSON

Many people call them terrorists. Few call them messengers of God. The conviction and five-year sentence for attempted arson handed last week to Pauline Berikoff, a 57-year-old Sons of Freedom Doukhobor, reflects an ongoing struggle that began in Russia more than 500 years ago." We are being worn out, and we are dying," the Grand Forks woman told the judge. "The sisters have given up their lives for their faith." At the very heart of this faith is an unyielding belief that land, which belongs to God, can be neither bought nor sold." Accumulation of material possessions and private ownership are linked together in a theme of militarism.

NELSON

Many people call them terrorists. Few call them messengers of God. The conviction and five-year sentence for attempted arson handed last week to Pauline Berikoff, a 57-year-old Sons of Freedom Doukhobor, reflects an ongoing struggle that began in Russia more than 500 years ago." We are being worn out, and we are dying," the Grand Forks woman told the judge. "The sisters have given up their lives for their faith." At the very heart of this faith is an unyielding belief that land, which belongs to God, can be neither bought nor sold." Accumulation of material possessions and private ownership are linked together in a theme of militarism. This is where war comes from," she said." We desire that there be no more war, that there be peace in the world for our future generations." And to bring this message to the 2,500 orthodox Doukhobors in the West Kootenay, members of Berikoff's splinter group have burned and bombed buildings and rail lines, and protested naked for 70 years." We have been stigmatized over the years by these burnings and bombings," says John Verigin, whose home was the target of the latest attempted arson. He is the honorary chairman of the mainstream Doukhobors, the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ in Grand Forks." Further development of our spiritual life has been stopped. We want to establish peace on Earth for everyone. How can we do that when we are guarding ourselves every night for 75 years?" Given the name "spirit wrestlers" -- Doukhoborsti -- in 1785 during the reign of Catherine the Great, the Doukhobors chose to keep the name and apply their own interpretation." All their struggles and their wrestling was done in the spirit of love and kindness," writes Doukhobor historian Eli Popoff. But the czars were not happy with a people who refused to honor authority. They were flogged, exiled and killed for refusing to worship icons and to fight. By 1898, the situation became critical after the Doukhobors burned arms instead of fighting in Czar Nicholas's army. The international community took up their cause. Aided by Lev Tolstoy and the Quakers, 7,500 Doukhobors moved from their exile in the Caucasus Mountains to Yorkton, Sask. But trouble followed when they refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen. They lost their land, and 5,000 members moved to the West Kootenay to begin anew. Problems continued when the B.C. government discouraged communal living, forced public schooling on the children and made the group pay taxes." By 1924, schools began burning because the government was forcing kids to go to school," former RCMP officer Eli Tetrault testified at Berikoff's trial. In 1924, their leader, Peter (the Lordly) Verigin was killed in the unsolved bombing of his train car that also took seven lives. What followed was a litany of bombings and burnings by the Sons of Freedom. The B.C. government turned a blind eye, says Verigin, but nonetheless apprehended scores of children in the 1930s and 1950s and sent them to residential schools. Those convicted of arson in the '50s were forced to walk from the Kootenays to prison in Agassiz .The irony of the persecuted become the persecutors has not escaped Nelson Crown counsel Dana Urban, who has prosecuted many cases." The Sons of Freedom just can't grasp the idea that they can't cloak themselves defensively in the name of religion when they break the fundamental tenet of their religion -- pacifism." Throughout all the attacks, the orthodox Doukhobors have not retaliated." We are still upholding our principles of non-violence," says Verigin, the grandson of Peter the Lordly.