29. traditional Protestantism in Russia: Evangelical Christians-Baptists, Pentecostals, seventh-day Adventists

The Pentecostal movement in Russia

History of the movement

The first news of the baptism of the Holy Spirit (in the understanding of the Pentecostals) reached Russia through Finland and the Baltic States, which were then part of the Russian Empire. The first Pentecostal preachers there were Thomas Barratt (Norway) and Levi Petrus (Sweden). Thomas Barratt, preached in St. Petersburg in 1911. It was the very first wave coming from the North. However, many people associated with this movement, after meeting with Andrew Urshan, a representative of the so-called “only Jesus” doctrine, adopted the Unitarian concept (they did not believe in the Trinity). All the people who were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit were baptized “in the Name of the Lord Jesus.” They are known as oneness, or Evangelical Christians in the Apostolic spirit.

Further impetus came from the West through the Bible School in Danzig (Germany, Poland). Gustav Schmidt, Arthur Bergholz, Oscar Eske preached in the West of Ukraine. Schmidt’s churches still exist there (their peculiarity is that they do not have the rite of “washing the feet”). This school belongs to the Assembly of God — one of the largest Pentecostal associations in the world.

The main direction of Pentecostalism in Russia before the collapse of the USSR was associated with the origin of the activities of Ivan Voronaev and Vasily Koltovich. Voronaev was born in Russia, but after joining the Baptist Church was forced to go abroad due to persecution by the ROC. In the United States, he experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and in 1919 founded the first Russian Pentecostal Church in new York. In 1920, he came to Bulgaria, where in a short time (together with Zaplishny) founded about 18 communities. In 1924, the Union of Evangelical Christians had already 350 communities and 80 thousand members. On the territory of the USSR, the community of Odessa, where Voronaev launched an active activity, included about 1000 members. In 1929, new legislation was passed on religious associations, many believers were arrested, and the communities moved to an illegal situation and continued to gather in secret until the formation of the all-KHB and the beginning of the registration of Autonomous communities.

History of Adventism in Russia

The first seventh-day Adventist communities in Russia arose among German colonists in 1886 in the Crimea, in the village of Berdybulat and in the Volga region. In 1890, the first Russian seventh-day Adventist community was formed in Stavropol. Initially, Adventists were persecuted by the authorities and the Orthodox Church, but the emphasized position of non-interference in politics made it easier to legalize them in 1906 and equalize their rights with the Baptists. By the time of the revolution of 1917, there were already about 7 thousand.

In the 20s, the geography of distribution and the number of seventh-day Adventist followers increased markedly, new communities were created, and publications multiplied. In the 20s, Russian Adventists experienced a split on the basis of their attitude to the Soviet government, to the state in General, and to the problem of serving in the army. The breakaway part, the reformist Adventists, formed the ” all-Union Church of faithful and free seventh-day Adventists.” Along with other religious denominations, Adventist associations were crushed and repressed in the 1930s, and their leaders and members were sentenced to imprisonment, exile, and other forms of arbitrariness, violence, and discrimination.[3].

Only in 1945-1946 were again registered several dozen communities that formed the all-Union Council of seventh-day Adventists, which, however, in 1960, during the Khrushchev anti-religious campaign, was again liquidated by the authorities. In 1977-1979, a new revival of the organizational structures of the denomination began, and in 1981 there was a unification of communities on the territory of Russia. In 1990, the Congress of seventh-day Adventist churches of Russia took place, which adopted the Charter of the Russian Union (Union)

Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Russia: history and modernity

Russia has always been a multi-confessional country. On the magnificent tree of Russian Christianity grew not only Orthodox, but also claimed the sprouts of Evangelical faiths. Among the Protestant movements that arose on Russian soil, the first place in number is now occupied by Evangelical Christians-Baptists.