Baptist Union In Russia Has 500,000 Members

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31727, 10 July 1968, Page 19

Baptist Union In Russia Has 500,000 Members

<Bu IGOR PAVLOV. Novosti Press Agency Correspondent) MOSCOW. The Russian Baptists celebrated their centenary in 1967. Persecuted in Russia since their emergence in this country in 1867 the Evangelical Christian Baptists, under the 1918 decree on the separation of the church from the State, acquired religious liberty which only the Orthodox Church formerly possessed.

Besides the Orthodo x churches and temples of other religions there function in the Soviet Union today many prayer houses where Baptists regularly hold divine services. The All-Union Council of Evangelical Christian Baptists functions in one of the prayer houses of the Moscow community in a two-storey yellow building in Tikhyi Pereulok, almost in the centre of Moscow. In this building Alexander Karev, Secretary-Gen-eral of the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christian Baptists, received me and answered my questions: “What is the organisational structure, age and social composition of the Russian Baptists?”

“There exists in the Soviet Union the Union of Evangelical Christian Bapists, directed by the All-Union Council. The Union of Russian Baptists embraces about half a million people who consciously profess the Baptist teaching. The majority of the Baptists in the U.S.S.R. are from 40 to 60 years of age. The youth, between the ages of 18 and 35, constitute approximately 20 per cent of the entire number of Russian Baptists. The majority of the Baptists are industrial and office workers, but many of them are pensioners and housewives.” “What are the relations between the Russian Baptists and the state?” No Interference “Normal, I would say. The state does not interfere in our internal church affairs, we have the possibility to freely preach the Gospel and perform divine service. The government bodies provide us with buildings for prayer houses, give us the possibility to buy the necessary materials, paper, supply us with a printshop for the publication of religious literature and render us assistance in various other cases where such assistance of the state is required. The Union of Baptists issues a 75-page illustrated magazine, “Bratsky Vestnik” (Brotherhood Bulletin), as well as the Bible and collections of songs. It is planned in 1968 to publish 20,000 copies of the Bible and 30,000 copies of collections of songs.

“We conduct religious activities quite independently and are not controlled by the state. The Union of Russian Baptists is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and is a member of the World Council of Churches. The Baptists’ Union has extensive possibilities to send its representatives to various countriesto study or to take part In conferences of all kinds of Christian organisations, as well as conferences devoted to problems of peace. In 1968 in particular, the Baptists' Union will take part in three world conferences: in the Christian Peace Conference in Prague, the World Congress of Churches in Uppsala and the congress of Baptist Youth in Berne. Voluntary Gifts “The Baptists’ Union conducts all its activities on voluntary donations of believers without receiving any financial support from the State. The voluntary donations of the believers are quite enough to conduct many-sided activites inside the country and to finance the trips of Russian Baptists to other countries.” “What can you say about the rumours circulated in the press about a split among the Baptists in the Soviet Union.” "These rumours are circulated by people who are unfamiliar with the true state of affairs in the community of the Evangelical Christian Baptists.

“In 1961 the so-called ‘sponsoring group’ told the AllUnion Baptists’ Council that it set itself the aim of convening a congress Io cleanse the church and prepare it for the speedy Advent of Christ' as they said. Without waiting for the congress to open the ‘sponsoring group’ declared itself the leading body of the Evangelical Christian Baptists of the U.S.S.R. and accused the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christian Baptists of apostasy, of displaying, according to them, loyalty to Soviet laws on religion and on joining the World Council of Churches.

“The ‘sponsors’ were invited to take part in the preparations for the Baptists' congress in 1966, but refused. The congress unanimously condemned the demands of the *sponsors’ particularly the desire to head the Evangelical Christian Baptists’ Union of the U.S.SJI. “The results of the activities of the ‘sponsors’ in six years are extremely insignificant”

“Have there been cases of persecution of Baptists for their faith?” “In the Soviet Union people are not persecuted for their religious convictions. Citizens of the U.S.S.R. are taken to court only if they violate the law whether believer or not. Any discrimination of Baptists as well as other believers in getting a job, or at the job, is forbidden by Soviet laws and those who vioI late these laws are brought i to account However, the be- : lievers themselves are better i abl to tell you about this.” Believers Speak Together we left his office and entered a big hall with rows of benches. It was empty but from above came strains of an organ and melody of a religious song. Karev asked the minister to invite a few “brothers” to step down. They were Vitaly Kulikov, Alexei Bychkov and Valentina Ryndina. They agreed to answer my questions and we returned to Karev’s office where he left us alone.

Valentina is a student, 22 years of age. She is studying

English at the Foreign Languages Institute, and intends to take up Swedish as well, in time. In future she wants to engage in scientific activities. “But these activities must be connected with languages,” she adds. Her older sister is working at the Moscow watch factory and in the evening is studying at a technical school. Her mother is on a pension. All of them are believers. “Most of the members of our community,” says Valentina, “come from families whose parents were believers.”

“Do the people in the institute know you are a believer?”

“They do, but this does not prevent me from studying,” answered Miss Ryndina. Vitaly Kulikov and Alexei Bychkov are engineers. Vitaly graduated from a toolmaking institute and is working at a Moscow factory. He is 31 years of age. His wife is also

a Baptist. His little daughter, Nelly, is only two. At the factory it is known that Vitaly is a Baptist. “Incidentally," he says, "this does not affect either my career or my earnings.” (Vitaly earns 180 roubles a month.) “This is the second time you ask whether it is known at work that we are Baptists,” said Alexei Bychkov, “and whether we are persecuted as a result. This is known also at the enterprise where I work as chief specialist of a department. However, I am working and am now even replacing the head of the department who is abroad on a mission. Believers and atheists get on well together. This can be seen from the example of my family. My sister and I, for instance, are believers, as are my parents, while my brother has been a Communist since 1943, and is therefore an atheist.”