Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

dstock visiting St Petersburg several times and through his preaching several wealthy and influential figures became evangelicals, notably Count Aleksei P. Bobrinskii, at one time Russian Minister of Transportation, Count Modest M. Korff and Colonel Vasilii A. Pashkov.*® Others from England who spoke at the meet- ings included George Miiller, famous for his orphan homes in Bristol.*! British-Russian evangelical links were strong. There was growing concern about the prohibition on members of the Orthodox Church leaving that Church. This concern emanated not only from evangelicals, since some Russian aristocrats wanted to become Roman Catholics.”* There were also tensions between Russians and the German-speaking minority in Russia. Against this background, a high level Evangelical Alliance delegation met in 1871 with Prince Aleksandr M. Gorchakov, Chancellor of the Russian Empire, to discuss freedom of belief. There were nine leaders from America, including Philip Schaff, the main speaker, six from Switzerland, four from Sweden, four from Germany and others from Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Hungary. The biggest delegation, ten, was from Britain, and included Baptists such as Steane, by then Secretary of the Alliance.*? Evangelical Christendom commented that Schaff was given the job of speaking because “between the Absolutism of Russia and the Republic of America there has been a certain kind of sympathy”.* The plea for religious liberty appeared to fall largely on deaf ears. The Prince insisted that there was religious liberty in Russia, except that no one who was a member of the Orthodox Church could leave it. He also told the visitors that their high level delegation could not be seen by the Tsar as this would seem to be the Tsar giving in to international pressure and he could not appear to be doing that.*° Technically, the mission by the Alliance failed. However, in the course of the next year there was an order from the Tsar to relax religious laws in the Western part of the Empire. ? A. Trotter, Lord Radstock: An Interpretation and a Record (London: Hodder & Stoughton, [1914]), pp. 178-187. * Trotter, Lord Radstock, pp. 188-200; J.H. Rushbrooke, The Baptist Movement in the Conti- nent of Europe, pp. 138-139. *! Latimer, Under Three Tsars, p. 75. *2 There were over two million Protestants in Russia, mainly Lutherans and Mennonites, and about the same number of Roman Catholics. °° EC, vol. 25 (August 1871), pp. 243-245. bs 4 EC, vol. 25 (September 1871), pp. 255-257. *° EC, vol. 25 (August 1871), pp. 243-245. 22 There was some improvement for Baptists in parts of Lithuania and other Baltic regions. American Alliance literature certainly claimed the visit to Europe a success.** The Mennonites had particular problems in this period because obligatory military service was introduced in Russia. This issue was brought to the attention of the British Evangelical Alliance, but support of pacif