Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

he heard A. Libikh [Liebig], president of the Russian-Romanian Association, suggest Bulgaria as a mission field at the 11" Union Conference of Baptists in Germany in July 1879. Kargel later read a letter from a group of Congregationalists in Kazanluk who no longer believed in infant baptism and asked for someone to come and re- baptise them?’. Kargel’s support from the American Baptists was cancelled soon after he moved to Bulgaria, and he began to receive funding from and report directly to Pashkov,” who was beginning to replace Oncken as a spiritual mentor in his life. However, by the act of baptising Congregation- alists, Kargel was still acting within a German Baptist model. Rather than being concerned solely with revival, he wished to start a Baptist commu- nity in Bulgaria. His denominational loyalties were beginning to change, however. Kargel was a key player in Pashkov’s attempt to create a Russian Evangelical Alli- ance. Baedeker had travelled to St Petersburg and shared the vision of the Evangelical Alliance with Pashkov, who had the financial resources to organise such an organisation. With the support of Baedeker, Kargel and Count Modest Korff [Korf],?*? Pashkov brought together leaders from 0 The Evangelical Alliance was founded in London in 1846 for the purpose of launching, in their own words, “a new thing in church history, a definite organization for the expression of unity amongst Christian individuals belonging to different churches”. Cited from “World Evangelical Alliance - History” (World Evangelical Alliance, 2001), http://www. worldevangelicalalliance.com/textonly/3history.htm (accessed 10 February 2006). 21 Theodor Angelov, “The Baptist Movement in Bulgaria’, Journal of European Baptist Stud- ies, vol. 1, No. 3 (May 2001), pp. 9-10. 22 Albert W. Wardin, “The Baptists in Bulgaria’, The Baptist Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 4 (October 1991), pp. 148-159. Also see the Col. V.A. Pashkov Papers, (on microfiche at various librar- ies, including the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee, USA), Letters from the Kargels, 1880-1901, 2/13/1-109 (9 fiche). 23 Count Modest Modestovich Korff [Korf], Lord Chamberlain at the Tsar’s court, was 80 various revival centres in the Empire in 1884, including Baptists, Mennon- ites, Mennonite Brethren, Molokans, Dukhobors and Stundists.* Pashkov, Kargel, Korff and Baedeker hoped that the evangelicals of the Russian Empire could unite under an umbrella organisation similar to the Euro- pean Evangelical Alliance. This attempt failed, however, due to disagree- ments among attendees and pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church. The Last Inklings of Denominational Ideals The last inklings of Kargel’s denominational ideals were evident, however, in a different 1884 conference, one seminal for the emergence of the Russian Baptist Union. This conference was held in the Molokan village of Novo- Vasilevka in southern Russ