Baptists in the U.S.S.R. Some Facts and Hopes, J. H. Rushbrook, 1943

Stundist ” movement, originating among German colonists, had begun to gain Russian adherents ; and among these “ Stundism ” — at first a somewhat chaotic pietism — came during the “ seventies ” to assume a definitely Baptist form, largely owing to contact with the stronger movement spreading from the Caucasus. With the formation of the Russian Baptist Union in 1884, assimilation was complete. At times severe persecution was endured under the Tsardom, especially while the notorious Pobiedonostseff held office as Procurator of the Holy Synod. Its typical forms were imprisonment and exile, though the knout and the compulsory christening of infants played a part; but in spite of all, the Baptists multiplied. The main stream of Russian Baptist life thus had its source in Caucasia, received a strong tributary from south-western Russia, and flowed onward as the Union of Baptists. In the middle seventies another movement started, which like the “ Stundist eventually became Baptist both in doctrine and polity. In certain respects it differed from that we have described. It was northern instead of southern ; at the outset it was largely aristo¬ cratic rather than popular ; and it owed much to direct influence from abroad. An Englishman, Lord Radstock, a pietist of the “ Plymouth Brother ” type, had been invited by a Russian woman of high social standing to come to St. Petersburg, and the first of a series of visits took place in 1874. His preaching in the houses of members of the aristo¬ cracy was very effective. Count Bobrinsky, at one time a minister of State, became a convert; others included Count M. M. Korff and Colonel Pashkoff. These men began to evangelise working people and peasants on their estates, to print and distribute tracts, and to organise Christian philan¬ thropic efforts. The groups of believers were loosely joined ; like the Stundists of the south they had separated from the Orthodox Church, and like them lacked clear and positive convictions. The higher intellectual development of the 5 A Northern Movement: ** Union of Evangelical Christians.” leaders, however, guarded the “ Pashkovites ” (as they came to be nicknamed) from some of the excesses of the earlier Stundists. Shortly after the foundation of the Baptist Union in 1884, they invited its representatives to a conference with a view to co-operation, but the differences then proved too strong. The conference had an unfortunate sequel : it had drawn the attention of the clergy and the political authorities to the irregular evangelistic activities centring in St. Pete