Journal of European Baptist Studies, Volume 9, Number 2, January 2009

s and observing the sacraments, including infant baptism. German stundism influenced neighbouring Ukrainian villages. The Reformed parish of Rohrbach, northeast of Odessa, with its pastor, Karl Bonekemper, was an important stundist centre, even attracting neighbouring Orthodox peasants to stundist meetings. One such peasant was Mikhail T. Ratushnyi (1830-C.1915), who from stundist influence and reading the Scripture for himself became, at the beginning of the 1860s, an evangelical believer. As a stundist leader, he will lead his followers to break with the Orthodox Church and in time accept Baptist principles. Because of the influence of Ephraim Pritzkau and his son, Johann, the German colony of Alt-Danzig, a number of kilometers northeast of Odessa, became another important stundist centre. Ivan G. Ryaboshapka (1831- 1900), who lived nearby, also from German stundist influence and reading the Scripture, became a believer and a stundist leader. 5 Besides the influence of German stundism, indigenous elements within Ukrainian society also pushed the first Ukrainian believers towards stundism. Lirst, of great importance was the circulation of the Scripture. Lor some years the British and Loreign Bible Society, although under restriction, circulated various versions of the Bible, including Russian. In 1861 the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church produced its own Russian version of the four Gospels and in the following year the complete New Testament. The Old Testament will come later. 6 Another factor was the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Even though emancipation did not meet the full expectations of the peasant masses, it nevertheless was a significant turning point in Russian society. Peasants were no longer tied to the land and free to move. With the 5 Quarterly Review , July 1874, pp. 5-6. 6 William Canton, A History of the British and Foreign Bible Society (London: John Murray, 1904- 1910), III, pp. 340-64. 32 Journal of European Baptist Studies economic emancipation came also an emancipation of the mind; new ideas were possible, and literacy became a more attainable goal. A third factor was the vulnerable position of the Orthodox Church, the established church for the native Slavic peoples of the nation. The church was still powerful, protected by laws that forbade heresy and the proselytism of its adherents. On the other hand, it was failing to meet many of the religious needs of the population. Although able to administer the rites of the church, priests were often poorly trained, possessing little biblical knowledge, and frequently lived on no higher moral level than their own parishioners with their addiction to drink and other vices. Priests conducted the liturgy in Old Church Slavonic, a language the masses did not understand, and their lack of preaching left the people with little or no biblical understanding of the Christian faith. Piety was centred on the rites of the church