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

that included the sacraments, worship before icons, relics, and special fasts and holy days. German stundism was an important element in the rise of Ukrainian stundism, but Ukrainian stundism followed its own path of development. Ukrainian stundists did not produce any purely Reformed or Lutheran congregations, not accepting their confessions of faith, church government, or sacraments. From the beginning Ukrainian stundism was congregational and anti-sacramental, rejecting both the sacramentalism of Orthodoxy and the sacramentalism of the established Protestant churches. Unlike most German stundists, it was also separatist. It rejected the counsel of Karl Bonekemper not to leave the Orthodox Church. Instead it became a dissenting movement. In January, 1905, Missionerskoe obozrenie, the Orthodox anti¬ sectarian periodical, published a perceptive article by Sergei Troitskii entitled, ‘V’ kakom’ otnoshenii uchenie russkago shtundizma nakhoditsya k’ nemetskomu protestantizmu’ (What Is the Relationship of the Teaching of Russian Stundism to German Protestantism). Because of its rapid spread among the indigenous population, the author argued that it thus could not have been simply a foreign import; if it were, it would fade and disappear. Fie pointed out that German stundism helped to create among the Orthodox a critical attitude toward the Orthodox faith but that few Ukrainians became pure Lutherans or pure Reformed. On the other hand, he stated that Russian stundism borrowed more from various Protestant sects, including Baptists. Fie felt that Russian stundism took the greater part of its Protestant teaching in fragments, not taking Protestantism in its pure original form. Russian stundism ultimately developed its own form, adopting more from Protestantism on its negative side than on its positive side. 7 7 Missionerskoe obozrenie , January 1905, pp. 55-57. How Indigenous was the Baptist Movement in the Russian Empire? 33 3. German Baptist Influence Although the Orthodox author Troitskii may have overstated the case for Ukrainian stundism developing on its own, though borrowing from a number of sources, he nevertheless was on the right track in recognising sectarian influence. It then brings one to the question of the role of the German Baptists. German Baptists, if the opportunity presented itself, would have been more than happy to evangelise in the Russian Empire. Oncken in Hamburg corresponded with Mennonite and German Baptist leaders in Russia and even visited the country twice. But German Baptists were largely prevented in evangelising the native population because of the language barrier and also the strict penalties for proselytising among the Orthodox. German Baptists had a difficult time in sending missionaries even among the German settlers. As Arsenii Rozhdestvenskii, the Orthodox writer on Russian stundism, pointed out, German Baptist missionaries could not stay for any length of t