Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

be at least two different responses. The outsiders may say that Baptists are a church/sect where people do not drink alcohol, do not smoke, and do not swear. The roots of such definition can be seen in the emphasis Russian Baptists always placed on ethical, holy living. In the Russian context, “holy living” first of all is associated with abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and places of entertainment, such as restaurants and theatres. Remarkably, however, most Russian Baptists are not able to provide a more in-depth definition. They might say that Baptists are not like Orthodox because they do not have icons, not like 8 Pentecostals because they do not practice speaking in tongues, not like... etc. Mykhailo Cherenkov notices, ‘When we start answering a question “Who are we?” ® McClendon, Ethics, p 29. ” Parush Parushev, “Walking in the Dawn of the Light: On Salvation Ethics of the Ecclesial Communities in Orthodox Tradition from a Radical Reformation Perspective.” Dissertation thesis for Doctor of Philosophy degree awarded with distinction by Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Theology, 05 June 2007. (Available through ProQuest, UMI No. 3260231), p 107. 8 Such difficulty with self-understanding is not a unique feature of Russian Baptists. Willian Powell Tuck expresses similar concern speaking about Baptists in the USA (Our Baptist Tradition (Macon, Georgia, Smyth and Helwys Publishing, Inc. 1993), p 1.). 136 with criticism of the Orthodox crosses and icons, when we hurry to expose somebody else, by this we build a negative identity.”” Such difficulty in self-definition may seem strange since one simply needs to go to the website of the RUECB to find a very detailed description of what Baptists in Russia believe. However, since one of the marks of Russian Baptists was “doctrinal tolerance,” when unity between churches was emphasized as something more important than identical beliefs,’° this statement is neither an authoritative creed that every person has to sign to be allowed into a Baptist church, nor does it limit people to only one form of understanding and practicing their faith.’* First of all, this long document of what Baptists believe serves as an explanation for the outsiders, providing them with a clear understanding of who Baptists are. It is even called Veruem, which means, We Believe. A majority of baptistic churches could accept most of the content of this statement. More than that, most Christian churches will also agree with it, without making it their official statement of faith, since this description of what Russian Baptists believe is a very general list of Christian convictions, without going into theological intricacies. Sharp rightly points out that Baptists find it incredibly difficult to define their identity, due to their diverse historical backgrounds and contexts. Still today there is no consensus even about the origin of some groups of Baptists (as it is t