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

related to the institution of serfdom — a form of slavery that was beginning to create a threat for the stability of the country. The process of freeing the serfs was initiated in 1857 with the work of the Committee on Peasant Reform. Public discussions were initiated, for the first time in Russian history, bringing the social problems, which were already highly criticised in progressive literature, into focus for the whole country. The process concluded in 1861 when all the serfs were freed and given the possibility to buy land allotments and transfer them into private or communal property.”° 3 George Vernadsky, A History of Russia, 3d revised edition (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1951, originally published in 1933 by Oxford University Press), p 156. ™ Gregory L. Freeze, “Reform and Counter Reform 1855-1890,” in Russia, A History, 2™ ed. (Oxford University Press, 2002, originally published in 1997) p 172. ** | am referring to Alasdair Maclntyre’s concept of a crisis of self-perception caused by a certain discovery or event. As Maclntyre notes, ‘such a discovery is often paralysing, and... social life as we know it could scarcely continue.’(“Epistemological Crises, Dramatic Narrative, and the Philosophy of Science,” in Stanley Hauerwas and L. Gregory Jones, eds., Why Narrative: Readings in Narrative Theology (Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), pp 138-139). *® Nicholas V. Riasanovsky and Mark D. Steinberg, A History of Russia, 7” ed. (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005, originally published in 1993), p 344. 16 Without describing all the complexities of the reform, it is sufficient to say that the peasants were left with the feeling that they were robbed of freedom, since their expectations of getting land as well as economic independence were not met. They became even poorer than before — freedom brought hunger. This dissatisfaction resulted in numerous violent revolts, and ‘although the number of disorders gradually declined (849 in 1862, 509 in 1863, 156 in 1864), the village continued to seethe with resentment and discontent.’~’ Former serf-owners were far from being happy as well. They lost their power without receiving proper compensation for their property; they were short of finances and lacked prospects for the future. A lot of them went bankrupt, being unable to adjust to a changing social reality.’® Thus the nobility turned into the opposition to the government, hoping to receive some of the political powers in exchange for being deprived of their social and economic privileges. As several historians note, despite the fact that the reforms had transformed the country, it became one of the major reasons for the Revolution of 1918.*” Gradual relaxation of censorship (1865) was another important element of freedom. Although censorship was not removed from social life, it was changed from pre-censorship to post-censorship, with much weaker control