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

ptistic agenda. Nonetheless, the main reason why those charitable activities were both welcomed by society, and widely supported by the Baptists themselves, was because such ministries were deeply rooted in the social mind-set, coming from a particular theological background, specific understanding of personal holiness, and salvation. Similarly, in order to have a deeper insight into the contemporary practice of preaching in Russian baptistic communities, it is vital to be able to identify those convictions and see what lasting impact they had produced. Konstantin Prokhorov in his recent PhD dissertation “Russian Baptists and Orthodoxy, 1960-1990: A Comparative Study of Theology, Liturgy and Traditions” presented extensive research of the subject, arguing that Russian Baptist Churches have received a vast heritage from Orthodoxy, which resulted in great similarities in theology and practice between these two seemingly very different Christian Traditions. Thus, in this chapter it would suffice to offer a brief overview of the Orthodox theological context in which baptistic communities were developing, restricting my attention to only three themes, which | believe are of immediate importance when it comes to studying the subject of Russian Baptist preaching. These are theosis or deification, sobornost or social conformity, the impact these convictions produced on preaching, and the perception of both the sermon and the preacher by the congregation. Finally, | will turn to the subject of preaching in the Orthodox Church, and particularly their concept of “charismatic preaching.” 2.1 Theosis: the way... The following quotation from Bratskii Vestnik (BV), the official journal of the Russian Baptist Union may serve as a helpful introduction of the importance of Orthodox spirituality for the baptistic movement in Russia: Is it difficult for us to humble ourselves before the Lord and to consider ourselves as great sinners? We are all sinners. We are poor and lazy in obeying the will of God. How many commandments we do not fulfil and how many commandments we break! When we come before the face of God, first of all we need to ask for mercy, patience and forgiveness... 32 A true Christian must weep about losing the image of God and constantly insulting Him with our sins. He must weep about bearing a name of a Christian and yet not fulfilling the promises given at baptism, about following the earthly, without thinking about heaven and eternal life... May every one of us follow the way shown to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, and be lifted to the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, and may none be stripped of the joy of the future life.° The concept of theosis or deification is linked both to the understanding of salvation and personal following of the way of Christ. Theosis can be characterised as an all-powerful and all-sanctifying work of God’s grace through the Holy Spirit, possible because of the i