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

through Radstock’s preaching, one can see a more radical split from the Orthodox Church than that of the Stundists. From being a nominal Christian, he turned into a passionate supporter of the new Christian movement, known for its grand-scale charity and educational projects inspired by biblical teaching. His personal life and ministry has been the subject of a number of serious studies, hence it is not worth going into many details of it here. | will only briefly address some of Pashkov’s approach to the Scripture, since it is relevant for my research. Pashkov viewed his conversion and subsequent transformation as a direct work of Christ through the Holy Spirit. He believed that after the conversion, the Holy Spirit continued to work in the life of a Christian, helping them to understand the biblical narrative. Thus, he rejected the teaching of the Orthodox Church about the important role of the Tradition. (This, however, was to some extent a result of Pashkov’s rather shallow understanding of Orthodoxy.) Instead, the Bible was to be read prayerfully, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal its true meaning.** Puzynin argues that Radstock, and later Pashkov, were bringing western evangelicalism, a foreign Christian paradigm into the Russian Empire. He showed similarities of their teaching to Brethren views on the Bible and gradual deviation of Pashkovites from the Orthodox Church. One of the most important things that Pashkov (and the whole movement of Evangelical Christians) learnt from Radstock was a hermeneutical tool of literal and typological reading of the Scripture. As Princess Sofia Lieven wrote, Lord Radstock was to be thanked for opening the richness and depth of “° Leskov, Schism in High Society, pp 112-114, 196-197. Cf. Heier also notices, ‘Both friends and foes had to admit that there was certainly nothing in Radstock himself to account for the effect that was produced by his preaching. Yet his evangelical message, without outward intellectual shine, without theological fineness, in imperfect French, was eagerly welcomed by the Orthodox barons, princes, counts and generals as a fresh revelation of Christian truth.’ (Religious Schism in the Russian Aristocracy, p 56). “* puzynin, The tradition of the Gospel Christians, pp 72-97. 62 the Bible to the Evangelical Christians, which made them strongly rooted in the Scripture, thus enabling them to stand firm during the persecutions.“? However, Puzynin notes, ‘Pashkov was obviously unaware of the theological and philosophical filter he had inherited from Radstock with regard to the interpretation of the Bible.’*° Hence, Pashkov’s theological stance was not grounded in any theological system. Rather, it was characterised by the lack of doctrinal knowledge (either Protestant or Orthodox) and heavy reliance on direct quotations from the New Testament. Theologically, Pashkov shared many convictions with Russian Baptists, Stundists and Molokan