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

urches) and many others (Savinskii, /storiia Evangelskikh Khristian — Baptistov, Vol. 1, pp 294-295). 68 the Orthodox Church. Even though this has changed with the rapid development of printed media, ‘people preserved a special reverence for printed materials, which were extremely valued and trusted.’ A. Popov points out that the power of printed media was So great that a number of publications (such novels as |. Turgenyev, Fathers and Sons; N. Chernishevsky, What is to be done?) triggered the start of several social movements.” Hence, an extremely strict governmental control and censorship of this area of public life was to be expected. The role of books and magazines in the appearance and development of the baptistic movement in Russia is difficult to overestimate. Colporteurs were among the first missionaries, distributing Bibles and other spiritual literature, as well as interpreting it (preaching) to the most uneducated citizens of the Empire.’ Pashkov’s Society for the Encouragement of Spiritual and Moral Reading (opened in 1874) has published a large amount of spiritual literature, including the works of John Bunyan, collections of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons, collections of hymns, and many others.°° Heier wrote that baptistic communities have ‘developed an enormous propaganda machine unparalleled in the Russian Empire at the time.’ As early as 1889 Prokhanov started Russia’s first evangelical periodical Beseda, which meant a “talk.”°®” It was impossible to receive permission from the authorities A. Popov, “The Evangelical Christians-Baptists...,” p 55. * Ibid. ®* JC. Zacek, “The Russian Bible Society and the Russian Orthodox Church,” in Church History, Vol. 35 (1966), pp 411-437. ® Sheryl Corrado, “The Gospel in society: Pashkovite social outreach in late imperial Russia,” in Sheryl Corrado and Toivo Pilli, eds., Eastern European Baptist History: new Perspectives (Prague, IBTS, 2007), pp 52-70. For a rather detailed list of evangelical books and authors published at the beginning of the 20" century see Kuznetsova, “Early Russian Evangelicals...,” pp 237-239. °° Heier, Religious Schism in the Russian Aristocracy, p 118. °” Strictly speaking, Russkii Rabochii [Russian Worker] was the first magazine published by Russia’s evangelical Christians from 1875. However, it wasn’t an explicitly denominational Christian magazine. It contained neither materials for Bible study nor sermons. The journal’s main thrust was to offer moral guidance to working class people. It used simple, easy to read language. Heier wrote about it, ‘The Russian Workman was the most important publication of the Radstockist Society for the Encouragement of Spiritual and Ethical reading. Although 69 for such a publication. Nonetheless, they decided to produce the journal, which was sent all across Russia to baptistic communities, including preachers in exile. Prokhanov wrote, The joy from the first copie