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

s that reached our brothers and sisters was great. We did not even expect such great feedback... These copies of Beseda contained spiritual support, encouragements, and we were told again and again that when reading these small pages, brothers received great satisfaction among all kinds of trials, received inner peace and joy into their hearts.°° A. Popov notices that this journal became a model for all the subsequent publications of Evangelical Christians and Baptists.°° After 1905 non-Orthodox Christians received a unique opportunity to legally publish their own newspapers and journals.”° Prokhanov applied to the government for permission to start publishing work almost immediately after the appearance of the legislation allowing religious freedom. The first issue of Khristianin [The Christian] saw the light on the 1° of January 1906.”* It was published (with short breaks during Revolution 1917 and the following civil war) until the end of 1928, when it was closed the journal was non-sectarian, non-political, and not in the least polemical, and disseminated only cheap and instructive ethical reading among the common people, Leskov a“ dismissed it as an “unnecessary venture.” What annoyed him most was that much of the material, consisting of various religious illustrations and moral stories, was taken from the Religious Tract Society in London without remoulding it to suit the milieu of the common Russian people.’ (Heier, Religious Schism in the Russian Aristocracy, p 72. Cf. V. Popov, “Pervii Evangelskii Zhurnal v_ Rossii” [“First Evangelical Journal in Russia”], in Put Bogopoznaniia, Vol. 3 (Moscow, MTSECB, 1998), pp 23-29). °8 Prokhanov, V Kotle Rossii, pp 69-70. °° A. Popov, “The Evangelical Christians-Baptists...”, p 55. 7° For a full list of various journals and newspapers produced by Baptists and Evangelical Christians, see G. A. Kuznetsov, “Nashi Evangelskie Zhurnaly” [“Our Gospel Journals”], in Bratskii Vestnik, Vol. 5 (1965), p 65. ™ According to Puzynin, Khristianin took the same name and structure (and a number of articles) as the British non-denominational revivalist newspaper The Christian (The Tradition of the Gospel Christians, pp 136-137). 70 by Soviet atheistic authorities. Prokhanov formulated three main principles of the periodical. Firstly, to open the essence of Christianity to Russian people, and to show them Christ and His eternal salvation. Secondly, to encourage evangelism and the building of Russia’s Evangelical church, aiming at leading people towards reformation of their spiritual being. Thirdly, to bring unity to all branches of living Christianity in Russia.” According to Puzynin, These periodicals’? were the chief means of creating the movement's identity and shaping its theology... It allowed all kinds of Christians to share their testimonies, thoughts, and impressions. The key feature of the periodicals of this period was their tendency towar