Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

ather critical, and the third shrewd, but explosive as gunpowder, and all gener- ally holding differing opinions[,] ... the meetings were almost always stormy. Dr von Mayer claimed, however, that these meetings were tremendously interesting, and considered them among the most pleasant hours of his life.” 22 See Aleksandr V. Karev, “Russkoe evangelsko-baptistskoe dvizhenie’, in M. S. Karetnikova (ed), Almanakh po istorii russkogo baptizma (St Petersburg: Bibliia dlia vsekh, 1997), pp. 130-131; Lieven, Eine Saat, pp. 40-45; Korff, Am Zarenhof, pp. 47-48. > Lieven, Eine Saat, pp. 44-45. 4 Lieven, Eine Saat, pp. 41-42. 60 Dr von Mayer's efforts had consequences lasting well beyond the womens sewing circles. In 1901 his daughter Jenny (Evgeniia), at the time an orphanage volunteer on the Far Eastern penal island of Sakhalin, encountered the criminals exiled to the island for life. Once freed from prison, these men and women were forced to settle on the remote island, yet with no means to earn a living, they remained in poverty and despair. Many soon returned to crime. Following the model her father had used years earlier on the opposite side of the empire, Jenny organised a “home of labour’, [dom trudoliubiia, literally, “house of industriousness”] providing , tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, bookbinders and rugmakers with oppor- ‘ tunities to earn an honest living. One hundred men and twenty women participated in this voluntary programme, which included recreation such as Gospel talks and stories on Sunday afternoons. Their products were sold throughout the Far East. Jenny de Mayer later wrote about her call to such work: “I understood soon that the Lord, when sending me out to this Island, had added to this unique call the necessary gift of love for these most disinherited souls.... He had given me also the gift of organisation and the needed authority” (emphasis in the original).** Her organisational skills were likely the result of years of participation in similar St Petersburg ministries. Her authority was due to her social class and connections, the benefits of which she used to aid victims of injustice. Schools and Children’s Homes The Pashkovites also ministered to poor and orphaned children, founding schools, workshops and orphanages in which pupils learned about God, as well as trades and literacy. The authorities monitored these activities closely. Archpriest Filosof Ornatskii considered the “most dangerous” practice of the Pashkovites to be the raising of small children in a sectarian spirit in Pashkovite shelters and workshops, where children are taught not to pray according to the Orthodox tradition of beginning and ending 26 Jenny E. de Mayer, Adventures with God in Freedom and in Bond, 2™ edn (Toronto: Evan- gelical Publishers, 1948), p. 168. See also A.M., “Podvig russkoi zhenshchiny sredi katorzh- nikov na o. Sakhaline’, Tiuremnyi vestnik, no. 8 (August 1904), pp. 59