Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

nd having travelled throughout their lives. According to Pastor Dalton, these difficulties were overcome with time.” An 1881 letter from Chief Procurator Pobedonostsev to Count Korff well illustrates early problems with the publications, as well as efforts on the part of the Pashkovites to correct them. After some Pashkovite literature had been reviewed by the Holy Synod, Pobedonostsev granted permission to continue distribution, but noted: I cannot help but mention that it would be best if you withdrew from circulation the book “Favourite Verses’. It is written in such disgraceful language, filled with religious affectation connected with the strange worship services held in Pashkov’s home, such that it would be sensible on your part to withhold it. Ofthe books, several I can praise and approve... But in many I see such lack of taste and estrangement from the soul and way of life of the people, that I cannot cease to marvel at who would have thought of including them among reading for the common people. What a funny and alien understanding, how artificial all those careless translations, how full of misprints, and tales imbued with affectations, using English names and forms artificially taken from the English way of life! Pity that such affairs are obviously handled by people who 2 See “Pashkovtsy’, Entsiklopedicheskii slovar’, p. 63; Ornatskii, Sekta Pashkovtsev, p. 7. 8 Dalton, “Recent Evangelical Movements in Russia’, p. 109. 67 are in no way Russian, estranged from Russian life, and unfa- miliar with the treasure of our native spiritual literature which the people understand.” Despite Pobedonostsev’s strong criticism, Pashkovite literature - and the songbooks in particular - became extremely popular, and were distrib- uted not only in the capital, but in the provinces as well. Russkii Rabo- chii |The Russian Workman], an eight-page monthly newspaper geared to the working class, by 1882 had approximately three thousand subscribers. There are estimates that, had the government not interfered, circulation would likely have reached five to six thousand monthly.” The Pashkovite Legacy The Pashkovite story is often considered to end in 1884, when Pashkov and Korff were banished abroad, much of the literature removed from circula- tion, and public meetings forbidden. Yet quietly, privately or in cooperation with Orthodox and secular aid societies, Pashkovites continued to reach out to their communities and country. Prison and hospital visitation in the capital continued. Large donations were still given to worthy causes. Bible distribution continued in prisons throughout Siberia. Western preachers such as Friedrich Baedeker, Otto Stockmayer, George Mueller, and Jessie Penn-Lewis visited St Petersburg to encourage and teach the believers. Those raised in the movement eventually began their own ministries throughout Russia and even internationally. While histories of Evangelical Chris