Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2007

n bought one such property from a departing Turkish family, and dedicated it as the new church building. 17 During this era, there was relative freedom, and the congregation started growing again. It was in this new church building that Strahil first preached. The lack of trained clergy since the departure of Daskalov meant that those in the congregation who had the greatest biblical knowledge and rhetorical skills would be the ones to lead the worship services. The years spent listening to the services in his father’s home would enable Strahil to do exactly that. Although he was engaged in the families agricultural work, he also started visiting and preaching in the neighbouring Methodist church in Raklis. These two churches provided him with his first flavour of ministry. Strahil’s childhood provided him with both the taste of the glory days of evangelical Christianity in Macedonia and of its coming dark hours. His father’s dedication and Daskalov’s intellectual legacy were probably the most formative influences in his early development, which provided him with two attributes crucial to his future ministry: commitment and knowledge. 2. The war and rise of communism (1940-1955) In 1940 the entire landscape was being changed again by the Fascist occupation of much of Europe. At the time of the German invasion of Yugoslavia, Strahil was stationed in the military barracks in Belgrade, where he was captured and imprisoned by the Nazis. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was to be ruled, in part, directly by Germany, while partly by local puppet states: the Croatian, Serbian and Albanian states, as well as the Bulgarian Fascist regime which had helped in the occupation. Radovis and 14 Hopper, A History of Baptists in Yugoslavia: 1862-1962, p. 150. 15 Za Strahil Grozdanov [About Strahil Grozdanov], Archive of the Christian Baptist Church Skopje. 16 Wolff, The Balkans in our time, p. 146. 17 Grozdanov, Kratok Istorijat, 1988, p. 10. The life and legacy of Strahil Grozdanov 25 most of Macedonia fell under the jurisdiction of Bulgaria. 18 Strahil was released from prison, and returned to Radovis, where the Bulgarian orthodox clergy had taken over the running of the local parishes. The methods of Serbian rule in the 1920s were again to be employed over the Baptist and Methodist ‘sects’ in Macedonia. Emigration was seen by many non-Orthodox Christians as the only way out and, in the fall of 1941, Strahil, although mostly motivated by economic struggles, emigrated to Vienna, which was at the time annexed to Germany, to seek work. 19 He stayed there until 1944. 20 Towards the end of World War II, Strahil returned home, and planned to expand the farm and herds his family had owned. However, nationalisation quickly followed, and all the family property was confiscated by the Communist government. Strahil was left to search for work in the area for which he was trained - the agricultural industry, and was emp