Baptistic Theologies, 2009

rnya Mihaly baptista uttoro parasztapostol kronikaja, p. 84. 62 Nigel Wright, Challenge to Change, A radical agenda for Baptists (Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1991), p. 27. 70 Baptistic Theologies simple people belonging to the lower or lower-middle class. Was this a help or a hindrance to be overcome? Certainly this approach was in contrast to that of the Reformed Church. Without higher qualifications or the kind of theological education that the Reformed Church regarded as essential in its ministers, the peasant prophets of the Hungarian Baptist mission engaged in a great deal of serious Bible study. It seems that a huge impact was created through their evident Bible knowledge, determined faith and spiritual vision. Their connection with the life of the people aided their work. It was their example that helped the conversion of many, and moulded the evangelical spirituality of the communities of Baptists that emerged. Pastor Istvan Gergely, President, Convention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania. Relationships between Evangelicals and the Orthodox Church in Russia 71 6 Relationships between Evangelicals and the Orthodox Church in Russia in the Nineteenth Century: A Case Study of Vasilii Pashkov and Konstantin Pobedonostsev Anna Cheprasova In 1862 the New Testament was translated into contemporary Russian. The Orthodox Holy Synod declared that ‘the translation into Russian... of the books of the New Testament... and other books of the Holy Scripture is necessary and helpful, but not for use in the church, for which the Slavic text has to remain sacred’. 1 Thousands of volumes of the Gospels were distributed. Having obtained access to the Bible, people started to read and study it, seeking the meaning of the Word of God. This resulted in people changing their lives according to what they had read. 2 Such movements took place among Orthodox, Molocans and Russian Germans. Gradually more people joined these groups of believers who engaged seriously with the Bible, who were asking uncomfortable questions, and who called others to transformation of individual, communal and religious life. As a result they were considered to be dangerous for the Orthodox Church, labelled as ‘sects’, and persecuted. This is the background for the growth of the movements of Evangelical Christians in Russia in the later nineteenth century. In the twentieth century they merged with the Baptist movement. In this paper I want to describe the relationship between Evangelical Christians and the Orthodox Church using the example of one of the Evangelical movements which existed in Russia at that time - Pashkovism, and its leader, Vasilii Pashkov. The Orthodox Church will be represented by Konstantin Pobedonostsev - the General Procurator of the Holy Synod, one of the most influential figures in the political and religious life of the Russian Empire between 1880 and 1905. On his advice, both th